10 Things You Wish You’d Known Before You Moved Home

Moving can be one of the most stressful things in life, so you want to do it right. Careful planning can help you avoid mistakes, and good advice will help you plan. We asked a number of people who have moved from one house to another what they wanted to know in advance. Their advice could help you avoid some pitfalls when it’s your turn to move.
Moving is a major event in life, so you should be as knowledgeable as possible in advance. Important factors to consider include understanding how long each step of the process will take, anticipating unseen events, and having the materials and tools you need right from the start. And since moving involves not only the excitement of a new home, but the complications of moving out of an old one, there are other tasks to consider. Timely planning and good organization are essential. In addition, renting a self-storage unit gives you more flexibility. Professional movers can help you a lot, as can advice from people who have moved before and perhaps wished they had done things a little differently.
1. Plan your move like a military campaign
Good organization always helps to avoid headaches later, and especially if you have a busy life, you can appreciate any technique that allows you to plan your tasks. Patricia johnson among cycling experts Pedal lover knows the importance of the organization to get things done well and to avoid underestimating the time needed for everything:
“One thing I wish I had known before I moved was how much easier it was to take the time to come up with a real plan and schedule that would have got things done. We knew we had to go through everything, pack our bags, get ready for the movers – but we drastically underestimated the time we had to do it all! I thought about this whole ordeal for maybe 10 minutes and decided we would need about two weeks. I hadn’t realized that I had removed the garage from my calculations (which was taking forever) and the time we would need to spend, realistically, throwing away things that we didn’t use anymore or that we didn’t use anymore. no longer needed. Also, my daughter and I were constantly trying to do the same things or both forgetting to do essential tasks (again, like the garage!) My advice is to plan. Seriously, be smart and create a small board with pin-up notes and color-coded tasks and organize it in a military way. “
2. Declutter and donate before moving
Some of your belongings just won’t look perfect in your new home, and you may find that others are just plain surplus. The advice is to sort all your belongings well before you move, to avoid wasting time and money later on moving things you don’t need. Items can be thrown away, sold, or donated to charity – it’s a great way to help your local community, and many organizations will be happy to collect usable furniture etc. from your home.
3. Categorize your boxes for easier unpacking
You’ve sorted your items for the move and now you need boxes – these can be obtained from moving companies or free. Blogger Lauren Levy, which has moved several times, classifies them, making the unboxing process easier:
“It finally occurred to me to clearly label some boxes “ open later ” and “ never open ”. The “open later” boxes are for things like off-season clothing, home decor, books – anything you could easily go at least a month without using. The “never opened” boxes are for keepsakes, records, sentimental antiques you don’t plan on exhibiting and anything that will go straight back to storage. “
Lauren’s local self-storage facilities in San Francisco have room for “ never open ” boxes if there’s no room at home.
4. Packaging may take longer than you think.
Tasks that take longer than expected lead to frustration. In particular, packing can take longer than people realize, and they’re often shocked at how many possessions they have – and lovingly look at sentimental items that are nearly forgotten instead of putting them straight into boxes n will not help! To account for possible delays, it’s recommended that you add extra time – maybe up to a week or two – on top of what you’ve calculated for the entire moving process.
5. Breakable items require special attention
While you don’t need a lot of gear on the move, there are some items that can be really helpful, especially for the fragile things that will make the trip. Lifestyle and travel writer Jennifer sizeland told us his advice:
“I have just moved and one thing I can recommend is self-adhesive labels for your moving boxes as we wrote on them the first time we moved and they ended up in the wrong rooms as we didn’t realize it when we were packing! I would like too get a large laundry bag and keep all your bubble wrap inside because it will be invaluable once you move and you can find it all in one place. Invest in brown ribbon and strip that says “ fragile ” on it distinguish between boxes that need to be handled with care and those that are not. If you want to reduce your plastic, invest in paper tape which is actually better because it doesn’t stick together like plastic tape does! “
6. Stop receiving things at your old address
Some aspects of moving from one house to another are not always so obvious. Nicole caba is the founder and CEO of Come on, who developed an all-in-one moving app that helps people prepare for a move:
“I’ve moved over 12 times in the past 10 years to the US, and each time it’s been stressful or something on the checklist slips through the cracks. My most adventurous move was from New York to Atlanta, where I had to clean our 2 bedroom apartment, sell a car, then book a uHaul truck to our new apartment in the Buckhead neighborhood of Atlanta. There were a lot of moving parts – but the drive gave an adrenaline rush! Something that would have made things easier during these moves was the set up forwarding mail in advance and scheduling the cancellation of certain utilities. “
7. Cover your back when you leave your old home
In the excitement of moving to a new residence, you might forget that you still have to tie the details to the old one – and you would probably like to see the deposit you paid back in your wallet! “When you move, be sure to take pictures of every empty room with a timestamp to show you left everywhere spotless if requests are made later, ” Jennifer sizeland tell us. Send these photos to your former owner and hope you never need to see them again.
8. Hire a moving company for maximum peace of mind
A move can be fun if you’re young and doing it for the first time, but if not, it may be better to get professional help you can trust. You can try moving between small apartments in the same city with the help of friends, but larger moves require a truck, someone who knows how to drive it, and people to load it. Many who go for the budget DIY approach find it quite tiring and time consuming and say that in retrospect they would have hired a professional moving service.
9. Get to know your new home ASAP
Luish Mahida | among application developers Global winner emphasizes the importance of what to do when you arrive in your new home:
“There is a lot to consider when moving into a new home. And while we often think of moving steps like packing and unpacking as the only important things that keep getting set up completely, it’s actually the things you do after you move into a new home that make the biggest difference. Partnering with your home, learning how it works, and prioritizing the projects you want to tackle are all integral parts of your role as a homeowner – and it’s best to do everything right when you move in, instead of waiting and just assuming that you will understand everything later. There is no better time to give a complete presentation of your new home than when it is completely empty.. So before you set up your furniture and get unpacked (and even better, before you unload the moving truck – if possible), take a look around. “
10. Load your belongings on your own schedule
A variation of the regular moving service involves a “pod” – a portable storage unit – which is delivered to your home. You load it yourself, the company picks it up and delivers it to your new home, and you decide on the timing. Warren cohn of HeraldPR, a New York-based public relations agency, highly recommends the service:
“I have spent the last 3 years learning a lot about getting around town to town (with a wife and 2 kids no less). The best advice I would give people is to use PODS…. I grew up in New York and was based in Midtown, but had to move to New Orleans at the end of 2019 to develop a new business there…. So when we returned to the New York metro area (and now we were moving again, to Florida), we used PODS. They dropped the POD when they said they would. I picked it up when they said they would and delivered it with our stuff when they said they would. Not to mention, our personal belongings were locked in the POD and only we had the key. Our things were safe and secure….

If you are about to move, to avoid making mistakes that could cause you stress and unnecessary expense, you may want to follow the warning stories of others who have taken this route before you. The processes of sorting, packing, unpacking, and organizing things in your new property – not to mention how you break out of the old – can all be done efficiently. Being aware of things that could go wrong along the way helps. While a DIY move might sound like a good idea, there is no substitute for experience and you might like to add professional help to the advice you have received here. Good move!