How To Move Without Losing Your Mind
Soon enough you’ll be moving into your new dorm, apartment, or house for the coming school year. Moving can be stressful, especially if it’s your first time living away from your family.
With these five tips, you’ll have a stress free move and be more prepared in the future.
1. De-clutter Before Not After
While it may seem like a gargantuan task equal to moving, we recommend de-cluttering your belongings before you move. Think about it, do you really want to haul ten extra boxes to your new place only to toss out everything in them once you arrive?
Go through all of your belongings and only keep what’s essential for living at college. You may have heard of Marie Kondo. She has a book called Spark Joy that’s all about cleaning out your home with intention. Check out her book and follow all the steps before you start packing.
This way, you know everything you’re bringing is essential, and you’ll have far fewer boxes to transport to your new home.
2. Pack Smart
In your frustration, you might find yourself just tossing everything you can get your hands on into a box just to get it over it. Resist the urge!
If you pack smart, then unpacking will not be so terrible. The best advice is to keep like things together and label your boxes!
For instance, put all your bedding and bath linens together. Label the box bedding and bath linens. It seems simple but you’d be surprised at how many people shirk labeling and organizing when they move!
You’ll be thankful you went the extra mile when it’s move-in day and you know exactly which box holds your bedding and toiletries to start getting your room in order!
3. Transportation
You’ll need a way to transport all of your things to your new home. If you’re going to college in-state, you’ll probably just pack as much as you can into your car when you move.
If you’re going out-of-state, it might be trickier. You might be taking a plane in which case you’ll have to check some large bags to get your things or have your family send them to you in the mail. Either way, there are choices to be made and organization to be done.
If you don’t have a big enough car, borrow a family member or friends car. The most important part is having transportation period. You don’t want to wake up on move in day and realize you have nowhere to put your carefully packed boxes!
4. Unpacking Smart
You’ve arrived at your dorm and you’re ready to move in! Instead of just dumping all your boxes in the center of the room, consider a different approach.
As you carry in your boxes, put them in the area where it’s contents will be going. This means put your bedding on your bed, your clothes by your closet or dresser, and your wall decor by the walls. This will make taking everything out and finding it a new home much easier!
This step is also made even easier when you follow step 2 of packing smart!
5. New Home
Your new home is most likely a different size and shape than your old home. Don’t think that everything has to be exactly the way it was where you used to live!
Be open to putting things in new places. Even though things may be rearranged, having familiar items will still comfort you when you’re feeling homesick.
If you follow all of these steps you’ll have moved house with your mind still intact! Now that you’re a moving expert, you can pass on your knowledge to your friends and families. Moving truly does not have to be such a big terrible thing!
