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Tips For Staying Organized (& Stress-Free) While Moving

by on Jan 17, 2014

Angela Rutherford

My husband and I have moved almost every year since we’ve been married. We’ve moved five times in five years and are preparing for our sixth! I’d say that qualifies me as a moving expert and I decided to share a few things I’ve learned over the years!      

Moving is always such a stressful event, but you can help ease some of that stress by being as organized as possible. Here are a few tips to make the move go a little more smoothly:

Purge your household – Go through closets, cupboards, drawers, the basement, and anywhere else you store items. If you don’t use it, get rid of it! If you have a looming DIY project you’d like to finish with that craigslist find, but haven’t had the time, do it now! If you don’t finish it before your move, it will most likely keep collecting dust.

Start packing one month before – Packing always takes longer than expected. Save yourself a headache by giving yourself plenty of time to organize. From hiring movers, enlisting the help of friends, and wrapping up all your trinkets, the stress will get to you. Minimize it by starting early!

Package an entire room at once – Keep all of the items from your office desk in one box and label it, “Office Desk”. Pack up the entertainment center and label it as such. By doing this, unpacking is easy because everything you need is right there in one box!

Be as detailed as possible when labeling boxes – I like to write out almost everything that is in one box. If you don’t want to write it on the boxes, number them and keep all of the information in a notebook that you’ll carry with you. You’ll be able to check that list for exactly the thing you’re looking for. No more opening random boxes! Bonus: you can store the boxes in numerical order and keep things tidy!

Those may seem like simple steps, but believe me, they’ve helped me keep my sanity among the moving madness! Looking for more info? Take a look at these moving checklists!

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