Getting Yourself Organized
Managing your time effectively when moving house can help to alleviate the stress of moving. Make a list of all the things that you need to do, then divide them up and allocate them to the weeks leading up to your move, allowing yourself enough days to accomplish everything on that week's list.
Cut the Clutter!
Clearing your house of all the unnecessary extras will help you be, and feel, more organised. It will also mean that when you start packing, you'll only be packing the items that you need to. There's no point packing items that will just be thrown out once you have moved, it can be frustrating and time consuming.
Eliminating clutter also helps you relieve yourself of some of the old things that might have been holding you back.
The process of eliminating old belongings from your possession will assist you in transitioning from one stage of your life to the next, leaving the past in the past and looking forward to the future.
Get Help When You Need It
Most people find little pleasure in calling for assistance with their move if they are finding it too difficult to coordinate everything on their own. Your loved ones have probably moved at least once in their life and can understand how trying this stressful time can be. Ask friends and family if they can come over for a few hours and help you pack. If you're moving far away, this could be one of the last chances you have to spend time together for a while and they'll likely appreciate some extra time with you before you move.
Saying Your Farewells
Parting from a place that you've come to call home can be a stressful and emotional experience. Don't ignore the feelings of loss, sadness and anxiety that sometimes accompany the other feelings associated with moving away from your house, friends and family. Allow yourself time to say goodbye. Throw a farewell party, or invite friends over for dinner. Take an hour to walk through your neighborhood and visit your favourite places. Allow yourself to relive the memories and feel the emotions they elicit.
Plan Some R&R
When Moving house, it's all too easy to spend long days packing boxes and cleaning the house, forgetting entirely to take care of yourself.
Neglecting yourself over the course of moving house can often result in more stress, both emotionally and physically. While it may seem like you're being efficient with your time, by making personal sacrifices for the sake of the move, you're also neglecting the most important thing that is moving: yourself!
Allocate some time in your task list for some chill out time. Allow yourself treats like having dinner out with friends and family, visiting your favorite coffee or book shop, or seeing a movie. It doesn't need to be a huge extravagant event, just something small that ensures you're taking time out from the hectic moving process to balance yourself, stop, breathe and release the anxiety.
Kids require special handling during a move; they notice a lot more than we think they do and will know when their parents are stressed out. They'll need time from you, perhaps more so than usual. The adjustments and changes can be daunting and require patience, understanding and attention. This may be difficult to give if you are putting all your energy into moving house and not enough into the people behind it all!
Don't Worry if Your Plans Fall Through
Despite your best efforts in organizing and preparing everything to the best of your ability, things still go wrong. Unforeseeable obstacles and events will happen, so you need to be flexible and allow yourself some extra breathing room to deal with these problems. Don't stress about extraneous variables that are beyond your control, it will only upset you and a solution is more difficult to come across when you are anxious and stressed out. Make allowances in your task list for unforeseen events and delays. Then, in the case that things do go wrong, you have some room to breathe and work through the issue. And if everything goes smoothly then these days can be used to treat yourself!
Plan B
A full back-up plan may not be necessary, but having a list of options in case some things don't fall into place as you have planned will avoid panic and fretting setting in. Leave a few days on either end of your move out/move in day should your cleaners not show up, or if there are problems with the real estate agencies that you are operating through. These events are rare, but it's worthwhile accounting for them.
Prepare to Feel Out of Sorts
You're going to be living in disarray for some time once you have settled into the new house; boxes will be everywhere and things will feel out of control. Just remember to keep on track by continually referring to your task list so you know that you are on track for your move and have achieved a great deal already.
Remember that it might take some time for your new house to feel like home. As you unpack, and as the next chapter of your life unfolds you will find that it's only a matter of time before things start feeling normal again.
