Moving House Ideas
Accept offers of help Life is busy. Before you know it, three months have gone by and you still haven’t gotten around to unpacking the boxes in the spare room. If a friend or family member offers to cook you a meal, take the kids for the night or help you get through those last pesky boxes, let them. Use the time to get those final jobs around the house done… or just lie on the sofa and enjoy a well-earned moment of peace and quiet. Goodbye Busyness… How to Practice the Forgotten Art of Leisure
LEICHT New York Lighten the load Face it, after the final box has been unloaded from the truck and you’ve officially moved, the last thing you’ll want to do is go back to your old place and get on your hands and knees to do a deep clean before the inspection. You’ll be tired, overwrought and have more than enough on your hands settling into your new address. In my view, the end-of-lease clean is one job that’s well worth outsourcing to a professional. Plus, if you book the cleaning company recommended by your real-estate agent, the job is more likely to be done to their standards, which means less haggling over the bond if you’re a renter.
Prioritise the important stuff First up when you arrive at the new house, get the most important things organised; get beds set up, connect the fridge, locate cutlery and toiletries. Everything the family will need to get a decent night’s sleep on that first night should be prioritised. The rest can wait. Tip: A generous glass of wine (or two) is an excellent idea at this point. You’ve earned it.
Pack a box of essentials Many moons ago, a professional organiser shared this little pearl of wisdom with me – it’s simple, but an absolute lifesaver on the day of the move. A day or two ahead of time, make up a small- to medium-sized box that will fit into the back of your car and fill it with all those things that will get you through the first 24 hours. Items such as school uniforms, lunch boxes, tea and a kettle, a couple of mugs, pet food, toiletries, medication, a change of clothes for the grown ups and medications. Add in a box cutter and a pair of scissors so you can get cracking on those boxes straight away, and you’re good to go. Tip: Fill an Esky with cold drinks and snacks to keep you going on the day of the move – and don’t forget to include a few extras for your removalists.
Living Style Landscapes Don’t forget the little details There’s a whole lot to organise when you change address that has nothing to do with the house itself – make sure you add these items to your to-do list. You may need to find a new GP, dentist, library, favourite takeaway restaurant or coffee joint. Use the time before the big move to do your research. You’ll also need to organise a change of address for your driver’s license, bank, school, vets… the list goes on. While you’re at it, don’t give the next tenant at your old property extra work redirecting your post – arrange a postal redirection. Tip: The minute you get your new house keys, hotfoot it down to your local key cutter and get a few copies made. Keys will get lost, you will have visitors – and you will be forever grateful for your wise forward planning.
Kelly Deck Design Get your tech stuff booked in It’s only when your family has to survive without wifi for a week that you realise just how reliant we’ve all become on technology. If this is a lesson you’re not particularly interested in learning the hard way, book a reconnection at your new property as early as possible. While you’re at it, organise connection and reconnection of other essential services too, such as electricity, gas and water. Unfortunately, despite your best efforts all will still not go to plan. Accept that long, protracted phone calls with your internet provider will be a part of your life for a few days (weeks?). Find your Zen and hold onto it tight.
Adam Removalists Organise boxes If you’re lucky, you might be able to find cheap – or even free – boxes from others who have recently moved house. Otherwise, hire them online and have them delivered to your home so you don’t have to go through the agony of trying to squeeze them into the back of the car. Aim to get a mix of different sizes to suit different items (there’s nothing worse than trying to squeeze the entire contents of your laundry cupboard into a teeny box designed for cutlery). And be sure to label both the tops and sides of every box so it’s easy to locate what you want at 7am on the morning after the move when your daughter is in a life-or-death search for her school sports uniform. Tip: Whatever you do, don’t decide it’s a good idea to reuse the boxes from your last move that have spent the past 18 months in a damp garage. Trust me on this one.
Break it down Big, bulky items are a pain. Trampolines, bookshelves, barbecues and the like are heavy, awkward and time-consuming to move. Add in narrow doorways or stairs and you’ve got a potential nightmare on your hands. Rather than having sleepless nights over whether or not they’ll fit through the door or inside the back of the moving truck, bite the bullet and dismantle them ahead of time so they’re easier to transport. If you can live without larger items for a few weeks, look to do this as early as possible. Be sure to put all your furniture screws into a labelled ziplock bag and tape it to the item so you don’t have to waste time hunting for them at the other end.
Start early You know what they say about eating an elephant? Well the same rings true for a house move. You want to start as soon as possible and do a little bit every day – even if it’s just clearing out a kitchen drawer or sorting through the kids’ craft supplies – to minimise the pressure and workload come moving day. Plus, moving can be expensive. The last thing you want is to pay good money to move things you’ll never want or need again. I find it works best to go through your home room by room. There’s something incredibly satisfying about closing the door on a ‘done’ room – and when it comes to moving house, you want to take joy wherever you can find it. Sort items into three piles – items to keep, donate and recycle or throw away. And be ruthless; if you don’t love/use/need or can’t fit something in your new home, no excuses – out it goes.
