There aren’t many events in life that can be more stressful than moving house. Between hunting for a new home, putting in offers with sellers, dealing with the sale of your current home, arranging moving dates, packing, hiring removal firms, decorating, and packing; there is a lot to do. It can take months of hard work, and it can leave you feeling physically and emotionally drained.
Getting ahead of the process of moving involves some careful planning. Working out what you will do in the worst-case scenarios is also really important. Start everything as early as possible so that you are not rushing to do everything when it gets closer to the time.
Here are a few things to consider doing to take the stress out of the moving process.
List your old home
If you currently own your home, you are probably going to be selling up before you move. So get your home on the market first. Have a few valuations done on the property, and look at similar properties in your area.
Start boxing up items you don’t need so that your house looks less cluttered when it comes to potential buyers looking around. If there is any furniture that you no longer need, think about donating or selling it to make space.
Start hunting for a new place
Get out and look for a new home. It may take you some time to find the perfect property, so allow yourself plenty of time to look.
Planning for every eventuality
When you are selling and buying at the same time, there are lots of things that could go wrong. You will generally end up in a chain that includes the sales of the house owned by the people buying your home, and the purchase of a property by the owners of your new home. It can be very confusing and stressful. An estate agent can help you with the process, though.
You may have a gap between when you move out of your home and get the keys to the new place. During this time you might want to put your items into self storage and then go and stay with a friend, or in a hotel.
Packing and unpacking
If you, or anyone you know, works in any kind of retail or warehousing environment, they may have access to cardboard boxes that would otherwise be destined for recycling. If you can get these for free, it can save you quite a bit of money on buying boxes to pack your possessions into.
Make sure and label all boxes as you back. You’ll need to include the room that the contents are from, what is actually in there, as well as instructions on which way up it should be, and if it is fragile. Make sure you securely tape the box so that it doesn’t break when it is being carried.
Get some bubble wrap for all of your more delicate possessions and make sure you pack these carefully.