3 Tips to Make Your Move Easier

Moving is Hard

Keeping up with the endless administrative tasks is mentally taxing. Sorting and organizing your stuff, packing and carrying the boxes, and the deep-cleaning requirements is all physically demanding. The grief of goodbye to your old life and the anxiety of starting all over again is emotionally draining.

Add it all up, and it’s just plain exhausting!

As a military family, we move every few years, so I am constantly on the lookout for ways to make this difficult process easier. Although there is much we cannot control (like the moving van showing up on the snowiest day of the week), there is still plenty we can do to make this weight of responsibility lighter!

Here are 3 Tips to Make Your Move Easier

Ideally, you can begin taking action at least 6 months before your move. If you don’t have much time left, choose the one tip that you think will be most effective at reducing your stress level. Focus your energy on that one tip first. If you still have time, choose the next most effective tip and continue.

Tip #1 – Separate Your Stuff

It is incredibly difficult to pack (and therefore unpack) if the household belongings are mixed together and scattered throughout the house. Instead, give distinct functions to each space in the home, and shift the family’s belongings to those new spaces. Toys go here, books go there, paperwork belongs in this room.

Separating your stuff takes some physical work now, but it saves you much more physical work later. Imagine walking into a room with a box labeled “office supplies” knowing that all of your office supplies are already consolidated in that room. Packing the office would be so much easier!

Tip #2 – Consume the Consumables

This is the easiest way to reduce the number of boxes! At least 6 months before each move, I stop buying anything that we consume slowly. Cleaning products, shampoo, art projects for the kids, condiments, etc. This forces us to use up what we already have.

If I run out of something like laundry detergent, I ask myself, “How much will we realistically use between now and the move?” I forego the value pack savings and only buy what we need. Although each individual container doesn’t save much space on its own, when you intentionally consume all the consumable categories across the house, they really add up!

Tip #3 – Declutter Early

There is nothing more annoying in a move than packing up a bunch of stuff just to get rid of it at the new house! If there is a particular category of stuff that you know is growing out of control, don’t wait. Take care of it now.

If you would like some strong guidance through the process of decluttering, downsizing, and organizing a specific category of stuff, choose a Home On Purpose Lesson Series and get started today!

Imagine leaving all the useless clutter and unnecessary extras behind. Imagine how nice it will be to open the boxes in your new home and only see clothes you truly intend to wear, toys your kids actually play with, and kitchen gadgets you regularly use. What a relief that would be!

This is just the beginning!

These three tips are just a tiny taste of the many tips and strategies I have developed over time. Each one is designed to reduce your stress, reduce your workload, and even help you enjoy the process of settling into your new home.

There is so much to share, that I went ahead and compiled all of them into a Moving Mini-Series!

INCLUDED IN THE SERIES ARE . . .

My strategic packing method called the “Tier System”
Labeling templates to help the whole family stay organized
Tactical timelines for both packing and unpacking
Tips for thoughtfully organizing your new home
Encouragements for easing the emotional burden, especially for the kids
And more!

In three short lessons, you can take control of your stuff, get on the same page with your family, and develop a customized plan of action to make this exhausting process so much easier.

Click to watch the FREE introduction video:

It’s never too early to prepare for a move!

Ever wonder if I practice what I preach? See for yourself!

During our final move as a military family, I recorded a mini-documentary of various parts of the process. Follow me through one year from earliest preparations to the final unpacking as I use the Home On Purpose approach to lighten my workload. Enjoy!