Moving is both exciting and daunting. With so many details and moving parts, getting overwhelmed with a move is easy. It’s, therefore, necessary to have proper plans for all kinds of move ins. This way, you remain organized, and the move is bound to be smooth and manageable.
It’ll be easy to fix if anything goes wrong suddenly. Moving into a new home involves several steps to ensure everything goes well on the big day. If you have an impending house move, first create a checklist of everything you consider important to do before, during, and after the move ins. The checklist will take some thought, but you’ll be glad you made it once you finish.
Rent a Van
One of the things you’ll need to do after the preliminaries is to arrange to transport your belongings to your new home. Moving vans come in all shapes and sizes, and you need to consider your budget and the volume of items you want to carry into the new home. If you have decluttered and have a considerably low volume of stuff to transport, go for a minivan rental, make one of two trips, and you’ll finish. Minivans are in high demand, so make sure you’ve called the car rental company in advance to ensure availability on your moving day, especially if you plan to move during a busy season.
Ensure the Home’s Structural Integrity
Before settling on a house to buy or rent, inspect it for structural issues. House inspection is a crucial step that should happen before any move ins are considered or planned. Check the home for signs of damage to the foundation, walls, or ceilings. According to Forbes Home, the telltale signs of a home that isn’t structurally sound include wall and floor cracks that are wider than 1/8 inch, bulging or bowing in the ceilings and walls, uneven floors and walls, roofline sagging and general unevenness, obvious signs of water damage to walls and floors such as mold and wood rot.
If you notice any of these issues and are still interested in the house, consider acquiring the necessary concrete supplies, hiring a remodeling company, and contacting professional spray foam insulation businesses to help you address them. Remember, having proper insulation will not only improve your home’s energy efficiency and protect you from water damage but also make it more comfortable to live in.
Clean Your Windows
Windows are magnets for dust and debris. Moving into a house with dusty windows dampens your new beginning experience. Clean windows can instantly freshen up the look and feel of your new home. Don’t overlook this simple but effective task as you work on cleaning everything else inside the home. Stock up on wiper kits, window cleaners, and microfiber clothes to make the window cleaning process more efficient and streak-free.
After gathering your supplies, choose the right time. It’s best to clean your windows on a cloudy day or early in the morning before the sun begins to scorch. The hot sun can quickly dry out the cleaning solution or soapy water, leaving ugly streaks on the window. After washing or cleaning with a store-bought window cleaning solution, dry and polish the glass parts of your window. Use a clean, lint-free cloth to remove any wetness for a crystal-clear finish. Wipe your frames and sills with a damp cloth and avoid spraying chemicals to preserve the paint.
Don’t let the first window cleaning be the last! According to Window Genie, cleaning your windows helps reduce glass and window seal degradation and elongate your window’s lifespan. Contact professionals to clean all your windows twice yearly to avoid grime build-up that may affect the natural inflow of light and warmth, especially during the colder months.
Ensure Your New Home is Pet Friendly
Most people overlook their pet’s welfare during move-ins. Your pets also need time to adjust to the new environment. Gradually prepare them for the move by helping them acclimatize to their crates. Regularly place them inside the crates without shutting them in, and put some food or a favorite snack. Next, try closing the crate, staying beside them calmly, and releasing them.
Once your pets are comfortable inside their crates, take them for short drives. Before the moving date, go with them to the new house and give them a ‘pet tour.’ According to PetMD, animals can retain a wide range of memories, from remembering the location of their food or litter box to recognizing individuals and locations they haven’t encountered in a long time. So, it may also be true that move ins can be stressful for pets if things happen too abruptly.
If you’re a dog owner or have other pets running around the house instead of staying in cages, ensuring your new home is hazard-free and pet-friendly is crucial. Research nearby dog parks, veterinary clinics, and pet-friendly amenities. If your pet needs training to acclimate to the new place, look for reputable dog training schools in your locality for help.
Repair the Roof
Despite being one of the most critical components of a house, the roof is the least maintained, and its issues or damage can go unnoticed for years. So, it might be better to get the roof of the house you are about to move into inspected beforehand by a professional.
The most common issues a residential roofing inspector might discover during the inspection are insufficient insulation, inadequate ventilation, improper mortar flashings, unsuitable tiles for pitched extensions, poorly installed gutters, damaged roofline boards, chimney issues, and incorrect chimney capping. They may also discover leaks, mold, and wood rot.
Hire professionals specializing in residential roofing to make the necessary repairs or replacements to safeguard your new home from further degradation and other inconveniences that might arise, such as respiratory health challenges caused by toxic mold from leaks and dampness. Once settled in, create a convenient roof maintenance schedule and adhere to it. Don’t let roofing troubles catch you off guard when you can help it.
Pump Out the Septic System
Move ins are stressful; you don’t want to add on septic system challenges. If your new home relies on a septic system, have it inspected and pumped out before moving in, regardless of how recently constructed the house is. As long as there were occupants before you, an inspection is necessary.
