How to plan a move without disrupting daily life
Moving house can definitely take over everything if you let it, so that what starts as a simple plan to go from one home to the next ends up being something a lot more stressful and complicated, with loads of lists, boxes everywhere, and that awful constant feeling that you’ve forgotten something very important.
What’s really tricky to get around is that life isn’t going to pause for you just because you’re moving – you still have to work, the kids have to go to school, you’ve got to eat, and somehow packing and organising yourself (and everyone else a lot of the time) just has to fit in. With that in mind, here are some useful tips to help you plan a move without disrupting daily life (at least not too much anyway). Keep reading to find out more.
Start earlier than feels necessary
It’s tempting to wait until the move is properly confirmed before doing anything, but starting slowly in advance can make a big difference. You don’t need to pack everything immediately (that would just make things more stressful, after all), but you can certainly begin by sorting cupboards, clearing out items you don’t use anymore, and deciding what you actually want to take with you.
And doing all that in short bursts, perhaps half an hour at a time, for example, helps avoid that last-minute rush, and it also means you’re not surrounded by boxes all at once, which can make things feel a lot harder and more difficult to deal with.
Pack in stages
Rather than trying to tackle whole rooms in one go, packing in stages helps you stick to your normal routines, which is a crucial part of not getting too stressed when you’re moving house. So items you rarely use, like seasonal decorations, spare bedding, books, and so on, can be packed first because it’s not going to affect daily life if they’re not around.
Gradually, you can move closer to packing essentials, but by that point a lot of the work will already be done, so it’ll feel less overwhelming overall.
Keep daily essentials accessible
One of the easiest ways to avoid – or at least reduce – disruption when you’re moving is to create a clear separation between packed items and things you still need to live comfortably until the moving day itself. To help with that, you can make an ‘open first’ box for each room, and that’s where all the everyday items like the kettle, toaster, plates, blankets, toiletries, and so on can be.
If you know exactly where these things are, it’s going to prevent unnecessary searching and you’ll be able to keep your routines running smoothly, even when the rest of the house is all over the place – that’s the house you’re leaving and the one you’re going to, of course.
Maintain normal routines
It might sound quite obvious, but if you can keep routines as normal as possible it’s going to help reduce stress, so keep your meal times the same, leave for school at the same time each day, and keep doing your regular activities right up until the moment you can’t because you’re literally moving. All that’s going to help keep things feeling less disruptive for everyone, which reduces stress and makes moving a lot less of a chore.
The fact is, when you can keep your routines consistent – and everyone else’s in the household as well – the move itself just becomes another part of the week and something you need to do, rather than the main focus. It’s amazing how much difference thinking about it like that can make.
Break tasks into smaller pieces
Moving involves lots of small jobs, and trying to tackle them all at once can feel completely overwhelming. However, if you break them up into more manageable pieces, it’s going to help you get them done, and because you’re seeing progress, it’ll help keep your momentum up as well.
You could spend one evening just labelling boxes, for example, and another chunk of time could be for notifying utilities, and then another for organising paperwork and so on. The point is, these small steps all need to be done, and they’ll add up without taking over the entire day and making you feel like you’re running out of time.
Get some extra help
There might come a point when bringing a professional moving company into the picture makes sense. It’ll certainly make things easier because having experienced movers there to handle the heavy lifting – literally – and transport means you can focus on all the other things we’ve mentioned, like the smaller jobs and keeping your routine going etc.
Plus, having experts to help means less physical strain for you, which can make the whole experience a lot less exhausting.
Stay flexible
Even with the most careful planning, unexpected changes can still happen – dates can change up or down, paperwork might take longer than you thought, or (and this is very likely), packing can take more time than you allocated, and so on. That’s why it’s good to make sure there’s some flexibility in your plan so you can adjust when you need to and not feel under too much pressure when you do.
The point is, you need to accept that not everything’s going to go perfectly and that’s mainly just because there are so many moving parts that have to come together to move house. And of course, if it does all go well, that’s a bonus to enjoy.
Prepare the new space gradually
If possible, think about your new home in advance and plan things like where the furniture’s going to go or what needs cleaning first etc. That can all make it feel easier when you get there, and it means you’re not going to sit and do nothing while getting more and more stressed.
When you arrive, you’ll be able to properly focus on setting up the most important areas like the kitchen and bedrooms, and that means daily life and those all-important routines won’t be disrupted too much.
