Top 10 Tips for a Stress Free Move

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Moving can be the most stressful time! Packing up everything in your life and trying to keep it all straight can be super crazy! Add kids and/or pets into the mix and it’s total chaos. 

 

When we were first married, we moved once a year for 4 years. We had some pretty easy moves, but we also had some really stressful ones as well. 

 

(If you read my post on getting organized you’ll know one particular move changed my way of life!) 

 

Because of that terrible moving experience, I took all the precautions I could to be as organized as possible when moving into our current home. 

 

After having Parker James almost 2 years ago, we were already feeling how cramped our house was feeling. Finally, we are getting things in order and plan to put the house on the market at the end of the summer! 

 

I’ve been doing a LOT of projects and organizing so I thought it would be helpful to share my top 10 moving tips for a stress free move! 

1. Start Small

I’m sure everyone has heard this before, but starting is truly the hardest part. 

 

You know deep down it’s such a massive project and it can be unbelievably intimidating. 

 

My advice to you is to just start. Make a phone call. Order some moving supplies. Clean out a drawer. 

 

Just do something!

 

This usually will get things “moving” and help you feel like you want to do more! 

 

It doesn’t have to be huge, just start! 

2. Choose 1 Thing Per Day

Going along with my last point of starting small, my goal when I started working on the house was to do one task per day that had to do with moving.

 

Whether it was just one shelf, one cabinet, one drawer. Basically, whatever I had time for! This, of course, led to one dresser and eventually one closet! 

 

On days I had time, I would work through a whole room. On days I had zero time, I would clean out one drawer while the kids ate breakfast. 

 

But I still did one thing a day! And progress is progress! 

3. Start WAY Before You Think You Need To

This project is going to take a while. 

 

If you’re putting your house up for sale or moving even in a few months, it’s not too early to start. 

 

When it gets closer to the move, you’ll already feel like you have to take a month off of work because there’s so much to do.

 

There are plenty of things you can do now to prepare!

 

Start taking down family pictures and home decor. Start packing seasonal items and clothing. Start packing baby items that you know you’re not ready to give away yet but you’re not using currently.

 

You catch my drift. 

 

Start with things you don’t need in the near future. You’ll be surprised how much you can get done by focusing on those categories. 

4. Use Plastic Wrap

Alright… hear me out on this one. (My husband thought I was CRAZY for this one during our last move until he saw how truly genius this is).

Plastic wrap anything you can when packing. 

Think of how furniture and other random items are packaged from factory to the store. They’re wrapped together with plastic wrap! 

I used plastic wrap just as much as I used boxes in our last move.

Instead of packing the clothes in our dresser drawers away in boxes, I simply removed them from the dresser and wrapped them with plastic wrap! 

When we got to the new house we just cut the plastic wrap off and slid the drawers back in! Easy peasey! 

You can do this with SO many things! 

Every toy basket or box that doesn’t have a lid, just wrap! Leave the handles out if it has any and you’ve got yourself an enclosed basket! 

I started doing this with other items too that were just too “odd” to throw in a box. I would wrap several random items together to be their own unit that was protected and easy to carry.

 

This was the same when it came to furniture too! 

For our dining room table, we took the legs off and wrapped them together as one “set”. Then we wrapped the set of legs underneath the table itself as one large unit. 

When we took down the crib, we wrapped all the pieces together in one compact “package”. It was SO much easier than carrying each piece and they were protected too!

Use plastic wrap!!

5. Cut Triangles in Sides of the Boxes

This sounds like a funny one too, but believe me it’s worth it!

 

Have you ever been carrying a box and said the words “it’s not heavy… it’s just awkward to carry!” That is probably because your box didn’t have handles.

 

When you’re packing a moving box, before you put anything in it, take your scissors or box cutter and slice a triangle on two opposite sides. 

 

Ta Da! …Handles! 

 

 

Once again, this sounds like such a silly suggestion… but I can’t tell you how much it made a difference when moving and how many people who helped us commented on them too! 

 

Which leads me to my next point…

6. Get Help!

I cannot stress this one enough! I know it can be hard to ask people for help but when it comes to deaths, weddings, moving or having a baby… you have the right to ask!!

 

You’ll not only need help loading your moving truck and unloading, but also with packing and cleaning! (Don’t forget someone to help with kiddos and pets!)

 

We are so blessed to be part of a church community that comes together when people move! 

 

One of my sweet friends came to the new house and cleaned my kitchen and bathrooms so it was nice and fresh before all of our things arrived.

