So, you are about to move house, the feelings associated with moving can be both exciting and daunting. So much so that a New York Times Survey named it as the second most stressful life event after divorce. Overwhelm can kick in at moment of the process, for some of us it occurs in the beginning of the process. Looking at your home full of furniture and items, which in many cases have been collected over decades, cupboards full of clothes and keepsakes cause you to wonder where on earth you should begin!! These feelings of overwhelm can cause a sense of obvious stress and tension and lead to paralysis of analysis. We can feel a sense of ease by telling ourselves “it’s ok we still have a couple of months until we move”, we might even go as far as “we can’t start packing yet, we still need everything” In reality putting a pause on getting started with packing up the house inevitably leads to more stress as the time to move nears. Very quickly time starts to pass and the closer it nears the more the stress levels can rise if we are not well prepared.
As someone who has moved 30 times and expects to move at least another 1 or 2 in my lifetime, I think I’m well equipped to share some advice with you on my top tips on how to move your belongings from one home to the next with as much ease as possible. Because, moving can and should be an exciting time but in my experience, I have found that most things in life we get better at the more we do them BUT, take it from me, moving house is not one of them unless you follow some strict planning. So, considering it’s rated as the second most stressful life experience after divorce and anyone who goes through a divorce enlists the help of a trained professional, I’m sure you agree it’s worth getting some lived experience advice on.
On average the time we live in each house is 8 years, so it could be said that we need to pack up and moving house on average every 8th year. I’m competitive and do my best to be a high achiever, so I’m beating this average 😊 Whether this is your first move or you’re hoping it will be your last, let’s make it memorable for all the right reasons by following some simple planning and strategies.
Prior Preparation Prevents Poor Performance…………especially when moving house.
Planning to move your home is everything and can occur from the moment you know you are going to be making that move. Even if you don’t know where you might be moving to yet, planning can still be done, which can often be the case when we sell before we buy or need to leave one rental without yet finding another. But, you still have a deadline to move so let’s get started…
All the experts in mindset and psychology agree that when we have a big project or problem to solve that we should break the required tasks down into chunks, this helps to prevent overwhelm. With that in mind I have broken the steps to moving into 3 Phases.
PHASE 1 – The 3 C’s….Cleaning, Clearing and Culling
-Use the floorplan image of your new home and photocopy or print it on a large A3 paper, sketch how your furniture will fit into each room. You can go as far to measure to scale. This will help you know what furniture makes the cut for your move and what gets the flick or if you need to purchase new furniture.
– declutter and start as soon as you know you are selling, it helps the sale, make the house appear larger, improve your clarity of mind and make moving day smaller and save cost
-don’t move the things you don’t intend to keep to the new home
-you may need a skip bin or assistance with rubbish removal, a trip to the Donation bin, a garage sale or posting things on marketplace
-being ruthless and culling items that don’t fit in with your future life is being kind to your future self, it can be a very cathartic process
-you might have some sentimental items that you are attached to or may have intergenerational significance that doesn’t fit your future life. You can take a photo, scan it or simply scale it down to the most important of items to keep.
-we have had clients say things like “we moved 6 months ago and still have some unopened boxes from that move”
-it will save you money on moving day, but more importantly will help you quickly settle into your new home
PHASE 2 – Book…trusted Removalists for moving your house
-booking a removalist
-walk through your home and imagine every room drawer and cupboard completely empty
-write a room by room inventory
-make the removalist company aware of any settlement dates and times (especially if simultaneous) so they can plan your move.
-when selecting a removalist, trust personal referrals, read Google reviews, look at the website, look for professionalism in the process quoting process.
-expect to be asked a lot of questions so the removalist can create a moving plan, this includes truck size, crew size,
-we want to know what we are walking into with no surprises on the day and be able to give you a realistic expectation
- we recommend Get Moving Geelong
PHASE 3 – The Packing Stage
-packing starts with a plan
-This is a plan to make the unpack easier and the removalists unloading into each room without any instruction required
-create a master list; the most organised people don’t just have their boxes labelled with the rooms they are going into but they have their boxes numbered and in a little note book they a description of the contents of each box
EXAMPLES
THE LABELS ON THE BOX (Detailed notes in book)
Office (Novels)
Robbie’s room (winter clothes)
Kitchen FRAGILE (Coffee machine)
Kitchen (First aid kit, sunscreen, medicine)
Kitchen (plates, bowls, cutlery)
Kitchen Pantry (Tupperware and spices)
Master Bedroom (Susie’s shoes and handbags)
Master bedroom (Rob’s
Upstairs Living Room (Board Games)
You could also take photos of the insides so you don’t have to open every box to see what’s inside, you already know.
An alternative to this is colour coding.
Choose a different coloured sticker for each room in the new house.
Add a coloured sticker to each box associated to each room.
Add a coloured sticker to the door or entry of each room
I adopted colour coding stickers for my last 3 moves and the removalist found it most helpful. Sometimes a rooms purpose isn’t obvious, for example if you have 3 sons and you label as Max’s room it requires you to be with the removalists telling them which one is Max’s new room. Colour coding allows your removalist to be the most efficient they can be. I also find its quicker than labels.
Good quality, sturdy boxes.
Removalist and storage boxes are twice the thickness of most other boxes
It allows removalists to stack them to the roof of the truck and they maintain their integrity reducing the risk of collapse or damage during the handling and moving process.
Butchers paper, bubble wrap or newspaper, between all ceramic and glass crockery items will keep them safe.
Place heavy things in smaller boxes or top up boxes with pillows, blankets, this prevents movement within the box by it being full, but also makes the box a lighter than if it was filled to the top with heavy items.
The earlier you start Packing, the less stressful it will all be as moving day approaches. Packing can take a month of planning and executing but done correctly will set you up brilliantly and quickly in your new home.
If it’s too time consuming or you chose to place it in the hands of another, there are professional packers who do an outstanding job of this.
If you are a time poor professional family or business owner who can’t commit the time needed for this, these teams can come in pack up your home in 1-2 days and unpack you into your new home too.
We have done a lot of jobs with One Day PA, where they might go in and pack Monday/Tuesday, removalists move everything on a Wednesday then they can unpack everything Thursday/Friday, this service can on include pantry, garage, office, WIR and toy room organising and even making your beds.
IN SUMMARY
Don’t get attached to things to no longer serve a purpose, keepsakes that evoke joy do serve a purpose so if you have them keep them but if time is limited either find another place to store them or keep them to a minimum.
Be ruthless
Choose and trustworthy reliable mover
Create a master plan and label boxes clearly or buy some coloured stickers.
Then enjoy your new home!! If you are currently looking for a new home in Geelong we would love to help you find one, contact us here