Home Moving Tips for Busy People
Moving house is a highly involved process - and the big day always seems to creep up on you from nowhere!
If you’re busy juggling a hectic family life, your job and any other commitments, it can seem like there’s no time to prepare for your move. Stress can build up, and last minute problems can completely derail any vague plans you originally had.
However, it doesn’t have to be this way! Follow this handy busy person’s guide to home moving to see how you can make things as smooth and easy for yourself as possible.
Plan Carefully
If you want things to go without a hitch, planning is everything. To make the most of any time you have to spare, you should create a clear schedule. This should make note of the times each member of your household is available, and what they could get done in that period.
Your first step should be to go around your home and take an inventory of all the items you’ll be taking with you to your new place, so you won’t need to be fretting about where things are at the other end. It will also help to plan well in advance so you can budget your house move more efficiently.
If you’re doing a big declutter before the move, why not take note of all the items you are planning to keep as you go along and create the inventory that way?
It’s a good idea to get hold of plenty of crates or boxes that can be easily labelled so that items for each room will stay together securely and can be easily found later.
Make sure that you don’t underestimate the time it will take you to undertake each task involved in the move. It’s best to spread jobs out over a longer period to make sure you aren’t stressed or rushed than to try and work to the tightest possible deadlines.
It may take a couple of days to pack up the items in a single room - depending on the amount and nature of the items involved - so don’t fool yourself into thinking it can be done in an hour.
Allow a little contingency time too, in case anything goes wrong or something needs to be reorganised.
Assign Tasks
Try not to do absolutely everything yourself. If possible, enlist the help of other members of your household where possible - or, if you’re on your own, see if you can tempt a few friends to be involved by offering them a home cooked meal or some other way of making it up to them!
Make sure everyone knows what their job is, and that you have at least one other person available to help whenever there’s heavy lifting to do!
With multiple hands on deck, the process will be over much more quickly and easily than if you had attempted it all on your own.
Consider Waste Disposal
Waste disposal can be one of the biggest challenges of a house move. Try to be as organised as possible when planning what is going to happen to the items you don’t want anymore.
Why not arrange unwanted items into piles in a clear room - one pile for charity donations and the other for throwing away? Add to these piles as you go from room to room packing. Once you’ve finished, you’ll only need to do one trip to make your donations.
If your junk pile is particularly large, don’t worry! An easy way to remedy this is to hire a skip. Skips come in sizes as small as 2 cubic yards, and you can even organise with the supplier to correspond with the local council so you can place one on the pavement outside your home.
Skips Make it Easier To:
- Get rid of all of your waste in one go
- Keep waste safely contained
- Prevent time-consuming trips to the tip or other waste disposal sites
- Recycle as much of your waste as possible
Many skip companies have a policy of sorting through the waste they receive and disposing of it in the most environmentally friendly way possible, so very little will go to landfill.
Use a Removal Company
You may not have time to keep driving backwards and forwards from your new property with carfulls of belongings - but that’s no problem; removal companies exist to do just that on your behalf.
You can reduce the amount of time and effort you’re forced to spend loading up, transporting and unloading items by hiring a trusted moving service. These specialists will treat your items with care, and - because they tend to use large vans or lorries - it can take as little as one trip.
Research your New Area
One of the most frustrating periods of moving house is the time spent muddling your way to and from your new home when you don’t know the area well.
Before you travel, be sure to look up the best route - including the likelihood of heavy traffic, roadworks or other issues.
It’s also a great idea to search for supermarkets, hardware stores, garages and other handy amenities nearby and keep a list of their addresses to hand so you aren’t caught out.
Don’t Forget About Unpacking
The move doesn’t end when the last item leaves the van! Unless you want to live among boxes for the next few months, it’s best to get everything unpacked as soon as possible - before busy everyday life gets in the way.
As before, consider giving each member of your household a task when it comes to unpacking and organising your new home so that everything happens quickly and easily.
By following the above easy moving hints and tips, you should be able to enjoy a slick and stress free transition to your new property without work and other responsibilities getting in the way too much.
The more organised you are, the sooner you’ll be able to put your feet up and enjoy life in your new place.
