Moving from one home to another is time-consuming and can be very stressful. Read this article to learn ten moving day tips that will help you stay stress-free. Did you know that the average person moves 11 times in their life? That’s a lot of moving! While it’s always fun to start a new adventure in a new city, country, or home, moving is also a stressful ordeal.
Between worrying about packing on your time off, making sure you found the right moving company nyc, and trying to prevent your valuables from breaking, you might find yourself with new grey hairs by the end of your move. But who says moving has to cause that much stress?
While moving will always be a big challenge, some moving day tips can help you prepare and make your move as seamless as possible. Do you want to know what they are? Keep reading to discover 10 moving day tips from Chicago movers and storage that will help you stay stress-free.
Moving Day Tips: Start Packing Early
By far, the easiest way to move is to start as early as you can. With work, caring for kids, and running errands, you may be left with little time to pack at night and on the weekends.
If you try to hold off packing until the last minute, you may find yourself crunched for time and pulling late nights just trying to get it all ready. Instead, start by packing the things you aren’t currently using, such as holiday decorations and out-of-season clothing. Then, slowly pack up your entire home until you left with only the things you use every day. Your future self will thank you when moving day creeps up.
Use Moving Pods
So, what will you do with all the things you packed up weeks before your move? Renting moving pods is one of the best tips for moving to a new house. Once you choose a company, they’ll drop off the pods storage containers at your current home. You can then fill them up as you begin to pack. Once you’re all done, you can contact the company, and they’ll transport it to your new home.
Sell What You Don’t Need
To make moving easier, you should consider selling what you don’t need anymore. We all have the “but I might need this someday” gut feeling when we’re faced with the decision to keep or sell. But that does not always reason enough to keep something. A good rule to follow is if you haven’t used it in a year, get rid of it. If you need it in the future, you can always buy a new one.
Pack all Your Necessities in One Box
When moving into a new house, you’ll likely spend weeks just trying to unpack all your boxes. While a good packing organization is helpful for everything you pack, it’s extremely important when you’re packing your necessities.
Everything you’ll need for the first day or two in your new home should all go in one box. This may include your coffee maker, phone charger, toiletries, and your child’s favorite toy. If you don’t do this, you may have to rip through 10 different boxes just looking for a few things.
Set a Realistic Schedule
When deciding how to make moving easy, you may feel tempted to get it done as quickly as possible. However, it’s important you give yourself a realistic schedule.
If you’re moving to a new state, don’t plan on driving for 10 hours with no break. You’ll just make yourself (and everyone else) tired, irritable, and hungry. Make sure you pack snacks to munch on to keep fueling your energy but plan to stay the night at a hotel or stop for dinner.
Give Your Kids a Task
If your kids are excited about the move, they probably want to help on a moving day. You may think that this will slow you down, but it can actually make moving easier.
Ask them to help pack their own bedroom up. It’ll keep them occupied while you try to pack the rest of the house. On the day of, you may ask them to bring the snack box or a lightweight box to the car. They’ll feel like they are contributing which will keep them happy.
Prepare Your Pets
Moving doesn’t only affect you, it affects your furry friends too. The truth is, it’ll probably affect them more because they have no idea what’s going on. Many animals, especially cats, don’t do well with changes – and moving is a big change!
The easiest way to move with pets is to keep their crates out and place treats in them before the move, so they create a positive association with it. You can also take them on short drives to get used to the car.
Keep them in a quiet room with the door closed on the day. Having your skittish cat or dog try to make a run for it is not going to help lower your stress. You may also consider going to the vet for a short-term, fast-acting anti-anxiety medication, such as Gabapentin, to help them relax during the move.
Collect Boxes
Boxes are vital to any move, but many overlook how much they’ll cost. You could be spending well over $100 in cardboard boxes that’ll just end up in the dumpster!
While there’s no getting around the need for boxes, you can lower the number of boxes you’ll need to buy. Start by keeping any box that you come across, even if it’s just a small shipping box. You can ask your friends, neighbors, or coworkers if they have any boxes they’re looking to get rid of.
These will likely all be smaller boxes, so to get bigger boxes to go to your local grocery store or fast food restaurant. When they get their food shipment in, they’ll have tons of empty boxes to get rid of.
Find the Right Sized Truck
Even if you use moving pods and sell your extra stuff, you’ll probably still need a moving truck.
If you get a truck that’s too small, you’ll end up making several different trips. Not only is this annoying and adds to your stress level, but if you’re moving more than a few minutes away, you may have to keep the truck an extra day.
Getting a truck that’s too big isn’t good either. It’ll cost you more money, and your items will have more room to move around. Fragile items may tip over or slide too far and end up breaking. Nothing says a stressful moving day more than unloading a bunch of broken items.
Get Help
Moving into a new house is a lot of work. The best way to reduce your stress on the day of is to ensure you have plenty of help. This will help expedite the process, plus you’ll probably need help with the heavy lifting.
If you don’t want to ask friends or family for help, you should consider calling professional movers. It’ll be a little more expensive, but it’ll take all the stress off you for the day. They’ll also know how to pack furniture and organize the moving truck.
The Best Moving Day Tips
Moving day can greet you with a mix of excitement and dread as you know all the stress you’ll have to endure. But moving doesn’t have to be so awful. By following these great moving day tips, you’ll feel well-prepared and ready to take on your move. Was this article helpful? Visit our lifestyle blog page for more great posts like this.
