Posts Tagged ‘moving’
The average person moves house several times in their lifetime. Moving for a job, more space, or a change of scenery, its one of the most stressful, and rewarding times for the majority of people. From moving a few doors down, to across a continent, moving house is one of the most important things, and sometimes the hardest to organize.
From collecting supplies – buying boxes and tape, to packing your house up, cleaning and moving to your new home, its an adventure for all involved. Small and home offices are also usually quite interesting to move – a new area for local clients and a nightmare for people that run services online, so its important to plan accordingly and ensure that you’ve made plans to cover yourself during the move. Your small office may be the last thing you actually pack fully, but you can start by cleaning through your paperwork and ensuring everything you’ve got has storage – if you run a craft business or have a hobby that takes up space, its always good practice, as soon as you’ve heard you’ll be moving, to start clearing and boxing up your non essential supplies.
It takes careful planning to move house, but you can do so via the web at http://movingplan.com or http://helpiammoving.com – two great sites that help you plan your move and give you an idea where to start. Most importantly, you need to start planning as soon as you know you’re moving – so that you’re as organized as possible.
Whether you’re selling your house or moving due to a new baby, need for more, or less space, because you’re renting and need to move on, or are going to let your own house and move into another one – moving can be stressful….but it can also be a lot of fun.
At three weeks to go, you’ll hopefully have finished packing your cupboards – you’ll be able to start packing any non essential belongings and put them away too. If you’re painting any rooms, its a good idea to try to do so in the next few days, so its all ready, and order any packing supplies you want or need. Ordering as far in advance is important because you’ll have the supplies on hand.
You can start investigating schools in your new area and list any questions you may want to ask. While considering which the best school in the area is, you also have to consider how accessible it is, whether there’s a school or public bus route to take your children there and whether you need to pay for this.
Your quotations should be coming in now too, from those that you’ve requested them from, and they should be making appointments to evaluate your belongings, to decide what size of van you’ll need and how many men you’ll need to help you move – or just the size of van you’ll need. You should have chosen your new utility provider by now, and have any forms you need to fill out for your bank, so that there’s no delays in changing your details to your new home. If you’re letting, you should also have a lease by now, with details of what you are going to have to take care of on moving in.
Your Internet is also something you should start closing down, and let them know when you’re moving – if they have to come pick up (or move) your equipment, now is a good time to arrange this. Internet service providers have a minimum notice clause, so its good to make sure that you meet this, or you may be over billed, or fined.
The last few days before your move will be a blur of final packing, cleaning, touching up, organizing and sleeplessness. You’ll probably want to take time off work, if you haven’t done so already, and devote all of your time to finishing your preparations for the move. Everything should be in place for you by now – if not, you should follow up on any loose ends that will affect your first days in your new house as soon as possible.
At two days to go, if you haven’t got a van with power points, you’ll need to start defrosting your freezer. Easier said than done, but it saves you having to clean up water in the van, or worse, damaging your boxes and bags because your freezer has leaked. Any food you’re using now should be as minimal prep as possible, so that you can pack any tins, cans, pots and pans you have left over.
Final checks with your utilities should also be made – hopefully, you’ll have managed to either transfer or connect a new phone number at your new house, so you can start updating contact details. You should also phone your doctors surgery/local health care provider, or church group to let them know you’re going to be at a new address.
Many people appreciate personalized notices that their friends and family have moved – so you should send out the last of those items now. You may also want to consider a ‘house cooling’ party – use paper plates and disposable cups and make an adventure of it – you could even talk your family and friends into some last minute packing/painting help.
You can also ensure that any schools, health practitioners or other regular visitors or places you regularly go to have your new contact details, if necessary. Some schools require an address of a new school to release children’s records to, so its important, if you can, to give them.