Tips I Wish I Knew Before I Moved

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Who says moving has to be such a hassle?

 

I don’t know many people who enjoy moving. They get excited about being in a new place they’ve picked out, but they dread the actual process of physically moving their stuff from the old place to the new place.

 

While I’ve been fortunate not to have to move very often in my life, I have been so stressed when I had to go through the moving process. There are things that I think about now or have learned in the 4+ years we’ve been in our home that I would have done differently.

 

Whether you’re getting ready to make a move soon or if you would just like to learn some ways for it to be smoother for the next time (like me!), then let’s dive into the tips I wish I knew before I moved.

 

Start Early!

 

So maybe this is the tip that I did know before I moved, but just didn’t follow it. 😉

 

Just because you’re moving into a new place, sadly the rest of your schedule does not stop. That means you’ll still have a ton of other things you need to focus on. So just like with any other project (and moving is a big project!), you will want to get started as soon as possible.

 

You will only hurt yourself, and anyone else you may live with or will help you move, if you procrastinate.

 

Declutter

 

 

Many of you know that I have been on a decluttering spree lately! I’ve been sharing in my stories on Instagram and I’ll also be putting some of that in a recap post soon here on the blog. While I am not moving, I am doing what I should have done before we moved here from our townhouse.

 

I can tell you that if I would have gone through some of my stuff then and vetted things, so much of what I have now wouldn’t even be here! The more you get rid of before you move into your new place, the less you’ll have to store or take time to figure out if it’s really a keeper later on.

 

If you’re interested in learning more about decluttering your home in general, you can check out my in-depth post right here!

 

Take Storage Methods Seriously

 

 

When most people move, they tend to grab a bunch of cardboard boxes and stuff all of their loose-leaf items in them. And just a heads up, if you need boxes, you can often go to places like Walmart, Kroger or your local grocery store and they tend to be very kind about giving you leftover boxes if you just ask!

 

Something I would highly recommend is dividing your storage into cardboard boxes and plastic tubs. You can definitely choose your own version of a storage tub; I just use the plastic ones I find at Walmart! The cardboard boxes can be for things that you know you’ll put away right away in your new home. For example, your kitchen items because you’ll be placing those in your cabinets and drawers.

 

This is truly one of the tips I wish I knew before I moved in our home – it would have saved me so much time!

 

Whereas things that you know you won’t be setting out but still want to keep, put those items into plastic tubs. Keep like-items together and put a sticky label on the tub itself. Write down everything that’s in the tub on the label and that way, you won’t have to fish through the entire tub when you’re looking for something next. Believe me, I’ve done that a million times and then I have one entire room filled with stuff I’ve strung out all over the place. Not fun, haha!

 

That reminds me, I still recommend labeling your cardboard boxes too! I know you’ll be throwing them away likely afterwards, but it will save you so much time even if you just label them the room you need them to be (bedroom, kitchen, living room, etc.).

 

Get a Moving Crew to Help!

 

 

Full disclosure – I’ve never used a moving crew. I have been so blessed to only have moved within five times in my life, and only two of them were as an adult. Once when I moved from my parents in with my husband, and then when we got this house.

 

It feels like we’ve accumulated so much over the years, but thankfully it hasn’t felt too extreme. We’ve only ever asked my best friend to help us with our last move, as far as just packing up some plastic tubs full of things. I can honestly say even with the amount of furniture and things in boxes/tubs, it would have made things so much easier if we had a moving company to help us.

 

An even better example would be my aunt and uncle, who decided to move in their mid-seventies recently. Not only is that a big feat in itself, but they also had a lot of furniture and boxes of things they needed to take. They actually did use a moving company to move their furniture and that was very helpful to them!

 

If you’re buying a house, you likely have set some money aside for things related to the move. Saving money for a moving company would be so beneficial to include, friends! We have enough things going on in this crazy life, so if it’s something that’s within your budget, it’s well worth the expense and hassle of not having to move everything yourself.

 

If you’d like more information on how a moving company can help make your move go more smoothly, check out Bearded Brothers Moving Group, LLC from Youngstown, Ohio! As a southern Ohio gal, I love supporting businesses within my home state.

 

 

Something that caught my attention when I was doing some research (as I always do for all of you before sharing anything!) was that Bearded Brothers treats their employees as family, and treats their clients as family too. That’s super important to me and I have always felt that to be an honorable principle in business.

 

A huge THANK YOU to Bearded Brothers for sponsoring today’s post!

 

 

That’s a wrap on the tips I wish I knew before I moved, dear friends! I truly hope you gained some insight and that you may consider some of these tips for your next move.

 

I’d love to hear some of your favorite moving tips, and if you’ve ever used a moving company before!