How to Ensure a Stress-Free Move
If you have navigated the housing crisis effectively, and you are now the owner of a home after renting for so long, congratulations and best wishes for this exciting time. In actual fact, the housing crisis is so bad at the moment that even if you’re still renting and you’ve found somewhere new to live, you deserve a congratulations!
However it’s important to remember that moving house can be a very stressful experience, if you’re renting, but especially if you have gone through the rigmarole of the mortgage application process. This is why it’s important to celebrate this occasion properly and enjoy every second because this is the start of a whole new life together. So before you move house, you’ve got to make sure that you are properly prepared for a smooth move. But what does it take?
Photo by Isaac Matthew
8 Top Tips on How to Ensure a Stress-Free Move
1 – Not Leaving Everything Until the Last Minute
Being organised is crucial. Getting everything in place, from the moving van to arranging the moving dates will ensure that everything stays finely structured. The fact is, you might not be able to take much time off work, so you might need to do it all in a weekend, and as you can imagine, this can be very overwhelming.
Instead of thinking that everything needs to be done in the space of 72 hours, you need to start breaking things down into more finite components, especially if you don’t have time to do everything at a leisurely pace.
One of the most frustrating aspects of moving that people underestimate is cleaning the property they’re moving out of. It could take a lot longer than you think, especially if you need to take pictures and document the property, but there are many end of tenancy cleaning services that can help in these instances to take the stress off you.
2 – Saving Money During the Moving Process
Moving home is one of those things that can result in costs spiralling out of control. If you are looking to save money on your move, you could always do it yourself instead of hiring a moving company. But it’s important to be realistic and realise that there may still be costs involved. So here are a few things that you could benefit from to make life easier for yourself.
Further Reading – Moving House Tips – 5 Cost-Effective Approaches To Consider
Photo by Wise Move SA
3 – Sort the Moving Vehicles
The moving vehicle can be a particularly expensive overhead. You have to remember that you’ve got to go through the hoops of hiring it yourself, but you’ve also got to fill it with fuel, and you have to drive the thing. And depending on the journey itself, it can be particularly stressful.
It’s always a good idea to ask friends to see if they have their own van. This can save you a lot of bother and money but only if they have a van that’s able to move large bulky items of furniture, such as sofas and tables, otherwise you will need to be more practical and potentially hire a moving van for a day. In which case, if you are hiring a van for an entire day, are you better off moving everything in that one day rather than in dribs and drabs!
If you want to save money on hiring a van, you need to book it early and make sure it’s a weekday rather than a weekend.
4 – Hiring Moving Aids
The moving process can place a lot of pressure on our backs. Anybody lifting improperly is going to feel the impact a number of weeks afterwards, especially if you’re not already fit and healthy. Therefore, moving equipment such as a hand truck or a moving dolly can make sure that you don’t feel the strain, and can reduce injuries while saving a lot of time and effort.
Photo by Wise Move SA
5 – Dismantling Furniture
It can be quite frustrating to dismantle something and piece it back together in a new location, but you’ve got to think about the property you are moving from. If you have a bulky dining table, dismantling it is going to make things easier when you are moving it out the door, resulting in fewer scuffs.
When you are moving out of a rental property, you cannot be too careful because some landlords are particularly nitpicky and will look for any reason to not give you your bond back.
6 – The Things You Can Do a Month or Two in Advance
You might think it’s something that can just be done in a couple of weeks of intense work, but the fact is that you need to get a plan in place. A to-do list and a calendar will keep you organised so that you don’t leave anything to chance.
The process of getting metre readings and changing addresses for utilities can take longer than you realise. Contacting a gas or electricity provider to change your address is a straightforward one, but you have to navigate queues on the phone and then there’s always the chance of human error. For example when your change of address hasn’t been changed at all! When in doubt have a mail redirect in place because this provides some extra coverage. Having it in place for 6 months or 12 months means you are able to gradually change addresses.
Photo by Claudio Schwarz
7 – Booking Time Off Work
Booking time off work is also one of the things that you need to do, especially if you plan on moving on a work day. Booking it off in advance is important, just remember you might think that you only need to book one day off, the reality is that you’re probably better off booking the day off before you move and the day after, as well as the day itself!
Moving is particularly stressful on the mind and body, and the older we get the more we can underestimate just what it does to us.
8 – Start Eating Your Food
You don’t want to spend more effort than is necessary moving boxes full of tins. Look at what you’ve got and get some meal plans in place so you can eat everything up. In the run-up to moving, you should only be buying the essentials.
Moving is incredibly exciting, but it’s also something that has a lot of moving parts. Therefore, if you want to have a smooth move, you need to bear some of these things in mind, not just so it can all go swimmingly come moving day, but so you can greatly reduce your stress.
PIN: 8 Top Tips on How to Ensure a Stress-Free Move
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