Make a list… and actually stick to it I love a good list. I’ve got them everywhere – on my phone, jotted in a scrappy notebook that lives at the bottom of my handbag, on the backs of various bills littered around my kitchen benchtop. Trouble is, once they’re written down I tend to forget they actually exist. It’s as though my mind confuses the writing-down part with the ticking-off bit. Before I know it, the move is 10 days away and I’m bolt upright at 2am remembering that I haven’t organised a mover… or packing tape… or anyone to mind the cats. Two moves ago I decided enough was enough. Eight weeks ahead of M-Day, I typed up a spreadsheet listing all the jobs that needed doing, who was responsible for what, and deadlines (in bold). I printed off said spreadsheet and stuck it to the fridge where nobody in the family could pretend they hadn’t seen it. Granted, they tried. But the list prevailed and the pre-move grunt work has been smoother – and more evenly shared – ever since.
8. Also expect to buy some stuff after you move But we just gave so much stuff away! It’s not fair! I know. But each home has its quirks, and those quirks demand new stuff. For instance, perhaps your old kitchen had a huge island with plenty of space for cooking prep and for stools to pull up for breakfast, but the new kitchen has a big empty spot right in the middle of the room. It may require a portable island or a kitchen table and chairs. Earmarking a bit of money for these kinds of things can help you set and stick to a budget.
7. Expect to shed some more stuff after you move No matter how much decluttering you do before moving, it seems to be a law of nature that there will be items that simply don’t fit in the new space. Even if everything physically fits, there’s bound to be something that just doesn’t work like you thought it would. Try not to hold on to these things purely out of frustration. Sell them, gift them to a dear friend or (if you truly love the items) keep them – but only if you have the storage space. 7 useful tips for decluttering
6. Expect some meltdowns – from children and adults Moving is hard, there’s just no way around it, but moving long-distance is especially hard. It means leaving behind friends, schools, jobs and perhaps even family, and entering the great unknown of a new place. Even if the new place sounds great (and is great!) meltdowns and emotional moments are a totally natural reaction to such a big shakeup in life. So when the moment comes (and it will) that someone (or more than one someone) in the house needs a good cry, roll with it. Then get yourselves up and find something fun to explore or do in your new town.
5. Give yourself time to get used to a new climate, time zone and culture After moving from New England back to the San Francisco Bay Area, I’ve been amazed at how long it’s taken to feel settled – even though I’ve moved back to my hometown! Building in extra time to handle that adjustment period can be a relief, especially for families with kids. A week or two to catch your breath (and track down the best local ice cream shop – priorities, you know) will put everyone in better spirits.
4. Put ‘buy houseplants’ at the top of your to-do list One of the unexpectedly sad moments of our move was when I realised we couldn’t bring our houseplants along. This may not sound like a big deal, but when you’ve lovingly nurtured a houseful of plants for years, the thought of starting back at zero is kind of depressing. We gave away all of our plants but ended up keeping some of our favourite pots – something that has made picking plants for the new space much easier (and cheaper). Once you’re in your new place, you might be tempted to put off buying new houseplants, but I urge you to make it a priority. Why? Houseplants clean the air (especially important if you’ve used paint or flooring that has volatile organic compounds, or VOCs), but most important, they will make your house feel like home.
3. Ask around before signing up for services Depending on where you’re moving, there may be many or very few choices of service providers for things like the phone and internet. If you have some options, take the time to ask around before committing to one – you may find that the company that served you so well back at your old place doesn’t have much infrastructure in the new area. Or you might find, as we did, that (thanks to lousy mobile reception) a landline is a necessity at the new place, even though using only mobile phones worked fine at the old house.
2. Paint before you move in If you plan to give your new space a fresh coat of paint, it makes a lot of sense to do this before moving all of your stuff in. Aside from the obvious (it’s easier to paint an empty house than one full of furniture), you’ll feel a great sense of accomplishment having ‘paint’ ticked off your to-do list before the first box is even unpacked. While you’re at it, if there are other messy, disruptive items on your list (anything to do with the floors definitely qualifies), getting to as many of them as possible before moving day will be a big help.
1. Maximise space in the moving van Moving cross-country is not cheap (I can only imagine the cost of moving overseas), so I did a lot of reading and asking around for tips before we packed up our house, to make sure we made the most of the space in our truck. Now that we’ve made it to the other side, I can say with confidence that these are the top three packing steps I would do again in a heartbeat: Declutter before you pack. If you don’t love it or need it, there’s no sense in bringing it with you – that space in the truck is money! Leave dresser drawers filled. For the first time ever, rather than emptying the dresser drawers, I simply left the clothes and linens folded inside and wrapped up the furniture. Does this make them heavier? Yes. But as long as the drawers are filled with lightweight items (definitely not books), it should be fine. And if not, you (or your helpers) can carry the drawers out separately. The benefit is twofold: you need fewer boxes, and it will be easier to find stuff when you move in. Pack soft items in black garbage bags. Glamorous? Not in the least. But this has to be the smartest packing idea we tried. Fill heavy-duty black garbage bags with soft i...
Make it your own When you’re renting a home, you never know quite how long you’ll be there. This makes it all too easy not to fully settle in. Pictures go unhung, houseplants go unpurchased and the place never really feels like home. Do yourself a favour; display your photos and artworks (3M adhesive strips will be your new best friends), buy fresh flowers, invite friends and family around for a meal. And give yourself a pat on the back – you’ve made it through another house move. Welcome home.
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