Are you planning on moving soon? Once I read a study that showed that a clean and organized house sells faster than the other ones and it also increases it values in more than 800%. I guess people like to imagine themselves living in a peaceful space.
When clients contact me to help them with their move they share how overwhelming this process is. Sometimes, they realize they need a professional help when they are at their new place and that is a mistake since the process of decluttering would be easier if done while packing.
I actually love helping my clients during the whole process: before, during and after the moving day. I know how busy they are dealing with work, family, kids, school, and getting the pressure off their shoulders is something I am here for.
Today I want to share with you 8 steps for an easy and organized move. Let’s jump into it:
1. Moving is a great time to rethink all your possessions since you will need to touch every single item you own. With this thought, eliminate everything that you don’t love, need or use and can be donated, sold or consigned.
2. Decide what can be packed before the house is even on the market and where the boxes will go. Decluttering and depersonalizing your home is a step forward into staging to sell.
3. Create a “Moving Supplies” box and keep it accessible. Here is what I suggest you to have in your moving kit: shipping tape, sharpie, scissors, box cutter, clear plastic bags, bubble wrap, furniture sliders and felt pad, tools {screwdriver, hammer,tape measuring and level}, painter’s tape, wire ties, duct tape in different colors, and color-coded packing key.
4. Get moving supplies and color-code them. Use some different colors of duct tape and designate one color for each room. That make things easy to everybody and moving day will be a breeze. Click the button below to download a color-coded packing key template I made for you.
5. Make lists. You will have so many things to get accomplished. Making many different kind of lists will help you to stay on top of things and do not lose any night of sleep. If you are a tech person, you can use an app called AnyList. This app makes working as a team easy since the lists can be shared with all family members.
6. Create two binders – the first one you can leave to the new owners of your house and it can include: paint samples that were used in the different rooms, manuals and warranties of the appliances in the kitchen and laundry room and maybe a welcome letter to their new home. The other binder you can keep ideas for your new place, receipts, manuals, paint ideas, a list of things you want to get done before you move in, etc.
7. Plan your meals – the weeks before and after the move are crazy busy. Preparing slow cooker freezer meals doesn’t take too much time to prepare and it saves you time in the future. Another thing you can do is to use up all/most of your pantry items before the move. You won’t need to worry about packing them and you get to have a new fresh pantry stock at your new place.
8. Last things to pack, first to be opened – make sure you identify the boxes that contain the most necessary items. I like to use red tape to identify these boxes that contain: cleaning supplies, first night essentials, tool box and snacks.