Mobile Storage

Moving is extremely high in stress, and moving day is the most high stress part of any move. However, a little organization can make moving day much, much easier. Here are three battle tested moving tips that will make moving day far more bearable.

Make a survival kit.

On the last day, you will have one last little pile of belongings to pack: all the bedding, toiletries, dishes, cups, pans, and little details (alarm clock, iPod, box of favorite tea) that you used up to the last minute. Your impulse will be to sweep the pile haphazardly into any half full moving boxes you still have lying around. Don’t give in to it! The things you used at the end of your stay in the old house will be the first things you need when you are moving into the new house. Instead of forcing yourself to dig through half a dozen moving boxes to find the things you need, pack all your moving essentials into their own boxes. Write “Moving Kit” or “Open First” on the boxes. When you unload the car or van, put the moving kit boxes off to the side where you can reach them easily, and watch to make sure they are not hidden under a deluge of other boxes. You will find that settling into your new home goes faster when you have your moving survival kit ready to deploy as soon as you move in.

Pack a lunch.

It is too easy to spend moving day scrounging for something remotely foodlike in convenience stores and fast food drive throughs. By the time you are done moving, everyone is full of sugar and grease, overcaffeinated, and short tempered. To prevent that, spend the night before packing ready to go meals that do not need reheating. Even something as simple as a peanut butter sandwich, a bag of chips, and a 100 calorie pack of cookies can do wonders for your and your moving companions’ tempers.

Be ready to camp out in your house for a few days.

You were foresighted and had all the utilities connected a week in advance. When you walk in the front door, you expect everything, from the electricity and gas right down to the Internet, to be working. It never works out that way. The electric company thinks you live at 12 Grove Terrace, not 12 Grove Street, or the meter reader from the gas company could not find the meter, or the cable company needs you to be home so someone can come in and turn on the cable. Get ready to meet these little crises in advance. Pack flashlights, candles, matches, and warm bedding where they will be easy to find in your moving kit, fully charge your cell phone before you leave the old house, and pack a stash of food that does not need to be heated. Have a list of all the utilities’ contact information and your account numbers so that when you need to get something turned on right away, the numbers are at your fingertips.