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As most of you know, I recently sold my first home and moved into an apartment. It was crazy how fast everything happened and how quickly I had to find a new place to live, pack and get out of my house but that is a story for another day. Today I just wanted to talk to you about 5 things I did to stay sane while moving. Let’s face it, moving can be very stressful but it doesn’t have to be that way. With a little planning, organization and thinking ahead you too can stay sane while moving and I will tell you how I did it!!
ONE. Clean out your home in advance. I had been planning to sell my home for about a year and in that time I went through every single drawer, closet, nook and cranny and took several loads of stuff to Goodwill. And even though I went through everything and hauled several car loads of stuff pre-move I still found myself taking stuff to Goodwill both during and after the move. Ugh. There was so much stuff y’all!! Never again. #MinimalistWannabe
TWO. Board your pets. I don’t know about your pets but I swear mine knows when I am going somewhere and she freaks out. So before the move I found a great place to board her and took her there for a few nights so I could get packed, moved and semi-unpacked. This was honestly one of my better ideas because this way she wasn’t underfoot, she didn’t bother anyone and she didn’t freak out. When I brought her to the new place all of our stuff was there and she has had zero issues transitioning. If you are in central Arkansas and need a recommendation on somewhere AMAZING to board your baby then let me know and I can get you the info for the place I used because we will definitely be using them again!!
THREE. Hire movers. In the past I have always had my family come help me and it has always been a big production that took all day. Well this time I decided I was a grown up and I hired movers and they were PHENOMENAL. They had my entire house loaded up, driven to the new place and the truck unloaded in less than two hours. You read that right, less than two hours people!!! And they didn’t charge me an arm and a leg. If you are in Arkansas and need a FANTASTIC moving company, check out VIP Moving of Arkansas. They are seriously the BEST and I plan on using them the next time I move as well!!
image via VIP Moving of Arkansas
FOUR. Hire someone to clean your old place. Again, this was one of my more brilliant ideas because after spending all that time packing, moving and unpacking the last thing I wanted to do was go clean my old house. Having someone clean it and knowing it was ready for the new owners the next day was HUGE.
FIVE. Don’t hide the boxes. Another thing I did differently with this move was I had the movers put all the boxes in the middle of the kitchen. Usually I stick them in an extra bedroom and it usually takes me forever (and by forever I mean weeks) to unpack. Well this time with all the boxes in the kitchen I had to get to them and I had the whole house unpacked and organized in a matter of days. I will definitely be doing that again.
So there you have it, the 5 things I did to stay sane during my move. Trust me, if I can stay sane during a move then you can too!!
What are some tips/tricks you have for moving??
What a great idea you had to have someone come in and clean your old place for you. I am the fool that would never have thought of that and ended up doing it all myself….after a long day of moving.
You are spot on especially when it comes to hiring someone to clean the old place. Get rid of as much stuff as you can, why move it if your don’t use or wear the item. Never thought about boarding the pets good idea.
HIRE MOVERS! YES and more YES!!!!!!!! The movers we hired were amazing, and we would have 10000% been lost without them!!! They are legit the reason why moving was so smooth for us!! ;) Plus my husband stresses about nothing, so that’s helpful too.
Moving will never be easy but you were so well organized and had it all planned out so well. It pays to have a cleaning company and moving van to do the heavy lifting jobs.
Yup, we did a lot of these when we moved. We always hire movers. We have too much stuff to try and pack it all on our own. We also hired cleaners!
Congrats on surviving your move!
Hiring a moving company is definitely a weight lifted off your shoulders. Sounds like your move went smoothly!
I love, love, love the idea of cleaning things out even a year before making the big move. That is absolutely genius!
I have moved a lot and it was BRILLIANT to put all the boxes in the kitchen. I wouldn’t be able to stand those boxes in my way and I would have them all unpacked in minutes!
We moved a good number of times, many years ago. My advice is not to move LOL. Having a cleaner come to the old place could be really helpful and save time.
I wish I would have done #5 when I moved into my house. Some of those boxes sat in the spare room for a LOOONG time.
Congrats on your move. I think we will be moving in the next year or two and I’m not looking forward to it.
Moving is always crazy, let alone when it’s quick! I am likely moving in the next year sometime so these tips will come in handy!
Number four is a great strategy. During our last move, all the boxes are everywhere but I got it all done in a week.
We live in Manhattan, and moving seems to be a regular thing here. lol. Renting problems! I never thought to board our dog. That would have been such a life saver!
What a lovely home you have Congratulations. Moving can be pain but once you are settled its all worth it. Enjoy your new home.
It’s great that you kept on top of cleaning out stuff in your place. We have lived here for 12 years and I swear we just accumulate stuff non-stop. I think moving is a good way to get rid of a lot of stuff! I need to do some serious cleaning and minimalizing (not sure if that’s a word!), even though we aren’t moving. I can’t even imagine if we had to move.. lol!
Board your pets. This is advice I could have used this time last year as we were just getting ready to move. It was awful with our 3 dogs and 3 cats. Never again. Will be using ALL these tips!
As someone who moved around a lot as a kid, i absolutely hate moving, but it’s inevitable. Thanks for sharing these tips. I will be sure to try to incorporate them during my next move to help things go a lot smoother.
This is going to be my life in a few months. Moving is one of my least-favorite things to do with ironing clothes being a close second. Thanks for the tips.