Moving can be stressful. There’s no doubt about it. But it doesn’t have to be as bad as you think. We’ve got all the best ideas to help reduce the stress of packing and moving your home.
Start Planning Before You Start Packing
The number one tip for a less stressful move is to plan before you start packing. When you realize a move is at hand, it’s tempting to start tossing things in boxes, but this is usually a bad idea. Especially since you may not need or want things anymore, these should be decluttered, not packed, and brought to your new house. You can use this ultimate moving checklist or make one yourself, but you need a plan.
Get Moving Tips From The Pros
Want to make your move less stressful? Use these tried and true moving tips from people who move homes for a living.
Schedule Early
Hire moving services and a moving truck, and schedule days off from work as early as possible. You might want to call around for different quotes, and waiting too long may cause the dates you need to fill up.
Gather Your Supplies
Gather your packing supplies before you start to pack, and make sure you have different sizes of moving boxes, lots of tape and wrapping materials, as well as sharpies for labeling boxes.
The First Day Box
You want to pack one box of the things you’ll need first thing in your new home. These items can be toilet paper, coffee maker, medications, basic toiletries, bedding, and clothes change. There’s nothing worse than being exhausted from a day of moving and having no idea where the bedding is, or worse, waking up without a coffee maker the next morning. Having it all in one marked box can make life much easier on the other side of the move.
Packing Clothing The Smart Way
Clothing can take up a whole lot of space when you move, but this isn’t necessary. To save time and space when packing hanging clothes, you can leave the clothes on the hangers, wrap the tops with a rubber band and cover all the clothes with a trash bag to keep them clean. When you are in your new house, you can strip off the trash bag and rubber bands and hang the clothes right back up.
Another handy trick is to use clothing and towels as filler for empty spaces in moving boxes or use it to wrap breakables as you pack.
Use Color Coding For The Rooms In Your House
Instead of standing at the front door directing where every box is going, make it easier on yourself and your moving help by color-coding boxes by room. Use tape in different colors to stick on boxes that go to a particular room. On moving day, stick a piece of the same color tape to the doorway of the room. List the color-coded rooms on your moving list.
Don’t Separate Things That Belong Together
There are few things worse than trying to set up appliances in your new home and find out that the cords that belong to them are in boxes “somewhere.” To avoid this from happening, make sure to tape cords and cables to the appliances. Do the same with screws and hardware for furniture or curtain rods etc. If there are multiple little items, stick them in ziplock bags and taped them to the furniture.
Keep Food On Hand
People often try to avoid moving too much food from one house to another, but keep in mind that moving day can be long and exhausting. Keeping a cooler with drinks and snacks handy is a good idea, especially if you have children with you.
Get A Sitter
If you have young children or pets, try to get a sitter if at all possible. Moving day can be very stressful for pets, especially with people coming and going. Most children will be safer and happier with a sitter away from the action.
Take Pictures
Take pictures of assembled electronics like TVs and computers so that you can quickly tell where the cables go. You can take photos of furniture that are confusing to put back or place them in one box together to remember what belongs where.
Be Done On Moving Day
It’s tempting to leave the packing of certain things until the last minute, but this is not a good idea. You’ll be busy all day on moving day, even without anything extra to pack, and trying to do anything at the last minute will make moving day more stressful than it has to be.
Ditch The Stress
Moving will never be stress-free, but it will usually be significantly less stressful when you are prepared. If you want to make your move even less stressful, consider hiring the best home movers in Houston.
It’s quite impossible to take all the stress out of moving day, but hiring movers, having your packing supplies ready, having a plan, and packing smartly can make all the difference.
