Moving can be one of the most stressful periods of your life. Whether you are moving across the country or across the street, there’s a lot to think of, plan, and do before you can begin living your new life in your new place. These 10 tips for packing and moving will make your move to a new home less stressful.
Even though it might feel like a time of complete chaos, that’s a lot you can do before your big moving day that will make the entire process easier. Below are our best packing and moving tips to save you the stress and headache and keep you sane in the chaos.
1. PLAN FOR YOUR NEW HOME
Before you even begin packing your boxes, make a floor plan of your new home placing your furniture and other belongings in the plan. This will allow you to make a definitive plan about what you’re taking and what you’re not.
2. SELL OR DONATE
Moving requires enough back-breaking work without having to realize you don’t want something as soon as you’ve moved it. After making your floor plan, make plans to either sell or donate your unwanted items before you even leave your old place. Look into places such as Facebook Marketplace or a local organization that helps people furnish homes as they get back on their feet.
3. LOCATE YOUR IMPORTANT PAPERS
There’s always a chance that once things are packed away, it might be some time before you see them again or can get to them easily. Before you start packing, gather together all of your important personal and family records like medical and school records, legal and financial documents, birth certificates, and passports. Put them in a special place of their own that doesn’t get packed away in case they need to be quickly accessed.
4. BEGIN GATHERING SUPPLIES EARLY
It’s going to take time to get the right amount of supplies you will need to move. Start gathering boxes early. To save money, visit local liquor stores to see if they have any discarded boxes you could use. Boxes that liquor bottles are shipped in tend to be heavy, durable, and small enough to manage easily. Also stock up on packing tape, permanent markers, and newspaper or bubble wrap to wrap your fragile belongings in.
5. SCHEDULE UTILITIES
Moving is stressful, yes, but it’s also expensive. Make sure you’re not spending a nickel more on utilities at your old house by calling your utility companies well ahead of time to schedule disconnection. While you’re at it, make sure you schedule connections at your new place as well. It will be a long first night in a new home without power or Wi-Fi.
6. OVERWHELMED? START WITH THE DECOR
Start packing any decorative items in your home first since chances are you won’t “need” them close at hand for any reason.
7. ORGANIZE YOUR BELONGINGS BEFORE YOU PACK
While it’s tempting to just start throwing everything in a box to be done with it, organizing your belongings prior to putting them in that box will save you lots of time and headache later when you go to unpack. Go the extra mile and number all of your boxes and keep a Google Doc with a list of everything that’s in that box. That way if you’re looking for something specific before everything is unpacked, you’ll be able to find it immediately.
8. BEGIN EATING ALL PERISHABLE FOODS
A lot of time and strength is used to transport food you already have to your new place. Begin finding recipes that will use up most of your perishable or frozen foods before you move to avoid having to make special arrangements to keep it cold in the moving truck.
9. SET ASIDE THE IMPORTANT STUFF
There are some essentials you’ll need during your moving day, and they will probably be the last thing that’s loaded in before you head out to your new home. Pack a special box of cleaning supplies that you’ll need in your old home and perhaps right away in your new one.
Chances are you won’t be unpacking right away. Pack an overnight bag for yourself that will include a change of clothes, essential toiletries, and medications. Finally, don’t forget to pack a small cooler with water and snacks to keep you hydrated and nourished during the long day of moving.
10. MAKE YOUR BED FIRST
You have had a long day. You’re about to have a long next couple of days as you get your life unpacked and reorganized. Make sure that the first thing you do before you even hang a curtain in your new home is to set up and make your bed. When you hit your threshold of exhaustion that night, you won’t have to worry about finding your sheets and doing it then.
HOW CAN CALLBOX HELP YOU MOVE AND/OR PACK?
In an ideal world, you would be able to empty your old house and move everything into your new one before you begin the process of selling. However, most people who move find themselves in the situation where they have to sell their home before they can purchase their new one. This requires an extra layer of planning and logistics as you prepare the home you’re living in to look appealing to buyers.
Dallas Lifestyle Blogger Neely from It Starts With Coffee found herself in this very situation and wrote about her experience using Callbox. Neely used Callbox’s expert services to catalog, pick up, and store the extra belongings in her home that she needed to store in order to make her home more appealing to buyers. As Neely put it, “Potential buyers don’t want to see family pictures, knick-knacks, etc. They want to be able to imagine what it will look like with their stuff.” And that’s where Callbox comes in.
Callbox is the full service storage solution that takes the headache out of self-storage. When you sign up with Callbox, our professionals will catalog all the belongings you are storing and take pictures of them. They will then pack them into their truck and transport them to our secure storage facility. If you need an item back, you will never have to step foot in a storage unit. Instead, find the item you need from the picture inventory and request it. You can then schedule our free and speedy delivery service where we will bring you your requested item at absolutely no charge.
Callbox is taking the hassle out of getting your house ready for selling or storing the items you are not quite ready to part with but do not have the space to store. If you’re in the Dallas – Fort Worth, Austin, Houston, or Phoenix areas looking to sell your home or you’re in the process of moving, make contacting Callbox one of the first things you do to put a little convenience in a process that can be anything but.
Better than self storage.
We pick up. We store. We deliver back.
