1. Keys
Collecting your keys is the most important job you need to do before moving into your new home, otherwise without these you won’t be able to move in. Therefore, make sure you’ve arranged a date to collect these from the estate agents - once you’ve collected your keys, it would be wise to store them somewhere safe until moving day and out of a child’s reach otherwise you’ll never find them amongst your packing, and make copies to ensure you’ve got spares.
2. Make sure your old house is clean
Everyone wants to move into a new home that looks brand new and shiny. So, take a walk around the house to clean any stains, remove any marks such as the height measurements on the wall, and double check that nothing has been left behind – you don’t want to move out and realize you’ve left behind some dirty linen!
3. Tell people you’re moving
Make sure you’ve informed the people who need to know about your new address to ensure they don’t send any bills or important documents to your previous address. This should include; the post office, the DVLA, banks, schools, pension schemes, insurance companies, employers, doctors and bill companies.
4. Labelling
Even if it makes the process longer, you’ll be grateful you labelled all your boxes when you start unpacking. For example, your children will get bored throughout the unpacking process so rather than searching through every box to find your child’s favorite film, you could label the box: “kids entertainment”, then you’ll know which box you’ll find it in. This will also enable you to put a plan in place to make your unpacking process more efficient - you can set up each labelled box in their correct rooms and tackle one room at a time, this way you’ll know that everything in that box belongs in the room.
5. Hire a van/truck
Truck and van hire will help to minimise the amount of back and forth trips it would take to move all your belongings in one car. The entire process of moving is made much more stressful when you add children to the situation, by hiring a rental van, you can alleviate some of this as one of you can drive the kids to the new house in the car, while the other transports your belongings over. It also means you can do everything at your own pace and when you want to, instead of worrying about an entire removal team of strangers – take your time and try to enjoy the process.6. Last minute questions
Having all your questions answered will take some weight off your shoulders, helping to ease you into your new home. No matter how small or how silly your question seems, make sure you ask everything;
“when are the bins collected?” or “where is the local park?” At least once you’ve asked all your questions, you’ll know everything has been answered.
Your moving day will always be an important day that brings worries and stresses with it, especially when there’s a child involved, and there’s no escaping that entirely. But, by being a little more organised, you can ensure all jobs should be done and in place for when you move, rather than having uncompleted jobs hanging over your head.
K Elizabeth xoxox
*Collaborative Post
