Have a less stressful move with six of the BEST Moving Ideas and Tips! Plus try a sample page of my new Moving Printable Planner Set.
I’m no military wife, but my husband is in construction…and a lot of times that means we move where the job is. My daughter moved four times by the time she was five, and we just added one more move this year when we moved out of our Arizona Home. I’m not saying I’m an expert, but I got pretty dang good at moving…so I decided to give you Six of the BEST Moving Ideas and Tips to make YOUR MOVE as seamless as possible.
Moving Ideas and Tips – Pre-moving planning
Before you get your boxes packed, there are some things you can do to make your move a lot easier!
1. Plan ahead
I won’t say it will be easy because moving is the absolute worst. By the end of this move I was throwing random stuff in boxes. If only I had my Moving Printables BEFORE the move…but I think they ended up better (for you) because I knew exactly what to fix in the moving process.
You can download a sample page of this printable FREE, or get the whole set for only $5.79! You can download the freebie or the whole set by clicking ADD to cart below, then checking out.
These printables are designed to help you plan ahead with your move.
- Plan your move at least six weeks out, the countdown from there. At about six weeks, you’ll probably want to get out of a lease or talk to a realtor about your current home. You can also start de-cluttering (see tip number 2) and packing up any unnecessary items.
- Schedule your moving dates. What day do you want to finish packing, what’s your move out and move in dates? What days will you pack up each room?
- Figure out when you need to start and stop your utilities.
If you have a plan and you start packing and reorganizing early, you’ll thank yourself later!
2. DE-CLUTTER before you pack
You can do this step without having any boxes or a move date. We had a whirlwind move this time. My husband interviewed the week before Christmas which is when we decided to move. Then, we had family over the week of Christmas, went out of town the week of New Years and then had a week to move.
It was INCREDIBLY stressful…but it was less so because I spent a lot of time de-cluttering the months before. I didn’t know for sure that we were moving, but I had an idea my husband would change jobs, so we were planning ahead. We tackled the kids’ rooms first and gave all the toys they didn’t play with our clothes they didn’t fit in to Goodwill, then I went through my closet and craft room.
If I hadn’t done some de-cluttering, there’s no way we could have celebrated Christmas the way we did…so do yourself a favor and start de-cluttering right away!
Moving Tips and Ideas – Packing Stage
Now that you’ve planned and de-cluttered…it’s time for the hard part! Not gonna lie…this part sucks, but keep these tips in mind to make it less sucky 😉
3. Tackle the Hardest Projects First
My first project is always the kitchen because it has the most breakables. Then it was my office and craft room. Once those were finished, the rest of the house was much easier.
Want to make sure you don’t have any breakables during the move? Check out the next tip!
3. Keep Track with Box numbers
I know many moving companies will pack your boxes for you, but after having 4 broken furniture pieces in our last move…I’m SO glad we packed our own boxes. I had one bowl with a crack and with like a billion dishes, that’s not too bad.
Another bonus to packing your own boxes is that you’ll be able to organize them better. The moving box labels from my moving planner have a spot for a box number. If you are having troubles remembering where your item is, you can find it on your room packing list – because it should correlate with your box number. Super handy!
Now, since I move a lot, I end up keeping a lot of my moving supplies…so I opt for bubble wrap and Styrofoam dish wraps. If you want something more green, sub these items for paper and cardboard. I highly recommend saving your items even if you don’t plan to move again – if a family ever needs moving supplies, they can always go to you!
Check out the image above to see how I pack my dishes and bowls to keep them break free!
4. Keep aside Must Have Items
Lest you think I have it all together…when we got to our new house I realized we had no silverware, but I found my measuring spoons…so that’s how my son ate his cereal the first morning…with a teaspoon.
So, I recommend labeling some boxes with OPEN FIRST labels to make sure you have those things set aside.
You should already have some luggage packed if you’re moving far away – luggage should include all your toiletries, but your OPEN FIRST box should have things that you MUST open for that first day. That’s different for everyone, so make sure you keep a list of everything you’ll need in that first box.
For some people it could be a modem and office supplies. For us…it was definitely the silverware.
You can find an open first label in my moving planner, among other handy labels like fragile, heavy, important, etc.
Moving Ideas and Tips – Once you get there
5. Plan a Day or Two of Rest
I got a HORRIBLE cough while we were moving. I was pretty sure it was bronchitis and I was miserable – like wishing I could trade moving and a cough for a newborn miserable. Luckily, things worked out so that I got two days of rest during the drive and then another two while we waited for our movers. This allowed me to recover from whatever I had and I could tackle moving into our new home.
6. Pull off the band aid – unpack as fast as you can
I have a few boxes in storage, but when we unpack we try to do it the first week we move in. I also decorate as much as I can that first two weeks. My office and pantry? I finished those a month after we moved in.
Trust me…I’m not super woman and definitely not the most organized person in the world…I’m not even the most organized person in my house! But I was feeling extremely sorry for myself after leaving my beautiful home and moving into a rental.
Unpacking and decorating right away made me feel more at home much faster than if I’d left boxes all over the place. I had emotional clutter…I didn’t need actual clutter on top of that.
So I’m not telling you to unpack so you can have the perfect home…I’m telling you to unpack so you can start getting comfortable and moving on with your life. Isn’t moving a new beginning, after all?
If you have a move coming up, make sure you get the new Moving Planner! Goodness knows I wish I had it!
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