Moving Tips
Moving day and it seems like your world is being turned upside down. That’s how many people feel when the time comes to relocate. Of course, few are prepared for the major change of a new living space, community, and job. Employment opportunities remain a driving force behind relocation. But the experience does not need to be filled with dread and uncertainty.
In fact, there are online outfits available that offer full-service moving resources. Quick Moving Quotes, for example, offers everyday people the tools to plan a seamless and stress-free move. Creating a customized, cost-effective plan can be done on any desktop, laptop or electronic device. Consider these four ways to turn a hectic move into a joyous experience.
1: Professional Planning Matters
There are two basic ways that you can effectively plan for moving day. The first entails you taking inventory of everything you own. Then, create some type of spreadsheet or list and calculate the number of boxes, wrapping paper, weight, fragile packaging, bulky items and labor among others. Yes, planning is a ton of work.
The other option is to rely on the experience and expertise of a professional moving outfit. Think about what it will really cost in terms of your time and resources to pack, load, move and unload. Compare that to a no-obligation quote from Quick Moving Quotes and make a decision. Remember to figure in the cost of your sanity as well.
2: Stress Reduction Matters
By connecting with professional moving services, your task will simply be to answer a few pragmatic questions come moving day. Telling someone which box goes in which room beats doing it yourself. But letting go of the situation can also create some anxiety. After all, some of the items have great sentimental value.
Consider having a friend swing by and chat over a cup of tea in the morn. Put on pleasant music or just go to the fitness center and workout. Do the things that help you to relax. Remember, the pros have your back.
3: Unclutter Your Life
Moving can be an excellent opportunity to finally reduce clutter. Leading up to moving day, consider having a tag sale and purge unneeded items. Donate things to a charity. You may even get a tax deduction come April. The point is that you have an opportunity to start fresh at the other end. Don’t take a worn-out mattress or couch with you.
4: Embrace Your New Community
One of the major stressors of relocation is feeling alone. Meeting people organically can take a good amount of time. Be proactive and make connections.
Consider joining community organizations by volunteering at places such as the local library, school committees, a non-profit music organization or theater group. If you are a fitness enthusiast, go beyond joining a gym. Sign up to participate in a walking, running or biking event. The point is to become a community member by joining. You’ll likely love your community that much more by being a vital member.
At the end of the day, turning a potentially frightening moving experience into a positive one starts by networking with trained professionals and ends with you have a great new circle of friends.
Moving Tips
It’s common knowledge that home break-ins peak during the holiday season, especially increasing around Christmas. If you have just gotten settled into a new home after completing a move, you want to be especially careful to keep it safe around the holidays. Read on to learn how to ensure the safety of your new home this upcoming holiday season:
Keeping Your Home Safe: General Tips
- Don’t Share Your Plans: Keep any and all travel plans off of social media. While your friend list is likely trustworthy, you never know who will see your post. You don’t want people to know when your home is vacant. Don’t share when you plan on leaving or returning. This means you can’t post photos from your vacation, while still away. It just isn’t a good idea. It’s like an alert for thieves saying “home is vacant, now’s your chance to rob it” when you do this. Wait till you get back into town to share.
- Inform a Neighbor of Your Plans: Although it can be difficult as the new person in your neighborhood to figure out who you can trust, it’s important to inform at least one neighbor of your plans to leave town during the holidays. This is important that someone knows you will be gone, so they can keep an eye on your house and be extra aware of any suspicious activity. It’s also a good idea to set your outside lights on a scheduled timer or use other home automation tools to make your home appear to be occupied.
- Don’t Display Possessions: Don’t make it obvious that you have purchased items. For example, try to keep your tree, with wrapped gifts underneath, away from windows. In addition, porch pirates are everywhere this time of year when everyone is ordering from Amazon. Consider installing a security camera, such as a doorbell camera, that has a good view of your porch if you plan on ordering a great deal of items. Even the mere presence of a security camera will sometimes deter a would-be porch pirate.
- Mind Your Landscape: Even if you don’t plan on leaving for the holidays, it’s a good idea to make sure your landscape doesn’t allow a burglar to hide. For example, ensure you have outdoor lighting and your bushes are trimmed down below your windows, not in front, providing cover.
- Ensure Your Method of Heat Source is Safe: Theft is not the only danger you have to worry about around the holidays. Due to the cooler weather, you will have to turn on your furnace and using your fireplace for the first time. The US Fire Administration reported the deaths of 2,650 individuals due to house fires in 2008. If you didn’t before purchasing your new home, have your furnace professionally inspected to ensure it is in proper working order. Have your chimney cleaned as well before using your fireplace. It’s also important to check the batteries in your carbon monoxide detectors and smoke alarms are good, and make sure the detectors themselves are working properly.
The holidays are a wonderful time of year in general, but can present a challenge as well when it comes to keeping your home safe for a variety of reasons. Keep the above tips in mind to ensure your home is protected this holiday season.
