Whether you are moving across town or across the country, moving your entire household is a very challenging task for even the most organized individual. By getting the planning portion of the job done as soon as you have decided to move, you can reduce stress levels and ensure that everything will run smoothly on the big day and afterward. Read on for some ways to prepare for your move which can go far in helping you maintain your sanity.
Sort and Purge
The first order of business is to rid yourself of things you won’t need in your new home. A way to motivate yourself into letting go of items you won’t be needing is to picture your new residences as a neat and clutter-free home. When you are deciding whether or not to keep something, just imagine packing it up and physically taking it to your new home. If it does not seem to be worth the trouble, then that is an item you should probably do away with. There are bound to be many items in your current home which have been forgotten about for years so ask yourself why you are hanging onto these things. Put all of the items you don’t want in one place and then decide whether you should throw them away, give them to charity or sell them at a yard sale.
Pack Your Belongings for the Their Destination Rooms
Picture your new residence and where you want to place your belongings. As you pack things, decide where they will go in your new home. Choose a color for each room in your new home and then tape a piece of colored paper on boxes of belongings that go in that room. For instance, if you choose blue for the bedroom, the boxes with your bedroom items will be marked with blue paper. You will find that this system will help speed up the process of unloading and determining where boxes belong as you move in.
Pack Important Items You Will Need Right Away Last
There are things you will need right away when you move into your new home. These items should be packed last so that they are the first to come off the truck when you start unloading. These items might include computers, telephones, extension cords, important documents, baby items, pet food, etc. Place your most valuable items like passports, medications and important papers in a strong box to keep them safely with you when moving.
Rent a Storage Unit to Ease the Stress
You don’t necessarily have to put everything in your garage or basement immediately after arriving at your new home. Perhaps you have quite a few outdoor items such as patio furniture, lawn mowers and bicycles you won’t be needing right away. Consider looking atstorage containers like those available at EagleLeasing.com. You could rent a container for a couple of months to store these things in until you have time to organize them and put them in their appropriate places. If you happen to be moving during the cold winter months, having some of these belongings in a locked container will mean you won’t have to deal with them until the weather improves.
Finally, do not rush to unpack everything at once. Even though you have a lot to do, approach unpacking in an organized fashion just as you did when packing to make the process easier to deal with.
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Todd Johnson writes about family and home.