20 Tips For A Stress-Free Move

Looking for tips to help you move into your new home stress free? Here’s 20! I came up with these tips when I was in charge of helping my family move into our latest home. To be specific, I had to unpack a 6 bedroom, 5 ½ bath home by myself. Yep, the kids would be at school and hubby had to leave on a work trip immediately after closing. So, I had to come up with a pretty good plan so I wouldn’t be overwhelmed and stressed out. I’m going to share with you everything that I learned that kept my move as stress free is as it could. The first thing I suggest you do is grab my free Unpack in a Day Checklist. Now, let’s get to the moving tips.

20 Tips for Moving Into Your New Home Stress-Free

Keep important notes in one place – I think we can all agree that moving is stressful. AmIRight? Yes. But, one of the reasons why it’s so stressful is because there’s a thousand moving pieces and it’s easy to forget “what needs to happen when” because we have notes written in several different places. Or worse, we don’t have anything written down anywhere. To help ease a bit of the moving tension, take notes and keep them in one spot, like a handy moving journal. You can keep notes in the workbook that makes up the Unpack in a Day System.
Set a moving budget – I know this is one the last things that a lot of people think about but moving ain’t free. And if you don’t plan properly, it can really take a big bite out of your budget. So, decide how much you’re willing to spend and keep that in mind as you make decisions. Will you be able to hire a professional cleaning crew and professional movers? Or will this be all on you? Will you purchase moving boxes, or will you need to ask your local grocery store for some that they throw away?
Research and schedule utility providers before you move – you want to call your new utility providers ahead of time for several reasons. One is that you may have a few to choose from, giving you a chance to compare service options. Where I live in Atlanta, I have several options for my gas providers. And the to tell you the truth, I switch providers yearly based on who has the best rate per therm. The company with the best rate tends to vary. With that said, do your research. And second, you want to schedule the turn-on date for your utilities to make sure that you get service when you need it. I say this because the last time we switched our internet and cable, there was a two-week wait. Not a big deal to us since we already had service, but pretty inconvenient when you’re moving into a new home and don’t have the services you want.
Change your address before you move – changing your address before you move is obvious. But make sure you don’t forget to update your address with online stores like Amazon. Or any other companies that you order from online. And of course, update your address with other companies like your insurance, DMV and magazines and other businesses that frequently send you mail.
Figure out how many boxes you’ll need, how much they’ll cost and where you’ll get them – boxes are really a big part of moving. And they’re typically overlooked until the last minute. If you haven’t already, grab my moving and packing guide to help you figure out how many boxes you’ll need and estimate how much it will cost. It all depends on how many things you have in your house. Then, once you have an idea as to how many boxes you’ll need, you can decide the best place for you to buy your boxes.
Get recommendations on moving companies, check out referrals and call for quotes – moving companies seem like they’re a dime a dozen. But it’s up to you to figure out who you trust to move your precious cargo. Get recommendations from friends and family and then call at least 3 companies to get info for yourself. After you get all deets, like their insurance information, pricing and availability, go with who you trust.
Don’t overwhelm your schedule – moving can take up a lot more time in your schedule than you think. And we’ve already talked about how stressful it can be. So, don’t make it harder on yourself by overwhelming your schedule. Give yourself some breaks. Create margin in your time. Practice some self-care. Listen to your body and take time when you need it. Add this time to relax to your schedule to make sure you actually get it.
Visit your new home again – I say visit your new home as many times as you can. And when you do, make sure you take advantage of the time. Take pictures of rooms from different angles. Measure doorways and windows. Open up cabinets and pantries. You’ll use all of this information to figure out what will go where. And as a savvy mover, you’ll take measurements and pictures to create a very thorough packing plan. Planning ahead of time will help you have a much easier and enjoyable time unpacking. Or as enjoyable as unpacking can be!
