Last week I gave you some tips on what to look for when buying a home, from an organizational perspective. Hopefully those tips were invaluable to you in your search for your new home. So what’s the next step? You get to pack up and move to your new home! This is often a stressful time no matter if you’re doing the move yourselves or hiring people to do it for you. Here are my budget-friendly, low stress ideas on how to prepare, pack and execute a smooth move!
Preparation
- Pick your moving day. You’ll find cheaper rental truck rates if you move during the week.
- If you can, create a task list 6-8 weeks before your move.
- Do your research and pick a reliable moving company and get the right size rental truck. My husband and I made that mistake and our Uhual was way too small!
- Book with movers and your rental truck as soon as you pick your moving day. Rates will be lowest in spring and fall months. Also, reserve furniture covers and a dolly for heavy lifting.
- Keep a brightly colored file/binder with all contracts and documents related to your move.
Packing
- Lowes and Uhual have like sized boxes that make for easy stacking and allow you to get more in the truck. Try to avoid using randomly sized boxes just because they are free.
- Measure each room in your new home to know if your furniture will fit. If not, have a garage sale, sell it on Craigslist, or donate it. There is no point in hauling it to your new home.
- Keep like with like and pack one room at a time to avoid any miscellaneous unlabeled boxes.
- Don’t overpack boxes especially your dishes and books. One person should easily be able to lift a box.
- Keep valuables close to you during the move and use proper packing material. Using old newspapers and your own linens saves money and they are great for packing.
- Keep a basic excel inventory sheet with the number of boxes and a short description of what’s inside each numbered box. Keep this with your binder.
- Create a simple color coded moving legend for all of your boxes. Each room gets a different colored dot (see photo above). This makes for easier unpacking. Make copies of this legend so your movers and family know how to properly unload.
- Load the boxes of things you will need right away at the very end. Label these boxes “Open First”.
- Throughout the packing process make sure to weed through your belongings and donate the items you no longer need.
Moving Day
- Make sure to pack overnight bags for your entire family for the first night at your new place. Think about clothing, toiletries, a shower curtain and hooks, and bedding. If you have kids make sure to have a few things to keep them entertained before, during, and after the move.
- Rest the night before and take some down time with your family.
- Pack a cooler for the day of with snacks, lunch, and plenty of bottled water. If you have friends and family coming to help make sure to feed them too.
Happy Moving!
Thanks to A Bowl Full of Lemons for letting us use their beautiful photos from their post “How to Organize Your Move“! Check out their website for more great organizing ideas.