5 Worth It Ways to Make Moving Out Hassle-Free
Well, less of a hassle, anyway. Moving into a place can be a lot of fun, but moving out, is nothing less than torture. Here are five laws, that, if you can stick to them, will make moving much less hellacious.
1. Don’t pack for the home you have, pack for the home you’re going to have
What? Okay think about this way. You look around your current home and all the stuff that has to be hauled away and you might mentally decide how you’re going to organize it all in boxes. But back up. Don’t look at your current home and the way it’s organized or currently arranged to decide how to start boxing things. Think about your future home and how it will be arranged as a guide for how you should organize your moving boxes. More than likely the bathroom items that are packed up in one home will translate to the next bathroom, but, for example, there might be key differences in where things like books, clothing or craft supplies might be displayed or stored. Thinking ahead will help make the unpacking much less of a hassle.
2. Be completely packed before the moving truck gets there
Pretty self-explanatory. Packing takes longer than you think it will (always), so plan ahead and get it done early. Don’t leave any packing to do at the last minute as the moving truck (or helpful friends) arrive at your house. You’ll be rushed, stressed and not making smart decisions that will lead to a longer unpacking time and potentially broken stuff.
3. Don’t try and do it alone
You can interpret this a lot of different ways. Don’t try and do the packing alone if you get easily overwhelmed — recruit friends and family to have fun while you do it. Definitely don’t try and move big or too-heavy objects by yourself (why risk breaking your stuff or your back)? And don’t hesitate to call in movers if you’ve got the budget for it. Ask for and take the help you need to make your move less of a hassle.
4. Know where stuff is going to go before it leaves
In the same vein as the “pack for your future home” advice above, don’t just instruct the movers to dump all the boxes in one spot in the living room. Spend a little bit of time in your new home deciding a rough layout of big furniture pieces and what each room will be so that you can move your new stuff in the general area of where it goes in the new place.
5. Think through your “move last” supplies
You probably know to keep out your daily-use toiletries and a few outfits as you pack up your belongs. You might even have thought ahead to not pack your cleaning supplies so you can clean the old place before you leave. But everyone’s “move last” supplies are different, so before you even tape up one box, think through what you might need. Pet supplies? Bourbon? Set this stuff aside early and make it easily accessible as you move through the moving process.