Use a floorplan to plan the layout of rooms in your new home before you pack – I mentioned this earlier, but to be clear, using a floorplan will really come in handy when it’s time to unpack. You’ll know exactly where every piece of furniture, décor item and accessory will go. You can put it in the appropriate box, label the box correctly, and have the box set in the exact spot where you need it to be in order to quickly unpack your home
Use as many perishables as possible before the move – eating your easy to spoil items won’t necessarily help you unpack faster, other than you’ll have less to unpack. But this will give you fewer things to worry about. On moving day, your mind will be occupied with the movers and a million other things. There’s no need to add refrigerated items to your list. Packing a cooler with ice and moving your fridge items can be a pain, so avoid it if at all possible.
Get to know your neighbors – I like the idea of knowing who’s around me. I still remember back in the day when neighbors could rely and lean on each other in times of need. Neighbors could help with big events in each other’s lives, when they needed a helping hand, or simply to borrow a cup of sugar. Now at days, it seems like it’s so easy to just stay in our own little cul de sac bubble and not know who lives next to us. So, before you move in, take the time to get to know your neighbors. You never know, you might just meet a new friend you can sit on the front porch with.
Understand day care options for moving day – this bit of advice goes for both your kids and your pets. If you can help it at all, please do not have your kids or your pets with you on move-in day. Not if you want your move to be as stress-free and quick as possible.
Create a calendar – your calendar will be your one-stop-shop for understanding exactly what’s going on and what needs to happen each day up to and including your move. Your calendar will list important dates for your household as well as holidays and important packing and moving dates. The key here is that you have one central document to help you manage your schedule and your life.
Pack with a plan – having a plan when packing is what makes the difference between a good move and a want to pull your hair out type of move.
Declutter first – it’s not hard to image how decluttering your old home will help you have an easier move into your new home. Who wants to box up, transport and then unbox items they don’t even really need? So, take the time to declutter and get rid of the thing you really don’t need or want.
Prepare to have your new home deep cleaned – look, I know this is a luxury, but if you’re able to do this, then by all means, do. Have your home deep-cleaned before you move in. Hire a professional house cleaner or deep clean yourself before you move. But, if you can’t, don’t worry too much about it. Sure, pre-cleaning would make things easier. But let’s face, people deep clean their house with furniture in it all the time. So, doing a thorough deep-clean with furniture in your house now isn’t a big deal.
Decide on window treatments and get them ordered – unless you purchase shades and curtains from the local Target or Home Depot, you’re going to need to order them. And custom orders and delivery takes time. That means several days where you don’t have any window coverings over your windows at night. If you get caught in that situation, temporary blinds work as a quick fix. But to have your custom window treatments ready, measuring each and every window in your home and notating it on a sheet of paper. Yes, some windows can have different dimensions even though they’re right next to each other. Then contact however you’re going to use and order your blinds. To give time for shipping, delivery and set up, I recommend this being one of the first tasks you do once you’ve secured your closing date.
Measure current furniture – make sure your furniture fits through the doors to your house and through each door to the room it’s going in. Avoid surprises. Measure your furniture and every doorway to make sure you can set your home up the way you want.
Get furniture delivery dates – if you plan on buying new furniture, one of the things you should do is get the measurements. Like we said before, make sure it fits in the room the way you’re expecting. And two, find out how long it will take to have the furniture delivered to your home.
Take advantage of sales – some stores give new homeowner discounts, so make sure you ask before you place that order! And for stores that don’t have a “new mover discount”, see if they give an online discount codes for new email subscribers. I love a good deal, don’t you?

How to Prep While Waiting to Move Into Your New Home

All right, we went through a lot with the 20 tips to help you move into your new home without the stress. If you take these tips to heart, you’ll find that this next move will be one of the best moves that you’ve ever had. And to get you started on the right path, grab my free Unpack in a Day Checklist now. I promise you won’t regret it.

If you have questions or want to share your tips on making moving less stressful, leave a reply in the comments section below.