Moving Tips
Holidays are obviously not the ideal time to complete a move. After all, holidays bring about enough stress, without adding the pressure of a move. However, in some cases, instigating a move in the midst of a holiday celebration is simply unavoidable. If this is you and you find yourself organizing a move in the midst of celebrating Thanksgiving, read on for some helpful survival tips:
- Make Some Scheduling Decisions: Thanksgiving presents logistical challenges all on its own when it comes to making an appearance at several family events, all over the course of a few days time. When you have to complete a move within that time as well, though, you have to seriously consider which thanksgiving dinners you must attend and which can be skipped this year. If it’s a small gathering, you could always ask your family or friends to change the date of their meal, in order for you to be able to attend, allowing you to skip the meal on the actual day of Thanksgiving, yet still get together at a later time. However, don’t get hurt if they can’t, it’s a lot to ask someone to change tradition. Therefore, for this one year, you might just miss a few celebrations. Now’s the time to determine which ones. Let your loved ones or friends know as soon as possible if you know you won’t be able to attend their celebration.
- Set Up Your Move With a Professional Soon: Another potential problem regarding moving on or around the Thanksgiving holiday is finding a company who will work on Thanksgiving. If you have to move day of, there might be very few options when it comes to hiring professional movers. Therefore, if you know you will be orchestrating a move, especially on Thanksgiving, call a professional mover as soon as possible to get on the books. The small percentage of movers who will work on Thanksgiving will book up quickly.
- Opt For a Nontraditional Thanksgiving: If you will be moving near or on Thanksgiving, you likely can’t host a Thanksgiving dinner. You might not even have time to attend one as mentioned above. However, you can always drop into a restaurant that offers a traditional Thanksgiving dinner and have an atypical Thanksgiving celebration. No cooking, no cleaning, no worrying about your house being destroyed. Who knows, this might become your new favorite way to celebrate.
- Give Yourself Some Grace: Because you are trying to complete an extremely stressful task, in moving all your belongings from one dwelling to another at the same time as a huge celebratory time, give yourself some grace. You won’t be able to do it all. You won’t be able to make everyone happy, and some family members might even get aggravated at you for not attending their celebration. Give yourself grace and remind them that this isn’t an every year event. You will be able to once again partake in their event next year.
Thanksgiving is a wonderful time to spend with friends and family, enjoying each others company and reconnecting after months apart. However, it is sometimes the only time you have to complete a move. In this case, keep the survival tips listed above in mind to come out unscathed on the other side.
Living Tips, Moving Tips
According to a study by the Physiological Society, outlined by Global News, moving is one of the most stressful life events you can experience. It makes sense when you consider the financial and logistical challenges that accompany a move, not to mention the change that it entails. Change in and of itself is stressful, so the change moving involves, plus all the other moving related challenges, combine to make it extremely stressful. As such, many people tend to experience moving related anxiety. If you are currently experiencing this, read on to learn how to handle your move related anxiety:
- Keep the Right Attitude: Stress is a common cause of pessimism and lack of focus. If you are struggling with stress and anxiety relating to your move, remember to keep the right attitude to counteract that pessimism. Focus on the positive elements of your move, the chance to meet new, interesting people, the ability to engage in new activities. Even if it’s a small positive, focus on something that will be beneficial about your move. Also, remind yourself that the process of moving is temporary in nature and you will once again feel settled in your new place, eventually.
- Do Your Research: Since one of the main stresses relating to moving involves the unknown, one way to counteract moving related anxiety is to educate yourself on your new location. Learn which roads are best, which times of the day, what restaurants are nearby that you just have to try, what parks are nearby and what do they offer. Knowing a bit of what to expect will reduce the “unknown” aspect of your new home and subsequently reduce your anxiety level relating to the unknown element of your new place.
- Organize Your Move: Sometimes, anxiety can become overwhelming simply because you don’t have a plan of action. Make a checklist of items that need to be taken care of before, during and right after your move. This will ensure all your tasks are broken down into manageable size. Check off items as you complete them. This will give you a sense of accomplishment and reduce anxiety as you can see your “to do” list dwindling.
- Begin Early: Don’t wait until the last minute to prepare for your move. This will only make the tasks associated with the move that much more rushed and stressful. To prevent this from happening, start preparing for your move early. You can start organizing, removing clutter and boxing up nonessential items as many as weeks or months before your actual move.
- Accept Help Offered: Finally, in order to reduce your moving related anxiety, accept any help offered. If your friends and family members are willing to help you, allow them. Give up some of your many tasks to able hands, and reduce the burden on yourself. Be sure to show your appreciation to anyone who helps you. Buy them dinner, provide drinks and snacks while they are helping you, etc.
Moving is a stressful and anxiety inducing life event. Thankfully, by following the tips listed above, you will better manage your moving related anxiety.
