Five Keys to a Stress-Free Moving Day

Anyone who has moved before knows that it can be a stressful time. You have to essentially pack up your entire life into boxes, have them loaded onto a truck, transported to a new location, and then unpacked.

Through all of this you have to make sure that you don’t forget anything, that everything arrives safely, and that your new home is ready to receive you. It’s a lot of plates to balance, making it essential that you prepare yourself and organise beforehand.

If you want to have a stress-free moving day, follow these five keys.

Organisation and Preparation

Trying to do everything for a move without a plan is a big mistake. If you do this, you are very likely to forget something, or something major will go wrong.

Save yourself from a lot of hassles by preparing beforehand, and having a solid organisational system in place. Come up with a moving day checklist of everything you need to do.

Label all of your boxes to make it easy to unload them in your new house. Go through all of your items and see which ones you want to bring, which ones you can sell, which ones you can donate, and which ones you can just throw away.

When the day of the move arrives, you should be completely prepared and organised, ready to go.

Give Yourself Plenty of Time

Of course, in order to fully prepare and organise, you need to give yourself enough time. You can’t do all of this the night before the move without giving yourself some serious headaches.

The sooner you can start planning out your move, the less stress you will feel. We all lead busy lives, so by planning out your move a few weeks in advance, you can do a little bit each day, without feeling overwhelmed.

Waiting until the last minute is a common cause of the problems people experience during moving days, so don’t let yourself be one of those people.

Work With Good People

Trying to move on your own is almost impossible. You need help packing, cleaning out the home, getting the new home ready, and moving everything from one spot to another.

And while it’s important to have help on these tasks, it’s equally as important that you have good help. People who aren’t helping will only get in the way and make your job harder.

So when preparing for a move, find people you can count on. This means family and friends, but it also means the moving company you hire, and the person selling your home.

Find local movers with a strong reputation to help you move, along with an experienced real estate agent. For example, if you’re from Culver City, you should find local movers from Culver City, rather than the next town over.

They will know the area better, and likely charge less since it’s nearby. The right people are often the difference between an easy moving day and one that turns into a nightmare, so pick carefully who you work with.

Have a Plan for Your Kids

If you have young children, they can often complicate the moving day. You need to keep one eye on them, while also keep the other eye on the moving process.

To relieve some of this burden, try and come up with some place for your kids to go. Send them to a friend’s house, or find a babysitter for the day.

Once everything is out of the house you can pick them up and bring them to their new home, free of the worry of having to watch them all day. The same principle applies for pets – if you can get them out of the way for a few hours, you’ll be better off.

Asking for Help

Finally, don’t be afraid to ask for help. Too many of us try to do things on our own, and often take on more than we can chew.

Don’t let your move be one of those times. People are typically more than happy to help you out, especially when it comes to something big like a move.

Ask friends and family to help you pack up, or to get your new home in order. Even if you’re just having them eliminate some of your smaller tasks, it’s still one less thing you need to worry about, and allows you to focus on bigger issues.

Don’t Let Your Moving Day Stress You Out

By following the five keys above, you will hopefully find that your moving day is stress-free. All you really need to do is give yourself plenty of time to get ready, stay organised, and surround yourself with the right people.

While your moving day may still end up being hectic, you can at least remove a good portion of the stress and avoid common moving mistakes with proper planning

*This is a collaborative post.