Planning a move without unnecessary stress

With careful planning and execution, a house move has the potential to be stress-free

MOVING HOME IS already a stressful period in anyone’s life. But the thing is, without careful planning and execution, a house move has the potential to become even more stressful. And the thing is, you can’t just remove the stress by relaxing during the move period. You need real systems in place to support them often and ensure everything doesn’t collapse around you.

Let’s look at some ways to remove friction from your move so you don’t pile on the stress.

Decide what actually needs doing before moving week

Here’s the thing: not everything pertaining to your move is as urgent. Some tasks are higher on the list of importance than others, and assigning everything a high alert status will just make you feel stressed before anything even happens.

Packing timelines, access arrangements, inventory issues, and move day logistics needs are higher in the chain in terms of importance than any decor choices or layouts within a property or setting up new routines.

You need to prioritize all the tasks you have to run through so you can tick off the more important ones early, so they’re all taken care of.

Reduce decision-making during the move

Moving week is not the time to be making new decisions, and you need to reduce your choices as much as possible to reduce overwhelm.

Lock in anything that requires you to make a decision ahead of moving week, and as far in advance as is possible. This includes things like dates, time windows, routes, parking, child care, and who is responsible for what action on the day. The fewer decisions you need to make, the clearer your mind will be and the less stressed you will be.

Assign responsibility and communication channels

Someone needs to be in charge and manage logistics and third-party services. You need one point of contact for dealing with experienced movers to help reduce friction and keep things consistent.

You need to have one way to communicate so nothing is missed, and everyone needs to be clear on who to contact and how in the face of different scenarios. Running everything through one person reduces delays, mixed messages, and anything falling through the cracks.

Plan for timing access and constraints

Timing can be thrown off by the slightest thing, and to avoid extra pressure, build time into your schedule to account for this. Especially if you’re travelling through busier areas or long distances.

Consider things like hallways, lift stairs, parking restrictions, and building access rules so you can manage your move better and ensure you understand how these factors will impact how the day runs. The more you can anticipate in advance, the more prepared you’ll be to face any issues these aspects can have.

Organize belongings

Disorganization will just end up creating double the work. Items that aren’t clearly grouped end up being repacked, moved twice, or loaded inefficiently. Decide what is being moved, what’s being donated, and what’s being disposed of well in advance.

Group belongings by room or function and label them consistently. Then, when you load up your moving vehicles, organize by room so they all go into the new property the same way they came out of the old one.