Moving is extremely high in stress, and moving day is the most high stress part of any move. However, a little organization can make moving day much, much easier. Here are three battle tested moving tips that will make moving day far more bearable.
Put together a survival kit.
On the day you move out, you will have one last pile of things to pack: all the sheets and blankets, toiletries, cups and dishes, and sundry small objects (your cell phone recharger, alarm clock, French press, favorite coffee) you were using right to the end. Your impulse will be to sweep the pile haphazardly into any half full moving boxes you still have lying around. Don’t give in to it! All the things you needed when you were finished packing your old house will be the things you will need most as you unpack in the new house. Instead of forcing yourself to dig through half a dozen moving boxes to find the things you need, pack all your moving essentials into their own boxes. Label them “Open First” or “Moving Kit.” When you unload the car or van, put the moving kit boxes off to the side where you can reach them easily, and watch to make sure they are not hidden under a deluge of other boxes. You will find that settling into your new home goes faster when you have your moving survival kit ready to deploy as soon as you move in.
Make some ready to eat meals.
Too often, moving involves endless stops at donut shops and convenience stores for whatever foodlike substances you can scavenge. By the time you are done moving, everyone is full of sugar and grease, overcaffeinated, and short tempered. To prevent that, spend the night before packing ready to go meals that do not need reheating. Even something as simple as a peanut butter sandwich, a bag of chips, and a 100 calorie pack of cookies can do wonders for your and your moving companions’ tempers.
Prepare to camp.
You were careful and had all the utilities turned on days in advance. When you walk in the front door, you expect everything, from the electricity and gas right down to the Internet, to be working. It never works out that way. The phone company thinks you moved to Middleton, not Mettleton, or the electric company took down the wrong charge card information, or the gas company needs you to be at home so the meter reader can get into the basement. Get ready to meet these little crises in advance. Fully charge your laptop and cell phone before you leave the old house, pack bedrolls, flashlights, candles, and lighters in the top of your moving kit, and keep a stash of food that you can eat without heating it. Have a list of all the utilities’ contact information and your account numbers so that when you need to get something turned on right away, the numbers are at your fingertips.
January 30, 2010