Moving: Exciting or Stressful?
I think most of us would agree, moving is STRESSFUL!! Looking for a home and making the offer, that is exciting but now you must move. Whether you do it yourself, get friends and family to help, hire a moving company or an organizer there is so much to do and many deadlines to keep.
With the last couple of clients, I have helped pack and unpack, they sold their house within 48 hours and their closing dates seem to be shorter and shorter. Some have been 30 to 60 days and for people that have been in their homes for many years and downsizing, this can be very overwhelming. Moving is not just a large few days’ event where you can leave decisions to the last minute. When this happens, decisions are not always thought with clarity.
If you are one of the many that are putting your home on the market or have sold and now need to move, here are 4 things that I do for my clients that will help you make this exciting but stressful process a little more seamless.
1 ) Declutter Now: From the first day you decide you are selling or buying a home my suggestion is to start your decluttering process right away. I strongly suggest starting in your storage area. The reason for this is the storage areas usually have things stored that you don’t use often and may not have seen in years. These are usually things that have been forgotten or you are no longer attached to. They may be things you still like but will not fit in to your new home which makes it easier to get rid of. By doing this first, it opens up space for things you do want to keep and once packed up, it gives them a home and declutters the living areas. What I see a lot of, is people that do not do this then get frustrated and end up packing everything up and deciding when they move in if they want it, which makes for more work and frustration when you get to your new home.
Tip: Think about decluttering early as a cost savings. One, you don’t have to pay movers to move more boxes or pay for storage lockers because your new home has no room. Another expense having to hire, professionals like me to help get rid of the extra items.
2) Starting to Pack: When packing up things for your new home I suggest using boxes for items that you know you will be unpacking right away and plastic bins for the items that you will be storing for a while. eg: Christmas decorations, old paperwork, pictures, etc. this will keep them away from dampness.
TIP: Label them well and if possible use colour identifying bins, red or green for Christmas, blue for paperwork, grey for pictures.
3) Heavy Items: Use smaller boxes for heavy items, books, tools, dishes. This will make it easier for yourself and movers to work with.
4) Designate Areas: As you begin to go through your things designate an area, room or container that will hold items that you do not want to bring with you, like the following: donations, give away, items for family members, for sale items. By having a designated area, you then have a home for it, you have all like items together and then when it is time to get it out of the house it will be effortless.
Let’s be honest, moving is stressful no matter what is involved but by planning, starting early to prepare for moving and these few tips it can help to lessen that stress. Enjoy your new home!
Chaos to Clarity helps their clients with individual organizing needs; Downsizing, decluttering, office organizing, estate clear outs and move management in the Halton, Hamilton, Peel and surrounding areas. Have questions? Contact us at http://www.chaostoclarity.ca/contact-us/
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