Are you moving with children (and/or pets?)
While moving can be hard enough on its own, adding kids and pets into the mix makes for a potentially tough transition for everyone involved. Thankfully there are some things you can do to make your move easier and the transition smoother for everybody. When moving with a family, there are certain factors to consider in order to ensure moving day runs smoothly. I always suggest starting off with breaking the news, it’s time for a conversation about moving! A family move is a major event that can be stressful for everyone involved. Having open and honest discussions that are age-appropriate with your children leading up to your move will make a huge difference. Honesty is the best policy. When the final decision has been made to move, you should sit down with your kids, let them vent their emotions without fear of repercussions, and help them understand all the new benefits of a move. Perhaps emphasize the new neighborhood, the big yard space, or the proximity to family.
You have a lot to keep track of during your move. Make sure you have all the records your family will need by creating a “Vital Records” folder in your Gmail account. You can upload your vital records, including paycheck stubs, medical records, and school records so that you can easily find them when you need them. Include your child’s immunization history, medical documentation and physician statements, school records and report cards, passport details and vaccination certificates, and other important documents
With moving comes diligent planning, especially when you’re planning a move for a family it can take a little more time and effort than other moving plans. When the time comes that you have your move date, you will need to check with your preferred companies to see when they have available dates or if the dates fit with your personal schedule and those of other family members, you can choose the moment that is most convenient for everyone and reduce the stress of your house move.
You will want to start purging, take this time as you prepare your family to move to declutter – this will take the stress away of having to pack so much, or even unpack and find a place for miscellaneous items in your new home. Most likely, if you are questioning whether to keep an item or not, it’s outlived its purpose for you and your family. The question to ask yourself is “do I want to pack this, move this, and unpack it when no one is using it anyways?” if you answer “no” to these, decide if it’s worth donating, or putting it in the toss pile. You will also find it tremendously resourceful to pack items by category. This will make it so much easier to unpack items in the appropriate new spot for them once you are in your new home. Put all the books in a box together, put your children’s toys in a box together, put all your pet items in a box together, and so on. Yes, you might find yourself searching throughout the house that fits that category but you will be so grateful to know where everything is. I also recommend a ‘catchall’ box. Even with your best efforts, you will tape up a box and find something that should have been put in that box later on, if you make one misc item box that will be the last box you seal up this will help as you begin unpacking if you can’t find a specific book that should have been in your box of books to go to the catchall box and find the missing item. You can also help your stress levels by breaking down your packing into manageable tasks, for example, start off with items that are out of season, or rarely used, then as the move gets closer and closer you can start seeing your progress in the house, and start deciding what items you will need left for the final moving day, I’d break it into 3 different categories: 1. Rarely Used/Seasonal Items 2. Regularly used Items 3. Everyday Items.
I cannot express this next tip enough, label your boxes on at least 3 of the sides, tedious right? You should label the top two sides of every box, and depending on how you are organizing your boxes, you will want to know what is in that box without having to open them up, when you add the label to 3 sides you are able to store these boxes in a way that makes it still accessible to see what is in that specific box. If you are someone who really likes to organize and use spreadsheets you might want to even have a system in place for numbering your boxes, you can itemize what is in each box, and create a list in a Google Doc this way you actually can reference what is in each box, and where it is and you also will know how many boxes are being transported which helps if you are concerned an item went missing.
Now would also be the best time to sell items that are in great condition but you just don’t want or need anymore, depending on how much time you have you might find it too time-consuming to sell off items and find it might be easier for you to just donate them instead. Whichever works for you is fine, just commit to doing it, otherwise, you’re going to end up doing a bunch of manual labor for items you didn’t want to keep in the first place. If you are looking for places to donate to in Arizona you can pop over to our resources section and find a helpful guide for donations (under ‘Buyers’).
Whether you are a list person, or a calendar person you will need to outline what has to be done for this move, having something in place will prevent you from getting that overwhelming feeling of “where do I begin” or “what’s left to be done still?” just revert back to your list or calendar and know what needs to be done by when. Planning ahead is essential for a successful move, but being flexible with your plans is just as essential, too. This will help you bring order to the moving chaos and will prevent stress when the plan does indeed change.
Our goal is to ensure you have a pleasant moving experience, if you have questions or need help in your planning process I invite you to reach out and let us be a helping hand, you can rest assured that your experience will be positive from the start to finish.