Why? Well, pumping out the septic tank before moving in helps prevent potential issues from an overfilled or near-capacity system. Septic tanks have a limited capacity to hold wastewater and solids. If they’re already full when you move in, there’s a higher risk of sewage backups and overflows, leading to unsanitary and yucky mess inside and outside your home. Emptying the septic system before moving in creates ample space for handling your household waste efficiently. Talk about peace of mind!
During the pumping session, get a cesspool pumping company to thoroughly examine the tank and its components for signs of damage, leaks, or malfunctions. Identifying and fixing such issues early prevents more extensive damage and costly repairs in the long run. Ensure the contractual agreement includes such inspection.
In any case, your septic system needs regular maintenance to serve you efficiently and for a long time. It ensures the tank operates optimally, effectively treating and disposing of waste without causing clogs or backups. Make it a routine to check for malfunctions even in future move ins.
Sell Unneeded Items
Move ins give you a perfect opportunity to declutter your home and downsize. Decluttering is more than getting rid of unwanted or unused items. It has many other benefits. According to WebMD, decluttering keeps pests away and reduces dust, mold, and mildew, which are notorious causes of allergic reactions and respiratory health challenges. When you declutter, you avoid transferring chaos into your new home, reducing stress. With lessened stress, you’ll discover a more focused, productive, energized, more creative you!
So, before packing everything into the moving van, carefully review your items over several weeks and identify things you no longer need or use. You can go on to organize a garage sale in your neighborhood to dispose of unneeded items or take them to the local pawn shops. Also, consider using the many online platforms for selling and donating, such as Facebook marketplace, eBay, Amazon Trade-In, Gazelle, ThredUp, and Decluttr. Not only does decluttering and downsizing lighten the load for move ins, but it also provides some extra money to invest in better things or repairs in your new home.
Landscape Your Yard
Depending on your lawn’s current versus the look you want, it may or may not require some work. The decision to landscape is informed by your budget and the yard’s condition. If it looks dilapidated, with patchy grass, unhealthy or damaged trees, and a broken face, you have to do some work to improve the situation and make it liveable.
Take some time to plan how you want to landscape it for aesthetics and functionality. Consider hiring tree removal services to remove unwanted or hazardous trees and branches. You can also work on designing a beautiful outdoor space that complements your lifestyle and enhances your new home’s curb appeal. Plant a garden, add a swing, a trampoline, and some flowers to add homeliness and fun to the yard. It’s all about personalization and style.
Take Some Useful Pictures
As you pack up, capturing images of the labyrinthine wiring behind your entertainment systems, play stations, and other electronics is wise. It’ll act as your visual roadmap to unravel the complexity when it’s time to set everything up again after moving into your new home. Also, take pictures of all the appliances that need reassembling and label them properly to ensure their ‘puzzle’ pieces perfectly fit. Take pictures of all the fragile and valuable items you’re moving with in case they go missing or break. You can later use the pictures as evidence to claim compensation if something breaks or disappears in transit.
Color Code the Packing Boxes
You’ll save yourself a lot of time if you color-code your boxes. Give each room a color. For instance, you could assign blue boxes for kitchen items, gray boxes for the living room items, brown boxes for the garage, and yellow boxes for the bedroom. If you don’t have colored boxes, whip out your colored pens, sticky notes, and stapler. Use these to color-coordinate your packing. Once you’re in your new home, it’ll be easy to know what is going where, and you can take your time unpacking room by room. Color coding boxes is one of the most practical ways to make move ins easier and more organized.
Plan Flexibly For Your Moving Day
You may plan the move to the T, and that’s great, but the moving day poses challenges that need proactive planning. If you have children, plan for them in advance. Think about what they’ll need from their rooms, what they’ll eat, how they’ll get to their new home, who will be there with them, and so forth. Do this while ensuring your items arrive safely in your new home.
If you have a support system, use it. Ask someone to child-sit for you and agree to pick up your children later in the day when the dust has settled, and the house is livable. You can then begin the journey toward settling into the new environment together.
Life isn’t perfect, so remember to leave room for things to go wrong. Be patient with yourself and stay positive. Some challenges to anticipate are leaving something behind, forgetting to lock up, losing the keys to the new place, not finding a childminder, tantrums from the children, a pet running off, or getting stopped by a traffic cop for overspeeding. Life happens. Be calm and try to keep your mind clear.
Preparation is vital for all kinds of move ins. Make a checklist, start weeks or months ahead, enlist the help of moving companies if you have lots of stuff, and remember to declutter and downsize. Proper preparation also involves inspecting the new house to catch anything that needs repair or replacing before you move in. Ultimately, even with meticulous planning, the moving day may still be overwhelming and chaotic, but it’s usually a fast process and will be over and done in no time. Good luck with your upcoming move ins!