Sometimes a task seems so enormous, so insurmountable, that it needs to be broken down if it’s to be a success. Assembling flat pack furniture, making your bed, putting things in the dishwasher…all tasks which require mental fortitude and rigorous planning, sure, but today we’re here to talk about something much bigger.
Yep, moving house is quite possibly the most stressful and draining thing that you’ll do in your lifetime, with bureaucracy and genuine heavy lifting competing to be the most burdensome. Make things easier on yourself by tackling each aspect on its own and with patience. Here’s how; our IDEAL life admin tips on 5 ways to prepare for moving house.
GET YOUR MAIL REDIRECTED
Man, all those bills, Brexit Party flyers and prompts to do your tax return; wouldn’t it be nice to let them all build up in your old post box? Sadly, this simply isn’t the solution. So, one of the first things that you should be doing when organising the big move is getting all your mail redirected to your new gaff. Some services will do all the hard work for you, for a price of course, but in our experience, it’s worth the fee to lessen the hassle. The Royal Mail runs the official UK redirection service for the princely sum of a minimum £33.99. Yep, all that just to receive more bills; proof yet again that the world is trying to shaft us at every turn. A necessary evil, unfortunately.
TELL YOUR BANK
Another thing that you need to do, pronto, is to inform your bank about the move. They can then update their records, and this will stop your information from falling into the wrong hands, as well as having information up to date and correct for any applications you make down the line and standing orders you might have.
If you have any kind of insurance, then this also needs transferred. If you’re not sure where to start with home insurance (a necessity, we’re afraid), then this guide for homeowners insurance made easy will help you out. Of course, you should note that if you’re buying a new property, as opposed to renting, then you’ll almost certainly need to take out buildings insurance too, as this will be a condition of your mortgage contract.
CLOSE OLD UTILITIES & SET UP NEW ONES IN ADVANCE
If you’re to pay a fair price for your previous gas and electricity usage, then it’s vital that you provide an accurate meter reading on your moving day; you may even find you’ve been overcharged along the way and you’re due some money back. Result!
Setting up new utilities before you arrive at your new gaff is just as important. You settle into your new home, a little worn and argued out, and dusty from the move. All you want is a long, hot shower. All well and good until you realise you don’t have any hot water or electricity. Avoid this by setting up utilities in your name, in advance – from the day you move in – so you’ll be accurately paying for your usage and not the previous occupants’. Items such as your TV licence and internet provider can usually be simply switched over to your new address, so check out the feasibility of this in advance, too.
PACK EARLY & LABEL YOUR BOXES OBSESSIVELY
Though we’ve not seen a Marie Kondo episode dedicated specifically to moving house, we’re sure she’d recommend packing up your items methodically and logically, well in advance of your moving date. And her word on anything organisational is gospel, even if it’s imagined.
If you simply don’t have the time to get this done purposefully and ahead of schedule, then consider hiring a removal company to do all the hard work for you (just make sure you’ve pre-packed any of the more embarrassing items).
Though this can be an expensive step in the process, if you work long hours and don’t have the capacity to do it yourself, it can really lift stress levels. The team at Atlanta Home Movers suggest that ”A move to a new location is made so much more stressful when you don’t have a team you can rely on” and we couldn’t agree more. Sometimes, enlisting professional help is the smart move, even if it represents an investment.
If you are super organised, then it’s worth making an inventory of what you have in every single box and labelling it accordingly, making unpacking at the other end far easier.
DECLUTTER & STREAMLINE
Not every single step of this process needs to be stressful, heavy and burdensome. Instead, embrace the opportunity when packing up your worldly possessions to be ruthless. Ask yourself if you really, truly need to bring those childhood dolls with you? Is there really going to be room for three rice cookers in your new home’s kitchen cupboards?
Getting rid of the clutter and junk which has held pride of place for far too long can be a really valuable byproduct of moving house. As the old saying goes; ‘with a tidy house comes a tidy mind’, so embrace this chance to start afresh without that massive teddy bear you won for your ex-girlfriend at the fair or the box of vinyl you never, ever listen to. We’ve written about why decluttering is so important over here; check it out!