Lots of preparing and planning goes into finding your next home, arranging your financing, and submitting an accepted offer. When you finally land your dream home, you’re faced with another major task: packing and moving all your belongings to your new space. Even a short-distance move requires detailed planning in advance and can be stressful. Below, I have listed some tips to make your next move as stress free as possible.

Preparing For a Move  

The key to staying organized during a move is to create a plan before you get started and make a timeline or checklist to reference throughout the process. Each move has a unique set of circumstances for relocating, the amount of time you have to complete the move, and the amount of distance you will need to travel. Starting backwards from your move-in day, make a timeline so that you can distribute your tasks evenly and not be overwhelmed closer to the move.  

Consider hiring professional movers and start shopping around for them right away. If you don’t have any friends or family that are able to help you move, or you are moving a long distance, professional movers can be a valuable tool. The amount of time and stress they save can be well worth the price.

Administrative Tasks

Even if you are moving to the next street over, you will have administrative tasks to complete for your move. It is best to tackle these early so you can get them out of the way and focus on packing. You will need to transfer or set up homeowners’ insurance and utilities like hydro, water, gas, cable, and internet. You will also need to update your address with the Ministry of Transportation for your driver’s license and vehicle registration. Set aside some time to list anywhere else you will need to update your address like your car insurance, employer, and financial institution. Canada Post offers a mail forwarding service that you can use to forward your mail for four or twelve months if you want extra reassurance that nothing is missed.

Packing

The most important thing to do before you start packing is to declutter and purge your belongings. Use moving as an opportunity to go through your things to toss, keep, sell, or donate to ensure you are not bringing anything to your new home that you no longer need. Take measurements of your furniture and new space to make sure you are not bringing anything that won’t fit.

When you are ready to begin packing, going one room at a time can help you stay organized. Start by packing in less frequently used rooms and packing items that you don’t commonly use, saving the items that you use often for last. Pack an overnight bag as well so that you have your essentials during the first day or two of living in your new home as it will likely be tough to jump right into unpacking everything right away.  

If you don’t have access to multiple cardboard boxes, you may want to consider renting reusable plastic moving boxes. Typically, you can get them dropped off at your house to pack and picked up from your new location once you are finished unpacking. Whether you end up using cardboard boxes or renting plastic boxes, use a labelling system and write the contents and location on the outside of the box, so you know where it belongs when you move. Make sure not to overpack the boxes so that they are not too heavy to be moved and use plenty of packing material to bundle fragile items. You will also want to get specialty packing materials for fragile items like your TV or marble table. If you are hiring movers, you can generally purchase these items through them.

When disassembling larger pieces of furniture make sure to keep the hardware in separate labelled bags so that you know which hardware goes with which furniture. Another great tip is to take pictures of the items you are disassembling to make re-assembly much easier.

Moving Day

All your hard work and preparation has set you up for a smooth moving day. Make sure you get a good night’s sleep and eat a solid meal to start off your day. Plan for something easy to eat or take-out once you are in your new space, so you’re not stuck trying to find your kitchen supplies.

If you hired movers, make sure you have someone at both locations directing them on what needs to be loaded first or last and where everything goes. Most importantly remember that unpacking will take time, it doesn’t need to all get done right away. Make sure you take some time to appreciate all your hard work and celebrate this major milestone.

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