Sources:
https://www.lifestorage.com/blog/moving/moving-stress-and-anxiety/
https://globalnews.ca/news/3311454/the-most-stressful-situations-in-life-and-whos-more-stressed-about-them/
Living Tips, Moving Tips
Divorce is never the desired end of a relationship, but sometimes, it is unavoidable and the best choice for a couple. When you face a divorce, there are many tasks to complete, one of which is moving your stuff (or their stuff) out of your joint living situation. Be sure to talk to your attorney before you move anything out of your home as doing so before your divorce is final can be a mistake. Once you are sure you can move your stuff out and the logistics of divorce are complete, it’s time to focus on moving your stuff. The following are some tips to help you do just that:
Get Rid of Sentimental Items: In Storage or Permanently
It might be pictures of you and your former spouse, or items you received together as a wedding or engagement gift, regardless, get rid of any item that is tied directly to you and your spouse’s former relationship. These items can be thrown away, given away or stored. If you think there might be a chance of reconciliation in the relationship, you can simply store these items in a separate location. However, make sure you move them out of your space. Don’t keep them around where you will see them.
Start The Packing Process (If You Choose to Move Out)
If you want to stay put in your home, the one you and your spouse shared, you can follow the tips listed below to renovate or redecorate your home to make it your own and create a like new space.
In many cases, moving out and selling the property is the best idea after the end of a marriage. If you want to sell your home, it’s time to go through the contents of your home and organize items, making it easier to move when the time comes. Get rid of items like mentioned above that hold sentimentality. Get rid of any clothes you haven’t worn in at least a year or that no longer fit or are in style. Once you do this, you can even begin packing nonessential items, such as off-season decorations in storage boxes. Make sure to properly label all boxes, as well as where within the house they are found so you can easily unpack them when the time comes. You can even get a storage unit and get a head start on moving items out of your home, making the eventual moving process easier.
Redecorate Your Home, Making it Your Own
Couples often choose the style, textures, colors and furnishings of their home together. Consequently, after a marriage ends, it can be difficult to keep everything as is, even if one spouse remains in the home and one moves out. If you are staying in your home after a divorce, replace your furnishings, repaint, change the style of your décor, make it your own. This will allow you to enjoy a fresh start, even while remaining in your home. Donate any quality items that still have life left to a charity.
Moving on after a divorce isn’t easy. The steps above will hopefully help make this process as easy as possible, whether you stay in your home or move into a brand-new place.
Sources:
Divorce Moving Out Checklist: How to Move Out to Move On
Moving Tips
Sometimes, when contemplating the topic of moving, it isn’t in terms of moving your possessions from one home to another, it’s instead trying to clean out a loved one’s home, which you have inherited. The process of going through possessions, categorizing them and getting rid of some of it is similar to what you do when packing for a move. However, it is obviously more emotionally taxing and is often more draining overall. Read below to learn what to do with a house full of stuff you have just inherited:
Determine What You are Going to do With The House
Before making another step, you need to determine if you want to sell, rent, or move into the inherited house yourself. Use the following elements to determine which is best for you:
- Is there a mortgage? If there is, obviously, you might need to sell in order to pay the debt. If it’s paid off, you can stand to make a good deal of money either selling or renting your inherited home.
- Determine the tax consequences. Ask a tax professional about estate taxes and how they could affect your selling, moving into or renting the home. Are there tax advantages to one option over another for you? A tax professional can advise you best on this.
How to Clean Out The Stuff
No matter what you determine to do with your inherited home, it will likely involve cleaning out the home, removing all the stuff. Keep the following tips in mind when starting the process:
- It might take time. If you were close to the deceased, going through their belongings can be emotional. Therefore, it’s important to take your time with this process. In most cases, unless there are financial reasons to move quickly, there is no reason to not take your time.
- Move sentimental items into storage. If you plan on having either a garage or estate sale to get rid of many of the contents of the home, remove and all sentimental items out of the home into some sort of safe storage. This will allow you to make progress in terms of cleaning out the property, without having to make an immediate any decision on sentimental items. It also frees you up to have your estate sale without having to worry about the sentimental items. You can even employ the help of a moving company to transport these precious possessions out of the home for you.
- Get rid of broken, worn items. Once you have moved out any sentimental things and determined what can be sold, go through the old, worn and/or broken items. It’s a good idea to go through the home one room at a time, maybe even one drawer at a time. In many cases, this inherited house will be full of decades worth of possessions and mementos. It’s a process that can take some time.
- Donate items no one wants. After going through the home, removing sentimental items, and selling the rest in an estate or garage sell, donate the rest of the usable items to a charity.
Inheriting a house means you were an important part of someone’s life. Therefore, it should be considered an honor. Of course, it might not always feel like a gift when you have to address an entire home full of stuff. Thankfully, by taking your time and following the tips listed above, you can handle the task and get the most out of your inherited gift.
Sources:
Inheriting a House Full of Stuff: Here’s What to Do
