Moving Tips

Most know the thrill and excitement that comes with moving into a new home. But, those moving also know the stress that comes with packing up boxes and saying goodbye.

With so many things to remember when moving, keeping a checklist will help you stay organized. A detailed list should include everything from disconnecting your internet and utilities to making sure you have plenty of help for the moving day

Learn more useful tips for an easier, less stressful move

1. Create a Packing Calendar

Organize your move efficiently by developing, then adhering to, a packing calendar. Identify what needs to be moved, then identify reasonable deadlines to complete each packing task.

2. Sort Through Your Things Early

A fantastic way to make packing and moving easier is to downsize your belongings.

Many people don’t realize the number of things they own but don’t use. Therefore, when moving day comes, they have an overwhelming amount of unneeded stuff to bring to the new house.

Avoid this dilemma. Sort through your household items as soon as you know you are moving. Tackle one room at a time by dividing things into three categories: keep, donate and discard.

Take the items you no longer need to a center nearby donation center or make arrangements to sell or give them away online.

3. Start Packing Well in Advance

Don’t wait until the last minute to start packing. Start at least a month before the move.

Start with the largest rooms in your home. Pack everything you won’t need in the next several weeks. This includes seasonal items, home decor, books, and anything you’re not using.

4. Make a List for Every Room

Make a list of things for every room in the house. As you pack your boxes, make a note of all the items for that particular box. Then, tape up the box and label it appropriately.

If you’re packing your child’s rooms, write the child’s name as well as the general contents of the box.

When you unpack at your new home, use this list to confirm that all the items are there.

5. Pack an Essentials Box for Moving Day

Your personalized essentials box should contain everything you need during the last few days in your old home, the trip to your new home, and the first several days in your new residence.

Include things like pajamas, a change of clothes, toiletries, medications, towels, soap, and electronics chargers. If you have small kids, include a few of their favorite toys, and if you have pets include some food, water bowls, and leash.

A small tool kit, snacks, and water bottles will also come in handy. You won’t want to waste time combing through boxes at your new home to find what you need.

6. Touch Base With Your Moving Company

Check in with your movers a few days before your scheduled move. Moving days are chaotic, and with so many people hurrying around, you need to make sure your movers are on schedule.

7. Secure Special Help for Moving Day

Make sure you have help lined up for moving day. Arrange for someone to watch over your kids and pets to keep them safe and out of harm’s way.

8. Change Your Address

Remember to report your change of address to important institutions.

Notify your utility, phone, and internet companies, as well as banks, schools and medical professionals about your address change.

Inform the USPS about your new address, so mail is forwarded to your new home. Also, cancel or redirect magazine subscriptions or monthly deliveries.

9. Complete a Final Check

Before you leave your empty house, make a final check.

Write down final meter readings for your water, gas, and electricity. Reinspect each room to make sure everything is cleared out. Double check that the windows are locked and faucets and appliances are turned off.

Make sure you check outside too. Give the garage and shed a final look as well.

Are You Ready for Your Move?

Need help moving? Let us help! Contact us for a free quote and check out our blog for useful moving tips!

Screaming and crying. Tantrums.

Helping kids when they’re upset is hard. It tries your patience, and if they’re little enough, they can’t even tell you what they want.

Although fewer Americans move now than in the past, it’s still a big transition. Moving with little ones doesn’t have to be the end of the world. Help them understand what a move is and how things will change.

Here are some tips to ease the transition.

Talk It Through

Prepare your kids by talking with them about the move, before and during the process. It helps them know what to expect.

Read picture books about moving with your child to help ready them as well.

Discuss the move with them openly and allow them to express their feelings about it. Your child might feel scared, sad, confused, or maybe even excited. Talk about your feelings and let them know how you are feeling. Try to approach the discussion positively.

Then on moving day, reflect on the earlier discussion you had with your child.

Pack Their Things Last

Make sure your child’s familiar things like favorite toys are set out and get loaded last. This will make the transition easier.

Explain as you pack up their room and toys that you are not throwing them away, but packing them for the move.

Loading their items last means they get to see them until the end, and that way they’re on top when you get to your destination.

Set Up Their Room First

The first thing to take care of when setting up a new home is to get your child’s room ready.

Try to arrange it similarly to his old room. If his bed had a sightline to the door, try to place it in a similar position in his new room.

Keep familiar bedding the same for now. Organize toys and books on the shelves the same way. Perhaps take a little time to hang the artwork that was on your child’s room in the previous house.

So, even if the rest of the house is in a chaotic state your child’s room is a comfortable, familiar spot. They’ll feel more calm with the same regular bedtime things all around them. They’ll forget that the rest of the house is different, at least until morning.

Establish a Routine

Even though you will have the complicated, time-consuming task of unpacking all your boxes in your new home, keep regular mealtimes and bedtimes the best you can.

It’s important to establish a routine for your child as soon as you get to your new home. Young children, in particular, thrive on routine and predictability, so getting the family back into the swing of the normal daily activities is essential.

Getting Settled

Whether you’re talking about the move, packing up your child’s room, or setting everything up in a new house, you can help your child make an easy transition. Stick to your regular routines at bedtime, and they’ll feel more at home.

If moving with a little one seems like too much to handle on your own, get the help you need today. Request a free quote from Community Moving & Storage and let us do the heavy lifting so you can focus on your family.

Moving is an emotional roller coaster.

On the one hand, the future and your new home await you. There’s an excitement about it.

On the other hand, however, you have to say goodbye to everything you’ve known for years. You have to say farewell to your safe haven.

With the back and forth of selling a home and moving to a new one, you don’t need any more mental or emotional stress.

Finding the right way of saying farewell to a home that commemorates your time there and allows you to walk away without regrets, is something most people don’t take the time to do.

Read on for four tips for saying farewell to a home!

1. Take Pictures

Before you move out, get family and good friends together and take plenty of pictures around the house.

If certain rooms are especially meaningful to you, try to capture the essence of why they are special. For example, if you proposed to your wife in the foyer of the house, recreate the moment and snap a picture of it!

Take pictures of every room as it is before you start packing. Get a separate photo album for all your images, so you have a designated spot for them. This is an excellent way of saying farewell to a home and creating a book full of memories!

2. Leave a Letter to the New Owners

While not everyone enjoys writing or reaching out to others, leaving a loving note for the new homeowners is a heartfelt way of saying farewell to your old home.

This is a great platform to tell them everything you love about the house and all the quirks that make it unique. If you’d like, this is also a good way of offering up tips about any special needs the house requires each year.

To make it extra special, leave the note with a gift basket and a bottle of champagne!

3. Saying Farewell to a Home with a House-Cooling Party

Everyone knows of house-warming parties. However, a house-cooling party is a fun and memorable way of saying farewell to a home.

Before you move out, invite all your friends and family over for one last hurrah!

However, don’t let things get too out of hand or you’ll find yourself with quite the cleanup job right before you leave! Of course, the house-cooling party can be followed up with a house-cleaning party the next weekend!

4. Take a Memento

Finally, if you feel like you will always miss this particular home, take a piece of it with you.

Perhaps grab some flowers from the garden and press them in a book for a remembrance. Or, maybe take a clipping from a plant or bush to start one just like it in your new place.

Helping Your Move Go Smoothly

Community Moving and Storage provides quality moving assistance to help you move your life or business as smoothly as possible.

We help people throughout the Tampa area with household moving, corporate moving, and flexible storage options.

Find out more about us here!