Moving home can sometimes be a stressful experience. It’s why the process is often put up there with divorce and bereavement as the things people least want to go through.
Still, it doesn’t have to be that way. With a bit of careful planning and a structured approach to moving day, moving home can become something to be enjoyed rather than dreaded.
Below, using our knowledge and knowhow as estate agents working across Essex and Kent, we offer advice on how to make a home move as stress-free as possible.
Choose your strategy
This is the first thing that you will need to nail down. You may feel that you can move your possessions off your own back, or you may want to call in a removals company to do that job for you.
There are pros and cons to both. If you don’t have many possessions, it might make financial and logistical sense to hire a van and do it yourself.
If you have more possessions – and no time or inclination to move by yourself – then hiring in the professionals would be a wise move.
If this is the case, ensure that they are members of the British Association of Removers (BAR). This means you can rest easy that they are a reputable firm who won’t leave you in the lurch come moving day.
It’s also advisable to book the removers in at least a fortnight in advance, just to be on the safe side.
Make packing fun (sort of)
It’s something everyone dreads, but try to make it a fun and therapeutic experience rather than a miserable, monotonous and draining one.
It helps to give yourself plenty of time, so you can complete the process bit by bit, slowly does it. Besides, packing at the last minute is never fun!
Make sure you are well-organised, that you keep to a disciplined and regimented system and that you don’t get distracted by the TV or watching the next episode of House of Cards on Netflix.
Labelling the boxes will help you out at the other end, while heavy-duty cardboard boxes, Post-it notes and bubble wrap will make the process smoother and keep your more valuable items in one piece. It will also help to ensure you leave nothing vital behind.
Keep a checklist
It might sound unnecessary and mundane; you might even be the sort of person who doesn’t keep lists. However, you should make an exception when it comes to moving home – checklists can and will be a lifesaver.
By helping you to keep on top of all the things you need to do, as well as keeping your packing under wraps, the chances of your stress levels being kept to a minimum are that much higher.
A checklist does what it says on the tin – simply make a list of everything you need to do before moving day and tick them off, one by one.
A checklist can turn even the most disorganised person into a structured, regimented one.
Use moving as an excuse to declutter
Most people have stuff lying around in their house or garage that they haven’t used for years.
It might be appliances that are broken or beyond repair, it might be an old bike with a front wheel missing or it might be black bags of clothes that haven’t seen the light of day since the late 90s.
Whatever it may be, moving home is a perfect excuse to get rid of the junk.
It’s easy for these useless or unwanted items to pile up over time, but you will get a lot of satisfaction from finally binning things that you have no call for any more.
Of course, some of the stuff might still be in perfectly good working order – in which case it could be sold on sites like eBay or given away to charity. Decluttering, like packing, can also be a very therapeutic experience.
At Balgores Property Group we operate in areas across Essex, from Hornchurch to Upminster and Brentwood to Romford.
Contact us at one of our branches for more info about what we can offer you. To find out how much your property is worth in the current marketplace, check out our free and instant online valuation tool.
