8 Ways to Make a Stress-Free Move

Welcome to day 2 of my 10 day series on Surviving a Cross-Country Move.  Today I’m sharing 8 ways, plus a bonus tip, to make a stress-free move.  

Moving is one of the top 5 most stressful activities in life.  There are no two ways about it, moving is A LOT of work.  

Not only is there the physical act of moving your stuff from one place to another – that’s just the tip of the iceberg.  We first had to decide if we were going to rent or sell our current home.  For a variety of reasons we decided to rent. We then spent many months getting our home ready for renters, we needed to research and find a new place to live, and finally, a way to get all of our stuff from point A to point B.  It’s fair to say that our move dominated our conversations for the last several months.

All of our conversations and planning did pay off with a relatively stress-free move.  We had our moments, but all in all no major glitches or melt-downs {including the kids!}.  

Here are my 8 Tips for a Stress-Free Move

1.  Start Early – Waiting until the last minute will only make life more crazy.  Start early packing away non-essentials, out of season clothes, and extra books, toys and games.

2.  De-Clutter – I can’t stress this enough.  We started doing a major all over de-clutter way back in February as part of my Lenten Challenge, but I still have ended up unpacking boxes in Florida saying “why did I bring this?”  It also helped to have in the back of my mind “Do I really want to pay someone to move this?”  Less clutter also helped when we were getting our house ready for showings.  

3.  Make Do With Less – Honestly, we throw more away in a week than most people in this world ever own in a lifetime.  Moving has really made me realize just how much stuff we have.  More than we need that is for sure.  So my advice is give it away!  Have a garage sale!  Just get it out of your house.

4.  Storage Unit – Getting a storage unit may seem like an unnecessary expense, but it was so worth it for us.  We ended up using the storage unit to store our holiday decorations and some saved homeschool work from the kids, as well as some other bulky items in our garage and basement.  We went through and de-cluttered everything first and then put it in storage.  Our basement storage area and other parts of our home looked so much cleaner and more inviting when it came time to show our home.

5.  Prepare and Involved the Children – I will have more on preparing the kids for a move later in the series, but letting them be involved helps them to feel like they are part of this big change for the family.

6.  Be Organized – I know this is easier said than done, but having important numbers stored in your phone {as well as your spouses phone!}, important addresses programed in the GPS, and important papers with you at all times is crucial.  I purchased an inexpensive carrying case for our traveling documents and then we put our small safe right in the van with us on the way down.  On my Selling a Home Pinterest board I have several lists and printables that may be helpful to organize your move!

7.  Open First Box – This is a box of stuff that is going to make life so much easier when you arrive at your destination.  It’s a box of essentials that you can’t do without like toilet paper and a pair of scissors.  Each family will have their own essentials, but you can get started with this open first box list and customize to fit your needs.  The only thing I will add is don’t let your personal documents out of your sight, do not put them on a moving van!

8.  Find a Reputable Moving Company – We interviewed several places before we picked the company that moved us.  It was worth it to do a little homework and a little research.  You don’t want just anyone in charge of your stuff.  We had a great experience with our moving company.

Bonus Moving Tip

9.  Grace, Plenty of Grace – Moving is stressful for everyone.  Realize that all family members are going to be out of sorts during the transition.  It’s crucial to extend grace to each other.  Remember, if you can’t say anything nice don’t say anything at all!  

Be sure to check out the rest of the Autumn 2013 Hopscotch

Also linking up at List it Tuesday