How to Have the Easiest Home Move Ever In Just 11 Steps

Why is Moving Home So Stressful?

Aside from the worry of your home sale falling through before completion, the biggest contributor to moving day stress is the lack of time.

Usually, you are under pressure to get your home packed into the removal lorry, get to your new home, and get unloaded all in under a few hours.

These are just a few of the common moving day problems which you could face:

• Delay in transferring money between solicitors
• The vendors not moving out in a timely fashion
• Finding that your new home is filthy
• Traffic delays
• Weather
• Missing light fixtures
• Leaking pipes or plumbing

Coupled with the anxiety you feel about moving to a new place, maybe struggling to cope with the emotions of leaving a home you love, and the frustrations of the housing market that you have had to endure for months, no wonder most people view moving home as one of the most stressful events in their life.

But it does not have to be that way.

With some planning and organisation, there is a way to prevent most of these issues from wrecking what should be the first day in your wonderful new home.

The easiest and least stressful moving day can be had by following this one strategy:

Do not move into your new home on Completion Day.

So you may be super eager to get settled into your new home straight away, but an extra 24 hours delaying moving in your furniture and boxes is going to make a world of difference.

Of course, this is going to take some planning and organisation, and may not be the cheapest way to move home, but it will certainly make moving day so much easier.

So read on to discover how to make moving home easier and less stressful.

You may also like to read: Life Hacks for an Easier Home Move. In this slightly lighthearted post, we look at ways that you can train your mind and body to make moving home easier.

How to Plan the Easiest Moving Day Ever in 11 Steps

Every successful home move is dependent on good planning and organisation so follow these few steps to ensure that your home move goes without a glitch.

The plan is to move as few items as possible to your new home, utilise storage, or have your possessions kept on the removal van overnight, then move in the day after completion.

You may choose to stay the night with family and friends, in a hotel, or on camp beds in your new home the first night.

Your furniture will then be delivered the next day or even a couple of days later if you prefer after you have prepared your new home.

Once the furniture is in place you can then unpack the boxes in a logical sequence with the most urgent items being unpacked first.

Delaying moving all your furniture and boxes in on moving day has several advantages:

• You will not be under time constraints so will be far more relaxed
• You will not incur any extra charges whilst the removal team waits for the keys to be released to you
• You will have time to thoroughly clean your new home
• You can attend to any urgent repairs that need doing
• You can replace all the locks on external doors and outbuildings
• You will have time to replace batteries in smoke detectors and alarm systems
• You can childproof each room
• Children’s rooms can be set up so that when they arrive familiar things will be around them
• You can ensure the garden is secure so that pets cannot escape
• You may even have time to decorate

Here is our step-by-step plan for an easy and stress-free home move.

#1 Declutter

No matter how you intend to move home, this is the golden rule to follow for the cheapest and easiest home move.

Get rid of all the things that you no longer need or want.

The fewer items you move, the cheaper and easier your home move will be.

You may also like to read: How to Declutter for a Home Move A room-by-room guide on how to declutter before moving home. Including how to deal with the emotional impact of getting rid of things of sentimental value.

#2 Have a Packing Strategy

Pack all the items that are seasonal or that you want to keep but rarely use first.

Then pack the things that you will need shortly after moving home.

Then a couple of days before you actually move, pack the things that you will need in the days immediately following your move.

You may also like to read: How to Label and Pack Moving Boxes – An Easy and Fool-proof Method. In this guide, we explain exactly how the above packing strategy works and how the boxes must be labelled for the system to work.

#3 First Night Box

Pack a box or boxes of all the things that you will need on moving day and the first night or a couple of days in your new home.

Depending upon how many days there will be before your furniture and boxes arrive, and what you intend to do within that period you may need to pack a few boxes which may include:

• A box with clothes, food, drink, medicines, phone chargers, bedding, toiletries, towels, a new shower curtain, and torches.
• A box of tools, spare light bulbs, new locks, new padlocks.
• A box of cleaning products

You may like to read: How to Pack an Open Me First Box. Also known as a moving day box, this is an essential box to pack and keep with you on moving day. This guide contains a list of useful suggestions for your moving day box.

You may find this useful: Moving Day Tool Kit. In this guide, we offer suggestions as to what to put into your toolbox to help you tackle all those essential repairs.

#4 Get Your Car Serviced

A few weeks before you move get your car serviced.

It would be a nightmare if your car broke down halfway to your new home, so get it ready by having it serviced and checking tyre pressures for example.

You may also like to read: Moving Home By Car. In this guide, we look at safely loading a car, how to pack things for moving by car, games to play on the journey, and how to prepare your car for moving day.

#5 Find the Best Removal Company

A crucial aspect of moving home is finding a really good removal company to help you move the heavy and large pieces of furniture and kitchen appliances.

You will need to find a company who can either keep your things in the lorry overnight (thereby reducing the opportunity for your things to get damaged as they will be handled less) or who has a storage facility if you plan on not moving your things into your new home for a few days.

Essential Reading: A Step-By-Step Guide to Choosing a Good Removal Company. In this guide, we take you through every single step of the process of deciding which removal company to hire. This is invaluable information that will ensure you do not get scammed and that you receive the best removal service.

