Moving home has got to be one of the most stressful events you will face in your adult life. From the moment you pack the first item in a box, your life is turned upside down. Organising movers, cleaners and essential deliveries can feel like a balancing act. But the good news is there are steps you can take to minimise your stress.
The key to a stress-free move is planning. Once you have a plan in place, you’ll know that everything is going to progress smoothly. And if something unexpected happens, you’ll be better placed to handle it because everything else will be under control. Here are our top tips for keeping stress to a minimum and making sure your move goes smoothly.
1. Accept that it’s a stressful process
While we’d all love for moving to be a fun experience, the upheaval is always going to come with an element of stress. Make peace with the fact that moving house is stressful and then commit to doing everything you can to make it go smoothly. If you’re losing sleep over things that might never even happen, you’re only going to find moving house even harder.
2. Declutter
Do you still have that one box filled with odds and ends from the last time you moved? Moving items that you no longer need is a futile task. Start the moving process by having a declutter. Donate items that you no longer want or need and then try to recycle everything else. If there are items that you don’t really need but you don’t want to get rid of just yet, consider self storage as an interim solution.
3. Organise and pack
Try to pack your items by room and always mark what is in the box before sealing it. When the time comes to unpack your boxes, you will know exactly where everything is and where it needs to be. By organising as you go, you can make light work of unpacking as you won’t be sorting through things at the other end. This can be a great opportunity to declutter if you haven’t already done so.
4. Put items in storage
If you’re downsizing to a smaller place, there is no sense in moving all of your possessions straight away. Get a self storage unit so that you can get non-essential items out of the way while you get settled. Once you have a better idea of how much storage space you have, you can either move things out of your storage unit, or keep the storage unit so that your home doesn’t become too cluttered.
5. Hire professionals
Professional movers will make life so much easier. They will handle all of the heavy lifting and transportation. No more hiring a van and asking friends and family to help you move heavy boxes. With professional movers, such as our man & van service in Chipping Norton, you can sit back and relax on moving day. This will also mean you can get started unpacking straight away as you won’t be exhausted from moving.
6. Pack an “essentials” bag
When you’re moving house, you’ll quickly get used to saying “where on earth is the…” On moving day, make your life a little less stressful by making up a bag of essentials that you can move from one house to the next. This might include tea bags, milk and your favourite mug. Or you might want to include some healthy snacks to keep hunger at bay. Also things like towels, washing up liquid, toilet paper and soap can be useful to have at both properties.
These are just some of the ways you can take some of the stress out of moving house. Remember that the stress won’t last forever and you will soon be settled into your new home.
