Moving is insanely stressful, and moving day is the most stressful part of any move. However, taking care of a few details in advance can make moving day much less of a strain. Here are some tried and true moving tips for easing the strain of moving day.
Put together a survival kit.
On the last day, you will have one last little pile of belongings to pack: all the bedding, toiletries, dishes, cups, pans, and little details (alarm clock, iPod, box of favorite tea) that you used up to the last minute. Your impulse will be to sweep the pile haphazardly into any half full moving boxes you still have lying around. Don’t give in to it! All the things you needed when you were finished packing your old house will be the things you will need most as you unpack in the new house. Instead of forcing yourself to dig through half a dozen moving boxes to find the things you need, pack all your moving essentials into their own boxes. Write “Moving Kit” or “Open First” on the boxes. When you unpack, make sure they go into their own room and are not buried by a stack of other boxes. You will find that settling into your new home goes faster when you have your moving survival kit ready to deploy as soon as you move in.
Make some ready to eat meals.
Too often, moving involves endless stops at donut shops and convenience stores for whatever foodlike substances you can scavenge. By the time you are done moving, everyone is full of sugar and grease, overcaffeinated, and short tempered. To prevent that, spend the night before packing ready to go meals that do not need reheating. Even something as simple as a ham sandwich and a pudding cup can make an incredible difference in your and your moving companion’s moods.
Prepare to camp.
You were careful and had all the utilities turned on days in advance. When you walk in the front door, you expect everything, from the electricity and gas right down to the Internet, to be working. It never works out that way. The gas company thinks you live at 41 Park Street, not 14 Park Street, or the electric company thinks you wanted service for NEXT week, or the cable company forgot to tell you about a four day delay in turning services on. Get ready to meet these little crises in advance. Fully charge your laptop and cell phone before you leave the old house, pack bedrolls, flashlights, candles, and lighters in the top of your moving kit, and keep a stash of food that you can eat without heating it. Have a list of all the utilities’ contact information and your account numbers so that when you need to get something turned on right away, the numbers are at your fingertips.