#6 Organise Storage

You may consider moving your things into storage over several days or weeks before moving day.

Your removal company may have storage facilities or can recommend one for you.

Over a period of time, you pack your things and move them to the storage facility.

Using the packing system described above, you will take the things that you use the least first so that the things put into storage last will be the first things that you will need in your new home.

Alternatively, your removal company can take all the boxes and furniture for you on moving day into storage.

You may also like to read: How to Choose a Storage Unit. Choosing the right storage unit is as important as choosing a good removal company. In this guide, we show you the things to look out for and what is essential to keep your things in pristine condition whilst in storage.

#7 Have Children and Pets Cared For

Moving home, when heavy and large pieces of furniture are being moved about and the removal team is carrying boxes back and forth, it is essential that children and pets are kept out of harm’s way.

Arrange for children and pets to be cared for by friends or family and then once you have prepared their new rooms and given your new home a thorough clean, they can come and join you.

This is also the perfect opportunity to pet-proof the garden and childproof your home.

You might like to read: How to Pet Proof Your Home, Car and Garden and How to Childproof Your Home. Both of these guides go room by room and throughout the garden, ensuring that your new place is safe for them when they arrive in the new home.

#8 Clean

By adopting this approach to moving day you will have the time to give your new home a thorough clean before your things arrive.

Invariably a new home will never be as clean as you would like it, so this is the perfect opportunity to give those carpets a shampoo and to get into all those nooks and crannies for a deep clean.

You may also like to read: How to Deep Clean a Home When Moving. In this guide, we take you room by room through your home with a cleaning schedule. Also included are some eco-friendly recipes for cleaning products which you may find really useful.

#9 Decorate

There is never going to be a better or easier time to decorate than when the rooms are totally empty and the kids and pets are out of your way.

If you just need to give the rooms a quick coat of paint then this is the ideal time to do it.

You may also like to read: How to Make a New Home More Relaxing. In this guide, we suggest 11 things that you could do to make your new home a haven of relaxation.

#10 Have an Unpacking Strategy

It is easy to focus on just moving out of your old home but there is still plenty of work to do to get settled into your new home.

Having an unpacking strategy will make it far less daunting and will make it easier to unpack in a logical sequence.

Having colour-coded your moving boxes in the way described earlier you can immediately identify the most important boxes to open first.

This will save you hours searching through boxes looking for a particular item that you urgently need.

You may also like to read: How to Not Get Overwhelmed Unpacking After Moving Home. Seeing that huge pile of boxes that need unpacking can be daunting and it is easy to make excuses and delay unpacking them. In this guide, we offer a strategy to make unpacking less overwhelming.

#11 Get Groceries Delivered

Organise a grocery delivery for the day after you move in. This will save you hours walking around the supermarket, time that can be spent unpacking or getting your new home the way you want it.

Don’t forget to change your address if you use 1-click ordering. You will find this change of address checklist really useful to ensure that you don’t forget to notify everyone of your new address.

How to Have a Stress-Free Moving Day

Moving into a new home should be an exciting new chapter in your life so you want to start this new adventure as relaxed and happy as possible.

There may be unexpected things that happen on moving day, things outside your control, but if you are not under such tight time constraints or pressure then those hiccups will seem far less stressful.

Here are some more tips to make moving day a breeze

• Set an early alarm so that you start the day relaxed. Have a good breakfast and then a walk around your home to ensure that everything is ready for the arrival of the removal team.
• Ensure that your moving day essentials are kept well away from the boxes that will be loaded onto the removal van.
• It is really important to take your time looking around your new home, identifying those little jobs that need doing, but more importantly, so that you can start to appreciate and fall in love with your new home.
• Take some time to relax, you have the keys to your new home, your belongings are safe with the removal company, and your pets and kids are being well looked after.
• Set up your bathroom so that you can have a nice shower and prepare your bedroom so that you have a good night’s rest. Waking up clean and fresh tomorrow will set you up for the day.

You may also like to read:

How to Survive Moving Day – A guide on how to face the challenges of moving day and retain your sanity.

How to De-stress After the Stress of Moving Day – Lots of practical ways to stay calm on moving day and to manage the stress of moving home.

If you can keep a calm mind on moving day it will be far less stressful.

If the vendors have not moved out when you arrive at your new home be thankful that you are not incurring the charges of the removal company waiting whilst they finish moving out.

When you turn up at your new home and it is dirty, think that no matter how clean it could have appeared, you would have cleaned the home from top to bottom again anyway.

It will take a few hours to clean, but you have that time now. It is not the end of the world.

The previous occupiers may have taken the lightbulbs with them but that is no problem because you planned that might happen and have spares in your moving day tool kit.

The point is, none of these little things is the end of the world, yes they can be annoying and inconvenient, but they are things that can be resolved.

The important thing is to appreciate how lucky you are to be in a new home with the opportunity to create some wonderful new memories.

Don’t forget to visit our home moving blog which is packed with useful guides to make your home move easier, cheaper, and safer.

Good luck on moving day, it is just one day out of your life, tomorrow is the start of a great new life.