MOVING TIPS
6:56:00 PM
Hello friends! In my previous post, I’ve shared with you that
we moved in to a new house so I thought
I’d share with you my tips and tricks (nope! tips only) when you move in to a
new place. With all the
packing, moving, unpacking struggles, it may take away all the excitement and fun of being in to a new place. It takes months of preparation. When done right right,it will make the move to the new place a little less crazy. So let’s begin with the tips:
CREATE A TIMELINE
Create a timeline starting a couple of months before you need to move out to the time when you will exactly move in. There are a lot of things involved in moving like
changing mailing address, cleaning the old apartment, discussing the lease
terms, cleaning the new apartment and other things. Chances are a month is not enough especially if you are on business
as usual mode. So it better to plan ahead and allocate a particular day to
do a particular task. Ideally three months is enough but you can start as
early as you want.
PURGE BEFORE MOVING
You don’t want to bring a broken coffee maker to your new
house, so purge before moving. Three months before you move out, make
an inventory of all, literally ALL your stuffs and get rid of things you don’t want
to bring to your new place. Don’t do everything at the same time! It’s chaotic.
You can choose a particular location in your house, let say kitchen first and do the
purging for one day. Next day, do the living room and so on. See also if you have duplicates,
unused items and decide to get rid of them. If you haven’t use it in your current
apartment, chances are you will not use it too to the new one so why burden,
packing it moving and unpacking it again. Please don’t
get trapped to “What is if I will need it in the future” mindset. You will not
need it, and if in rare case you do, then you have a good reason to buy a new
one.
PLAN YOUR PACKING STRATEGY
You will see different packing strategy all over internet. Some
suggest packing like items (toiletries together, CDS & DVDs together etc),
some says pack according to rooms (Kitchen, Living Room, Mommy Room, Daddy room
etc.) and some will say pack according to weight. There’s no rules
here only guidelines. So pack according to your needs and stick to that
guidelines. For me, I pack according to type of stuffs: kitchen stuffs
together, living room stuffs together, clothes together, toiletries together. With
this strategy, you will be able to know which box needs more careful attention,
which box you can squeeze into the truck. For me, I used my travelling bags and
back packs to pack our clothes, anyway this bags will go to rooms as well. I use
boxes for the appliances and other things. Last and most important, LABEL your
boxes. Write on it so you know what’s inside and indicate where room should it go
and if its fragile or not. That way your trucking personnel will know how to
handle your things.
PLAN WHERE TO PUT STUFFS
Now have a visual mapping of your new place and start
planning where you want to put things. Start with the big ones like refrigerator
in the kitchen, dining table, couch, beds and other furniture. It will be
better if you can measure your big furniture and appliances so you are sure
that they will fit. But don’t stress to measure everything. Sometimes, you can
only decide where to put what when they are actually there so never mind
measuring in that case.
PLAN UNPACKING STRATEGY
Here’s mine. Unload all boxes from the truck and had them
put the boxes on where they should be such as kitchen, living room and bedroom.
We have 3 bedrooms but I instructed them to put all bedroom related to one
particular room and others without labels, put it also to that room. Now you
have to select two place in your house. One, choose a place where you will
sleep and clean that place first. Two, choose a room or a particular corner
where you will put unopened boxes. In my case, I choose the master bedroom as a
place to sleep and my son’s bedroom as a place for unopened boxes. If you are
able to set this two place, you will have that level of sanity that even if you
will not finish unpacking, you have a place to keep things in order and a room
to rest with.
CONTACT THE NEAREST TRUCKING
Contact the nearest trucking provider because they will
provide a cheaper rate. Coordinate with them your plans and make sure to
coordinate with them the correct address. Our place is located in the boundary
of two town, but we are registered to a farther town but when I explain to the
trucking that we are in the boundary between towns, they gave us lower fees, so
be sure to check that.
GET HELP
We moved with a one year old baby. Moving will be difficult
to have a baby around(in between diaper change and snacking, who wants that?)
so we asked for my mom’s help. Don’t hesitate to get help from families and
friends and just make sure to give them a good treat as a way of saying thank
you.
PLAN MEALS FOR THE DAY
This we almost forgot to plan. Meals. You will be hungry,
trucking personnel will be hungry and your families whom you asked for help
will be hungry and you have no kitchen ready remember? So plan your meals. The quickest
solution is to schedule food delivery or find the nearest restaurant but keep
this on your list and you’ll thank me
for one less headache on moving day!
PACK A DAY BAG
Have a bag that contains a toiletry good for one day,
clothing good for one day, charger, add some snacks and stuffs you can’t live
without. Chances are you will not finish unpacking in one day and you don’t want
to be searching all the boxes just to find your toothbrush. So prepare a day
bag like when you’re going on a one day travel and that will save the day.
For those who find difficulty in organzing your home, I want to help. Send me an email at info@romanelle.com and let me know your organizing problems and I will give my best to help you. Talk to you again next time.
6 comments
Hi! Thanks for sharing this wonderful tips
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