7 Things to Remember for a Smooth Moving Experience

Moving into a new home is exciting, but we all know that it can be a pretty overwhelming and stressful experience too.

To put it simply, there’s a lot to plan and a lot that can go wrong.

However, having a smooth and easy moving experience is possible if you have the right plans and systems in place. This post will take a look at the seven most important things you need to remember if you want to get through this experience unscathed.

Plan Ahead

The first and most important step to a move is to plan and organize the whole thing. It might sound silly, but sitting down with a pen and paper a few weeks ahead of time will really save you a few headaches.

Make sure to plan your moving budget, your timeline, a list of any additional purchases you need to make (or things you might want to sell or donate), and services you need to schedule like movers or professional cleaners. Having a big master list of tasks and due dates for each of them will help you stay on track and keep your brain from imploding.

Let Professionals Lead the Way

While we know that professional movers might not be in everyone’s budget, we definitely recommend hiring someone to help you if you can afford it. Hiring a reliable local moving company like Bellhop Moving will take a load of stress off your shoulders, and allow you to focus on the finer details.

You can hire moving services for the whole process (packing, moving, and unpacking) or you might just bring on some help for the heavy lifting and choose to handle the rest yourself. Hiring a cleaning company for once all of your stuff is out of your old place can also be a major time and energy saver.

Create a Floor Plan Before You Move In

The fact that there’s more planning on this list shouldn’t surprise you. Moving day can be a whirlwind, and you don’t want to be frantically dumping furniture and boxes into random places only to have to reorganize everything later.

As soon as you have the keys to the new place, take a visit and develop a game plan for what will go where. Try to decide where beds, couches, and rugs will fit best so that you don’t find yourself having to shift things later on. Let the movers put everything in place the first time.

Notify Important Parties

Aside from all the physical labor, moving also requires a lot of administrative work that can be tedious and annoying, but it needs to get done no matter how much you postpone it.

One of the most important things you need to consider is that there are a lot of people to notify when your address changes. From your employer to your bank, there are institutions that need to have your updated details, and it’s your responsibility to inform them of the changes. It’s best to do this before the chaos ensues.

Take Care of Utilities and Services

If you don’t get the utilities and services organized before the big moving day, you’ll end up kicking yourself later. Nobody wants to finish up with moving all their stuff into their new home, tired and sweaty, only to realize that there’s no running water for a hot shower at the end of the day.

Make sure to contact the necessary people to ensure that your utilities are connected at your new place as well as disconnected at the old one.

Pack an Essentials Bag

Since there will be so much going on when you’re moving, you need to make sure you have what we like to call a Moving Day Survival Kit, that’s packed with all the essentials you might need.

This includes 2-3 sets of comfortable clothes (remember not to pack everything up in boxes), snacks, painkillers, your toothbrush, any documents you need for the move, and anything else you think you might need.

Pack an “Open First” Box

Another essential you need is an “open first” box. This box should be the last thing you pack up on moving day, and it should contain all the things you’ll need in order to easily and comfortably settle into your new place on the first night.

Clean linen and pillows, some mugs, plates and utensils, basic cleaning supplies, your toolkit, and any toiletries that didn’t make it into the essentials bag. Having easy access to this box on your first night will feel like putting a bandage on a sore wound.