My roomie Warren Van Dam and I have just moved home after 4 years at our last place and it is fair to say that this has been quite the learning curve. We got the move done alright, things do always work out in the end of course, but if I were to do it over then there are certainly some things which I would have done differently, and I think Warren would probably say the same thing. With all of this in mind, I wanted to share some thoughts for any of you who have a move on the horizon and are worrying about it.
Early Start
I must be honest we were told that we should start boxing things up early, and still ended up leaving it too late, so hopefully you take the advice which we didn’t. Honestly on the face you think that perhaps you don’t have too much stuff, throw it all in boxes and everything will be fine, this sadly wasn’t the case. The reality is that there is always a lot of stuff and it is very time consuming to pack it all up.
Prepping Well
Actually getting packed in the first place is a very stressful situation and that is why it is essential that you do all that you can to remove the risk of further stress. There is little more stress inducing that not having rubbish bags when you need them, or running out of boxes, or not having a marker pen which works. These are small annoyances which are massively exacerbated when you are already stressed with the move.
Stop Living
During the last 2 or 3 days before you move, I would advise that you eat out or order in, that you perhaps use a very minimal amount of clothing and that you are able to wash with just a simple bar of soap. When you are neck deep in a move, it can be incredibly frustrating to have to keep unpacking stuff, washing things and then packing them up again.
Call in the Troops
When people say to you ‘anything I can do…’ they may or may not mean it, yet I suggest that you try your very best to cash in that favor with your friends and family. If you do get some help and support then make sure you have things in order first, and make sure that you have jobs for everyone who arrives, not to mention that you feed and water them as they get the work done.
Sacrifice
We ended up paying an extra month for our TV subscriptions and our internet because we failed to call up early enough to cancel everything, this became a huge mistake which cost us money. The reason why we held off in the first place was that we were worried that we’d end up without our TV or internet for days before the move, in hindsight that would have been better than paying an extra month.
Keep these tips in mind when you move places.
