Have a Moving Plan
It doesn’t matter if you are buying a new home or selling your home now is a great time to carefully sort through your possessions to dispose of any clothes, dishes, home decorations, furniture, fixtures, yard ornaments, equipment, etc that you no longer want or need.
Start separating into 4 sections:
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- Keep it – these are items that you will want to keep and take with you.
- Throw away – these are items that might be broken, so old no one could benefit from it, torn, etc.
- Garage Sale – If you are needing to raise money to pay off a credit card, add to the down payment, or maybe you need to paint your home or know that you will need to paint your new place having a garage sale will bring in some extra cash for those areas of your life you might feel needs a little cash flow coming in. Then what you don’t sell donate.
- Donate it – when adding to this section think about the person who might receive it. Would it benefit you, bring you joy, make you feel special, be helpful and useful. Then this section should bring you a lot of joy in knowing whatever you donate will help someone else.
Ready to pack it up? Get organized. Organization is the key to you keeping your sanity. If you are packing your home up yourself you will need to make a list of tools that will help you and we have helped you start that list below.
You can buy a lot of the supplies on this list at a moving company, a store such as Office Depot, Office Max, UPS, Wal-Mart, Target, etc as well as specialized items including wardrobe boxes for clothing and heavy-duty boxes for china and other breakables. Liquor and computer stores also are good sources for sturdy boxes.
You should start collecting the following materials:
- Boxes of all sizes
- Plastic bags
- Non-shredded newspapers
- Packing tape
- Sharpie pen
- Bubble wrap
- Tissue paper
Packing 101—A few guidelines:
- Make a decision on how you will label your boxes – Kitchen, Bedroom, Bath, etc. Make sure you know who the box belongs to – a child, etc.,
- Cushion the bottom and sides of boxes first
- Packed items should not exceed 30 pounds
- When packing, go room by room – it will make unpacking easier
- Start in the room least used and then start moving through the house to pack things you won’t need for a few weeks.
- Begin your packing as early in the moving process as you can – it will take longer than you think at a time when you’ll be busy with many other concerns
- Pack heavy items in smaller boxes and lighter items in larger boxes
- Thoroughly wrap your breakables in bubble wrap, newsprint paper, paper towels or clothing, placing them in dresser drawers, containers with lids, large cans, etc.
- Tape cords underneath all electrical appliances or label them.
- Don’t tape furniture, doors and drawers, as tape can cause damage; instead, use rope, elastic or long strips of fabric to secure furniture
- If you have children, let them feel they are a part of the process by helping them pack their toys
On moving day…
Fill one box with moving-day essentials like paper plates, a coffee maker and coffee, hand tools and extension cords, a bucket, rags, soaps, toilet paper, dog essentials, kid essentials, and paper towels.
It will also help if you set aside a few days’ worth of clothing, food and other essentials you’ll need prior to arriving at your new home and prior to unpacking.
When moving in it is a good idea to have the boxes put in the garage in room sections so you don’t feel overwhelmed wit hall the boxes in the house. If you want to put the boxes in the house makes sure you set up an area of the room to stack them so you don’t have the clutter every and feel overwhelmed.
And, remember this is a new chapter of your life – don’t rush it, enjoy the process and involve the kids. If you feel you and your family need a break go explore your neighborhood, meet your neighbors, explore the parks.
