Transferring Help: 8 Tips for a Happier Cross Country Move

We all understand about switching on the utilities at the brand-new place and completing the change-of-address kind for the postal service, but when you make a long-distance relocation, some other things come into play that can make getting from here to there a bit harder. Here are 9 suggestions pulled from my current experience of moving from the East Coast to the West Coast-- from packing the moving van to managing the inevitable crises.

1. Maximize area in the moving van. Moving cross-country is not cheap (I can just think of the cost of moving overseas), so I did a great deal of reading and asking around for suggestions prior to we evacuated our house, to make sure we maximized the space in our truck. Now that we have actually made it to the other side, I can say with self-confidence that these are the leading three packaging steps I would do once again in a heart beat:

Declutter before you pack. If you do not love it or need it, there's no sense in bringing it with you-- that area in the truck is money!
Leave dresser drawers filled. For the very first time ever, instead of emptying the dresser drawers, I just left the clothing and linens folded inside and concluded the furnishings. Does this make them heavier? Yes. But as long as the drawers are filled with light-weight items (certainly not books), it must be fine. And if not, you (or your assistants) can carry the drawers out individually. The benefit is twofold: You need less boxes, and it will be much easier to find stuff when you relocate.
Pack soft items in black garbage bags. Attractive? Not in the least. This has to be the most intelligent packaging idea we tried. Fill heavy-duty black garbage bags with soft products (duvets, pillows, packed animals), then use the bags as space fillers and cushioning inside the truck. To keep products secured and tidy, we doubled the bags and connected, then taped, them shut. Use a long-term marker on sticky labels used to the outdoors to note the contents.

2. Paint before you move in. If you prepare to offer your new space a fresh coat of paint, it makes a great deal of sense to do this prior to moving all your stuff in.

Aside from the apparent (it's much easier to paint an empty house than one filled with furnishings), you'll feel an excellent sense of accomplishment having "paint" checked off your order of business before the first box is even unpacked.

While you're at it, if there are other untidy, disruptive products on your list (anything to do with the floorings definitely qualifies), getting to as much of them as possible prior to moving day will be a huge help.

Depending on where you're moving, there may be many or extremely few choices of service companies for things like phone and cable television. Or you may discover, as we did, that (thanks to lousy cellphone reception) a landline is a requirement at the brand-new location, even though utilizing just cellphones worked fine at the old house.

One of the all of a sudden sad moments of our relocation was when I understood we could not bring our houseplants along. We offered away all of our plants but ended up keeping some of our favorite pots-- something that has made picking plants for the new space much easier check this blog (and less expensive).

When you remain in your brand-new location, you may be lured to postpone buying new houseplants, but I urge you to make it a priority. Why? Houseplants clean the air (particularly essential if you have actually utilized paint or floor covering that has unpredictable natural compounds, or VOCs), but most important, they will make your house feel like home.

Provide yourself time to get used to a new climate, time zone and culture. After moving from New England back to the San Francisco Bay Area, I've been impressed at how long it's taken to feel "settled"-- even though I've moved back to my hometown!

6. Expect some crises-- from adults and children. Moving is hard, there's just no way around it, but moving long-distance is particularly difficult.

It implies leaving behind buddies, schools, jobs and possibly family and entering a fantastic unknown, new place.

If the new place sounds great (and is great!), even meltdowns and emotional moments are a totally natural reaction to such a huge shakeup in life.

So when the minute comes (and it will) that somebody (or more than one somebody) in the home requires an excellent cry, roll with it. Then get yourselves up and find something fun to do or explore in your new town.

7. Expect to shed some more stuff after you move. No matter how much decluttering you do before moving, it seems to be a law of nature that there will be products that merely do not suit the brand-new space.

Even if everything fit, there's bound to be something that just doesn't work like you thought it would. Attempt not to hang on to these things simply from aggravation.

Offer them, gift them to a dear buddy or (if you truly love the items) keep them-- but just if you have the storage area.

Anticipate to buy some stuff after you move. Each home has its peculiarities, and those peculiarities require new stuff. Perhaps your old cooking area had a substantial island with plenty of area for cooking prep and for stools to pull up for breakfast, but the new cooking area has a huge empty area right in the middle of the room that requires a portable island or a kitchen table and chairs.

Moving cross-country is not low-cost (I can just think of the cost of moving overseas), so I did a lot of reading and asking around for tips before we loaded up our home, to make sure we made the most of the space in our truck. If you prepare to offer your brand-new space a fresh coat of paint, it makes a lot of sense to do this before moving all of your things in.

After moving from New England back to the San Francisco Bay Location, I have actually been impressed at how long it's taken to feel "settled"-- even though I've moved back to my home town! Moving is hard, there's simply no method around it, but moving long-distance is especially tough.

No matter how much decluttering you do prior to moving, it seems to be a law of nature that there will be items that simply do not fit in the brand-new space.