 

If you’re worried about asking too much of people, I would suggest having two crews. A crew to load the truck at the old house and a crew to unload at the new. 

 

That way no one gets too worn out or “imposed upon”

 

If you can swing it, I would definitely suggest hiring a company to help you move. Even if it’s just a part of the move. 

 

I know some moving companies will pack everything for you, and then load and unload everything for you as well. (That’s the TOTAL package!) 

 

But if you’re like us and have help already, you may need them for just one item.

 

For example, when we moved to our current home, we hired a moving company to move our piano for us since it is extra heavy and being an instrument takes special care rather than just a dresser or something. 


Image: Moving Solutions

Moving Solutions in Nashville offers a variety of stress free services for you which can help you and your family! I appreciate that they want to help move even the heaviest of furniture including sofa’s, beds and pool tables too! They also offer all sorts of other moving help for those relocating in the Nashville area! Be sure to check them out!

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7. Master List

OK folks… Here’s the real stuff. Make. A. Master. List…

 

This is probably the most important thing in your move besides having a game plan of packing your things.

 

Many people go “old school” and write on the sides of the boxes the contents of the box.  But how will that be helpful if you can’t remember which room or which box contained that specific item…

 

When we moved to our current house, I had a master list of each box. Every time I packed a box, I wrote a number on it and which room it would go to at the new house. 

 

On my master list, (a good old fashioned clipboard with notebook paper) I would write the box number, the room it was headed to, and then listed the contents there.

 

This way, if I was searching for a specific item, I could skim through my list by room, find the item and the corresponding number on the side of the box. 

 

Game. Changer! 

 

This made unpacking a breeze as well! I knew which boxes carried the important items and which boxes could wait. 

 

After such an organized move, I will never go back to the old ways of writing a list on the side of the box! 

 

Not only is it more organized, it also is more secure. 

 

By writing only a number and the room on the side of the box, it keeps people from being tempted to rummage or even steal the box after reading the contents! 

 

For our current move, I’ve stepped up my game. There were several times in our last move I was worried I had misplaced my clipboard and the “all knowing” master list. 

 

For peace of mind and even further organization, I put my master list on a google spreadsheet!

 

This way I could access it on several different devices, I would never lose it, AND I can search for a specific word so much easier than flipping through a thousand pages of handwritten notes! 

 

So next time you move, make a master list! 

8. Make Four Piles

When you’re cleaning out those dressers and closets, have four different piles.

 

Grab several trash bags along with some tubs and/or moving boxes. The second trash bag is for things you’re just going to toss altogether. 

 

Make a trash bag to give away to Goodwill or wherever you choose to donate. 

 

Pack in tubs and boxes whatever can be packed away now for the move and keep out things that will still be needed until you move.

9. Find a Place to Stay

I’ll be honest. This one isn’t always possible. 

 

But if you can, find somewhere to stay during moving week. Even if for just 2-3 nights. 

 

We were able to stay with my folks several days before and after closing. This gave us the ability to use our old house like a storage locker. 

 

We didn’t have to worry about having a functioning kitchen or bedroom. We could tear down the beds and furniture and move it all as close to the front door as possible. 

 

By the time moving day rolled around, the friends that came to help just showed up and hauled things to the truck. They didn’t have to help us tear down or pack up anything! 

 

Pack a bag for the week and live out it as if you were out of town. 

 

If you don’t have friends or family you can stay with, (and you don’t have pets) stay in a hotel for a few nights or an AirBnB! 

 

This will make your moving days go so much quicker and give you a nice, clean, (functioning) space to come “home” to at the end of a long day.

 

I promise it will be worth it! 

10. Take Breaks!

Lastly, this is a given. 

 

Take breaks! Find ways to take breaks not only throughout the moving day itself, but the whole process itself.

 

This is one of those projects that can be (and during the week or two of closing and the move itself -will be!) all consuming. 

 

Do your best to live your life as normally as possible while you’re cleaning out those cabinets and closets. 

 

Take a break! 

 

Go out to eat!  Grab a drink in the evenings with friends. Watch a movie at home. Take a bath. This is stressful stuff! Be sure you’re able to “destress” and relax a bit after accomplishing some things during the day!

 

You can do this! 

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Have you tried any of these moving tips?  Do you have anything to add? What helped you the most when moving? I’d love to hear from you! Shoot me an email! Be sure to subscribe below so you don’t miss a thing as well as follow me on Instagram and Pinterest!

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