Moving into a new home can be an exciting albeit a daunting process. While the complete process can never be completed until the very last moment, there are certain things that need to be sorted beforehand for a seamless transition into the new home. Whether you’re moving just down the road or into a new city, ensuring that you’ve taken care of everything important beforehand can certainly put your mind at ease.
To avoid the stress that comes with last minute planning and preparation before the day you finally move out, here are 7 things you can’t overlook when planning to move into a new home.
Create a manageable timeline
First thing’s first, for a smooth transition, your moving out process should be logical. Create a timeline of all the things you need to do before, during, and after you move into your new home, and assign the time and duration that you will achieve those tasks in. This can have anything and everything on your to-do moving out list such as packing the utilities, hiring the movers, contacting your internet service provider, and even going to checkout your future neighbourhood. Align your work according to the time that you have to avoid missing out on important aspects of moving into a new home.
Plan Your Expenses
Moving into a new home is a crazy expensive process. To keep up with all the expenses that might be thrown at you, you need to create a quality budget for all your essential expenses beforehand. In your budget, you can allocate spending on the purchase of essential items and packing supplies for your moving day. It may also need to factor in the cost of hiring movers and packers, paying any pending bills, covering utility deposits, and arranging for your utilities and services to be moved to the new home, along with many other expenses.
Transfer Essential Utilities
This brings us to our next point, setting up the new utilities in your new home. Many essential utilities will be required by you from the moment you move into your new home. Your list of essential utilities will at least contain water connection, gas, electricity, cable, and internet service. Ensure that you’ve transferred all these utilities to your new home well before your move. Also, inform all your service providers regarding the change in your address, and ask them to transfer their services to your new home, if it’s in their network coverage. Otherwise, get these services disconnected from your current address and get new connections in your new home.
Organise And Declutter
Before you move into your new home, it’s ideal to sort through the things that you require and those that you don’t. Downsize and organise your belongings by decluttering your space. You can choose to donate any items like clothes or toys that you no longer use and hence, don’t need to take with you into your new home. Sort all your belongings into three categories: Keep, Throw, Donate. This will make your moving process simpler and you’ll move into your new home with a clear mind and useful commodities. This trick will make packing for your move to the new residence far more efficient.
Pack and Label Properly
Taking from the point of organisation, comes the part of labelling important items clearly. Once you’ve sorted through your stuff and decided what needs to be kept and what needs to be thrown away, start boxing things up. An effective manner of packing up your old home is to move room to room and add all the important things in one box for that room, sparing any fragile objects.
For example, you can put all the objects from your living room in one box and label them appropriately. This can include your books, dressing table, shoe storage, etc. This will not only help you pack up your belongings more efficiently but will also save you valuable time while decorating your new home, as all the things will be that much easier to find.
Check Out The Neighborhood
You can’t decide to move into a new place without knowing about it. To manage your expectations and see if the area that you wish to move into aligns with your lifestyle, visit the place in person and look around. Don’t forget to check for important places around your neighbourhood as well. Depending on your current needs, these may include schools, hospitals, public transportation options, and other local amenities and services.
Update Your Address
For all your essential utilities and services, as well as important documents, a change of address will be required once you move into your new home. Notifying all the necessary authorities regarding your new address is essential for a seamless transition as well as effective correspondence and communication to your new home. Some of the relevant parties may include government agencies, banks, credit card companies, and insurance providers. You should also get your address changed on your driving licence and other important documents as soon as possible to avoid any hassle later on.
It’s A Wrap
For an effective and seamless transition into your new home, planning and preparation of many months is required. While it may feel like a tough task to take care of everything at the same time, by ensuring that the 7 things mentioned above are in place well before your move, you can significantly decrease your stress and avoid being overwhelmed by doing everything at the same time.