Simple Moving with Just One Hour A Day
Imagine you have just been given a brand-new home completely free. The catch is, you must be ready to move out of your current home and fully moved into this new home by tomorrow evening. Would that be a stressful situation? Most definitely!
However, with the current practice of moving homes in today’s society, I don’t believe it is too far from the truth of how families and individuals actually pack and move. They allow the mess, chaos, and utter disorganization of the house rest until the final week before the move takes place.
Moving homes doesn’t need to be difficult. It is my belief that we place this difficulty upon ourselves. If we would simply commit to just 1 hour a day for a few weeks leading up to the actual move, we should have almost everything done (with a moderately sized home)!
No matter the size of the mountain, or the mess of the house, the task is always accomplished one step (or item) at a time. All you have to do is breathe and get to work.
The following are some ideas on how you can gradually prepare yourself for the big move, and how it can be a stress-free experience for everyone!
Clean Your Environment
If you’ve struggled to keep your current home clean in the past, now is the time to commit. It’s a lot easier to pack and move when there is reduced clutter. Clean out the trash and wipe down the benches. Start with the easy stuff and progress to the bigger goals. A cleaner environment will help provide you with a psychological boost you need to maintain consistency over the next few weeks.
Discard as Much as Possible
It’s time to begin the purge. Those items that you haven’t used in years just need to go. Whether you donate the items or trash them, try to cut down on the number of items you will need to move. You’ll be doing yourself a massive favor by having the guts to cut down.
Categorize Your Items
Begin to create a list of categories. A typical list of categories will be rooms the items are found in, books, pans, and plates. This is a good starting point, but you can get even more specific than this. When the boxes come out and the items start jumping in, you’ll want to make sure you are as organized as possible.
Call A Friend Early
Ask for help from friends and family earlier rather than later. It’s always awkward when you are looking for some help in your big move and it’s the night before, and every “so-called” friend has something else they have to do that day. Well, it’s really not their fault and, to be honest, they’re still your friends. It’s your responsibility to ensure you have people lined up and ready to come help you move at least a week in advance. This way there is no awkward rejection and you don’t feel guilty asking.
Plan & Schedule
Map out what you’re going to do and when. Give yourself a few weeks to gradually have everything packed. The real stress comes when you have a ton of stuff to pack and no time left to do anything.
If you can smash out a portion of the packing every day so that when the final week arrives you’ve already done most of the work, you can pat yourself on the back and acknowledge you have accomplished a major achievement. Most won’t be able to do this. But with determination and planning, you can.
This post was written by Matthew Adams at Garage Guru. Garage Guru is a garage organization and storage company serving homeowners in the Vancouver area.
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