5 Amazing Tips To Take The Stress Out Of Moving House

Moving house is more stressful than divorce?  It’s probably no surprise to learn that many people find moving home a stressful experience.  What may be a surprise, however, is to learn just how stressful people find it.

A new survey by Yopa has shed some light on this. A shocking 60% of people said that they had lost sleep over moving home and 40% say that moving has made them feel stressed and ill.  In fact, 34% described moving home as being more stressful than divorce.

The good news is it doesn’t have to be that way. With a bit of planning, you can move in a calm, orderly and stress-free manner and you can do it without breaking the bank. Here, Mark Burns the director of Indlu; Manchester Estate Agents, shares his tips on how you can make moving house less stressful.

Start With The End In Mind

Your end goal is to establish yourself in a new home. That means you should only be moving anything you really need or want in your new home.

You don’t need to become the 65% that lose sleep over moving house.  Organise your essential items and everything else can and probably should be moved on e.g. by using, selling, donating/gifting, recycling or, sadly, just plain binning.

Gantt Chart Your Moving Process

A house move is basically a project and the way to manage a project is to break it down into manageable tasks. These can then be scheduled and budgeted. The main advantage of using a Gantt chart over a traditional to-do list is that it makes it much easier to see where tasks need to be progressed in a certain order and where they can just be fitted in at a convenient time.

The other big advantage of a Gantt chart is that it gives you a clear view of your timescale and forces you to think realistically about how long tasks are likely to take.

This then forces you to think about what you can achieve by yourself and then, if necessary, decide where your time would be best spent and where you can and probably should delegate.

Keep A Moving Folder

It can be a physical one, a digital one or both.  However, have one single location where you keep all the paperwork related to your move and make sure that any key information is right at the front where you can see it at a glance.

In particular, make sure you have a note of the date you need to vacate your current home and the date on which you can move into your new one. List them separately, even if they are the same, partly for clarity and partly to avoid confusion if you have a change of plans.

Create A List Of Items You Need Or Want To Have Immediately In Your New Home

Imagine you were going on a short indoor camping trip. This is a pretty reasonable description of the period immediately after moving into a new home. What would you (and your family) personally want to have during this period?

Put these items aside and make sure you keep them with you during your move. If you’re just hiring a van and moving yourself, make sure that the boxes/bags containing these essential items are clearly identified and put somewhere they are obviously visible.

Give Yourself Plenty Of Time To Deal With Your Belongings

First of all, put yourself on a buying embargo. Only buy anything if you are absolutely sure you really need or want it either right now or in your new home. This includes food and other household items.

Use up what you already have or accept that you’re not going to and move them on. Save yourself the hassle of dealing with cupboards full of half-empty packets and jars just before you move.

Secondly, take decluttering seriously. When you’re in one place, it’s really easy to accumulate belongings which you neither really need nor really want. In fact, it’s very easy to accumulate belongings you forget you own because you never see them.

If you think they have financial value, then sell them, or donate them using gift aid.  Save yourself the stress and expense of packing and transporting items you neither need nor want.

Thirdly, be astute with your packing. Sometimes it pays to buy proper packing, for example, buying boxes with hanging rails makes emptying a wardrobe much easier. Sometimes it pays just to go for the budget-friendly options, for example, bedding and towels will usually be just fine in strong bin bags.

A lot of the time, you can reuse what you have and/or pick up packaging for free.  The trick is to pack it properly so that the weight is reasonable and all items have an appropriate level of protection.