Advice to make moving house less stressful

Having moved house around ten times I can assure you I am pretty knowledgeable when it comes to packing up a house and moving to a new location! Not that I enjoy the process. It can be totally stress inducing. There are fortunately lots of ways to make the experience better and below I will share some of the many ways you can make moving house less stressful.

Call in the professionals

If the whole thing just seems way too stressful or you are simply too busy, then consider hiring professional house movers to take care of the task for you. Not only will they move everything from your old home to your new home, but they can even pack your belongings for you! You literally don’t need to lift a finger. They’ll pack the house up, load the van and even put all the boxes in the correct rooms at the new location. It’s a genius idea and absolutely worth the extra cost for the amount of stress it will save!

Prepare well in advance

Of course we can’t all afford to hire professional house movers so if we have to do the lot ourselves then my best advice is to prepare well in advance. Start sorting through unused rooms and dusty cupboards first, like the attic. Be ruthless and use the time to have a proper sort out. You don’t want to be moving an attic full of stuff that’s not been used for ten years straight into another attic to sit there for years on end.

Of course keep anything with sentimental value, but otherwise it may be time to pass your belongings on to someone who can make use of them. I believe it’s better for something to be used as it was intended to be, than to be sat around doing nothing gathering dust. Plus you could even make some money by selling your unwanted items that could fund my above point! Win-win!

If you have a lot of junk that you can’t sell and need to get rid of, then call in a professional house clearance team to help you out. Not only will they take your unwanted belongings or junk away, they will also ensure as much of the materials are recycled or reused as possible.

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Organise childcare

If possible then organise childcare so the kids are entertained, especially if you have very young children who don’t understand what’s going on and need your attention every moment. Not only could this cause more stress but it will make everything take twice as long. We did have to do a lot of our move with our two year old when we last moved home, so if this happens to you also then make sure they have lots of snacks and toys to play with to prevent boredom. Maybe even leave the TV plugged in until the last moment so they are entertained whilst you have to load the van with boxes. Ensure you keep a bag or box of toys handy so they have play items until the last moment at the old house and it’s the first thing off the van at the new house. You don’t want to be rummaging through all the boxes trying to locate their favourite teddy when they’re having a meltdown!

Have a crossover

One of the most stressful times we moved was when buying our last home and we had a small window in which to vactate the old property and collect the keys for the new property. It’s probably pretty standard when buying a home, but it meant we had to pack the entire house in one evening and morning as we’d only got van hire for 24 hours. Then manically clean the entire property super early as we did not know what time we’d be called to collect the keys. We knew we had to be out by midday at the latest and that was all. Then we had to drive and unload the entire van at the new property before dropping the van back. It felt very pressured and a massive rush. If renting or if able to avoid this type of scenario – leaving one property and moving into the other on the same day – then I’d highly suggest a crossover period. This means you can take your time moving from one property to the other and even start completing any building work before having to live there. It sounds much less stressful an idea to me!

Ask for help

I’m not the greatest at asking for help, but many hands do make light work. My husband’s brother and sister were keen to help with the last move and we didn’t say no. We packed the van in record time and it meant someone was always available to nip off to grab something from the shop if we needed anything. Even if they were just sent to get everyone some food, they were happy to be of assistance and make things less stressful for us. It was also very much appreciated at the other end to quickly get all the boxes in the new house before the van needed to be returned.

Label the boxes

I cannot stress this tip enough. LABEL THE BOXES! Make sure you know which room they are going into at the other end and label the contents more specifically if they are going to be needed soon i.e. plates, crockery, cutlery,mugs and the kettle! Easily finding the things you need once in the new house will make unpacking and settling in so much easier.

Book time off work

There’s going to be nothing worse than moving home one day only to return to work the next and feeling like your life is in absolute chaos! Try to plan it logically if possible by booking a day off work to move on a Friday and not returning to work until the Monday or even Tuesday. Being able to concentrate on the task at hand and get as organised as possible in a few days will be so much less stressful than knowing you’re back to work the day after a move. It could even cause you to stress more before the move if you know you have deadlines to meet at work during the move. Talk to your boss and plan enough time to move with as little work stress as possible.

Eat healthily

Don’t forget to eat healthily! Stay hydrated by having a bottle of water to hand and prep some healthy snacks and an on-the-go lunch in advance to make sure hunger doesn’t strike. You definitely don’t want to be ‘hangry’ on top of the stresses of moving day.