Common wisdom tends to divide moving into three stages – Packing and Preparation, Moving Day, and Unpacking. Everyone has their personal approaches, preferences and feelings pertaining to each. While thinking about a move in three stages can be helpful, one of the most important things to remember is that the third stage is a direct a product of the first two. The ease with which you are able to set your household back in order will be exponentially proportional to the care taken in packing and in loading and unloading the moving truck.
Packing
Advice abounds on the best way to pack your home in order to protect and transport your belongings to the greatest advantage. Our post “Tips for a Smooth Relocation” can help you organize your packing to make unpacking easier. As you are packing, keep in mind the things you will need right away – bedding, things for the bathroom, tools to assemble furniture and open boxes, a stereo or iPod dock, and toys keep children occupied if they are not able to help with unpacking.
Have a (floor) plan
Before leaving your old home, have an idea of what you are going to do each day when you get to your new one. What time will you be arriving? How many days will you have off from work? Who will be helping you? If possible, have a floor plan for your new place and get an idea of where you want major furniture. It can save you a lot of pain, physical and mental, if the movers place the furniture where it belongs as they bring it in, and you will need these items in their proper place if you are going to be unpacking into them.
Clean first
If you are able to get to your new home far enough in advance of the movers, or if you are doing the job yourself, make sure the new place is as clean as it can be before you start moving things in. Cleaning an empty house or apartment is infinitely easier than cleaning a full house. You can also take this opportunity to make sure the gas, water, and electricity are all on and working properly.
Also, particularly if you are renting, now is the time to take stock (and photographs, if necessary) of any problems or damages you may have noticed. As soon as you can, put these in an email to your landlord so that you both have a record of the problem.
Unload the truck
Since you followed the advice of everyone who has ever moved and marked your boxes meticulously, color-coded or otherwise identified by room (right?), unloading the truck should be a piece of cake.
Sweaty, labor-intensive cake. Before things start coming off the truck, identify a wall in each room that will ultimately be free of major furniture and stack the boxes for that room against that wall, and only against that wall. If you have movers, try to stay out of their way, but be on hand to answer any questions and give direction for where furniture and boxes should go. For now, stow artwork and mirrors out of harm’s way, in a garage if you have one, or a closet if not.
This is the time to whip out that inventory list you were so careful to compile while you were packing up. As the movers finish with each room (which should happen pretty systematically, since the truck will have been loaded by room – right?), go in and make sure that everything that is supposed to be there is there. If something comes up missing, don’t panic. Just mark it on your list and keep an eye out as you go through the other rooms. When you find it, immediately move it to its proper place. This will help you maintain the order that will make unpacking fell like Christmas instead of Friday the 13th. Only when everything has been unloaded and you have been through every room will you need to address with the movers anything that seems to be missing.
Now you’re all set to unpack. For tips about what to do next, see our post “(Re) Establishing Your Home”, coming soon.
via:http://www.hvmoving.com/planning-ahead-for-easier-unpacking/
No comments:
Post a Comment