Welcome to the second part of the organized moving system! Today’s focus is how to make moving day stress-free and easy. Sharing the best moving tips to help make your family’s big move not just possible, but also easy. Before we get started, be sure to check out the first part of the organized moving system. Phase 1 of the organized moving system is all about preparation. The moving phase that covers all the details on everything that must be done to prepare accordingly for a big move.
In the second part of the moving system you will learn all the moving tips that I use during the move. I promise you that you will gain lots of valuable insights in order to be prepared for tackling your family’s big move like a pro. Not only will I give you the inside scoop to my complete moving systems, but will also share with you the secret to fit moving into your normal life. Trust me, these moving tips will certainly take the stress away as you prepare for your big move.
Listen below for the entire episode on The Systemize Your Life Podcast
Moving Can be Complicated and Stressful
Moving can be a whole lot of burden, unbelievably complicated and stressful. It just seems so much extra work when we are already so busy with everything else in our lives. Let me just say this really proudly. I was able to make moving fun and enjoyable with my organized moving system. These moving day tips are essential to moving with as little stress and as much ease as possible. And I cannot wait to share it with you!
Moving Tips – The Importance of Preparation During the Process of Moving
The biggest moving tip I can give you is to prepare yourself ahead of time. I’d like to call part 1 of the series the phase of moving. It introduces all the preparations that you need to do to get you ready. In part 1, I mentioned that I started to prepare 8 – 10 weeks before the move. I intentionally prepared over a long period of time to prevent myself rushing anything and allowed us to set dates on the calendar.
We literally just received the keys to our house. Luckily, we have some really divine timing that worked out for us, so we don’t have to move within 24 or 48 hours. We had a lot of time for this transition and we were really stoked about that! I do highly recommend having a solid preparation phase no matter if it’s as short as two weeks or as long as four months. Putting some intentions during the preparation phase is very essential for phase 2, where you are actively moving your things from one property to another.
There is No Right or Wrong Way – Moving Duration Tips
It doesn’t really matter whether your moving phase takes over two days or a month. It’s not about the amount of time you have during this phase. There’s no right or wrong way to establish a timeline. In the moving phase: we are talking about actively moving things that you’ve already prepared in the first phase. As we are going through this system I want you to have three main parts in your notes. These are the real practicals during the moving phase that you do need to get done. But before I talk about these three things, I do want to bring your attention to something that is often unspoken and underlooked.
Moving Tips – A Positive Attitude is Absolutely Vital During Your Move
There is something that is incredibly important and unbelievably helpful for me yet always underlooked– a positive attitude. This is absolutely key when moving. In this moving phase, my family and I made a huge commitment to each other that the only thing we needed to do here was to have fun.
Here’s my advice: Set an intention. A positive attitude is absolutely vital during your move. It’s important that every family members understands that the most important goal in your moving is to be kind, to be patient, and to have fun.
Our Moving Journey
Take my moving journey as an example. It was very hot during the move day. After being exposed under the sun for too long, the sunburn definitely made it challenging for us to hold that really good attitude and to have fun. But, it’s normal to have obstacles and hurdles during your move. They will inevitably come up. In addition, there are so many emotions that go into it as well. For example, there are lots of things that my kids are dealing with – excitement, anxiety, enthusiasm, pressure, etc. As their mom, I am trying to help them to navigate the whirlwind of emotions.
Anyways, the important point here is that as you are going through the process, you are really holding the space and time for all the things. I can very easily get wrapped in all of the things that need to be done. It really is more work. There are children involved. They have school pickup and dropoff. There are also so many other things involved besides children. So, please take all of these into consideration and have a positive attitude at the forefront of everything that you do during the move.
“A positive attitude is absolutely vital on your moving days.”
Moving Tips – Phase Two – The Moving Phase
Now, let’s talk about the practical things phase 2 consists of. In phase 1, i give you specific steps with a lot being about moving binders. You should still have your moving binder. And you should keep all your documents and papers at the back of your binder. And in the pile of paper, make sure you have these three documents:
- Transfer of Utilities
- Established Contractor or Services
- What to Buy/Donate/Sell?
I have greatly recognized that all of the things that we are doing throughout the moving phase gets put into one of these three things. Now, let’s talk about these three documents more specifically.
Moving Tip Document #1 in the Moving Phase: Transfer of Utilities
My family actually had an extensive list of utilities that needed to be transferred. You need to sit down and write down every single one of these utilities. You will realize that most of them can be scheduled far out in the future. For example, you need to change the address at the post office and in your bank. Of course, you don’t have to get all the utilities transferred within one day. But it is important to spare some time in your day to work on that.
How do I Schedule the Time for Me to Work on Utilities Transfer to My Normal Routine?
You might ask, “Where do you schedule the time to work on utilities transfer to your normal routine?”. If you are following my time-blocking method, you will put it in your “random to-do” block every single week. For a normal week, 95% of my tasks are automated. I have one to two hours of to-do blocks of random to-do things. Let me tell you, everything related to moving is random, but at least it’s not going to come up again for a long time.
When you sit down and think about all the transfers you need to do regarding your utilities, you need to strategically schedule when you want to do them and get them done. You can do it whenever you want. You don’t have to get it done on business hours. I was able to do it after the kids went to bed. There has been a break in my morning and night time routines, but that’s OK. This is not how we want and will live all the time. Whatever that comes in your way, you’d have to rearrange it to get it done. So my advice here is to look at what needs to be done regarding utilities transfer when you are actually moving and plan your calendar accordingly for every week.
Moving Tip Document #2 in the Moving Phase: Contractor and Services
This actually also goes back to your calendar. From cleaners to moves, and all the other things you need contractors. It’s also unbelievable how many meetings there are with the realtors, paper signing, title companies, etc. All of these things are very important and you need to sit down and schedule them. You need to sit down and make phone calls, read emails and go through all the paperwork. Of course, you don’t have to work for the whole day, but you do need to set aside several hours a day to get these things done.
How do I Fit in the Time to Work on Contractor and Services-related Tasks to My Normal Routine?
The question gets asked again, “So, how do I go about doing this?”. It’s all about your calendars at this point. You will be very calendar heavy. And some of your routines will go out of the windows. This will feel uncomfortable. But it’s OK. It’s only going to be temporary.
At my home, we are holding steady to our before-school routines and bedtime routines right now, but that’s it. Even that bedtime routine is looking really skimpy. We’ve cut out the non-essentials and only do the most important thing that needs to be done. This is when the whole attitude of being stress free, open-mindedness comes in. We are going to have a fun attitude, and it really goes a long way. Please make sure that you are really focused on your google calendar and sinking it up everyday along with every single week during the time of moving.
Moving Tips – What If I Am Short On Budget?
When you are moving and realize that you don’t have enough finances to hire people, you can call your friends other family members. As long as you are well prepared based on what I taught in phase one, it’s incredibly simple for friends and family to come and help. The whole process will be seamless. I promise.
Moving Tip Document #3 in the Moving Phase: What to Buy/Donate/Sell?
Last but not least, the third document required in the moving phase includes the items you need to buy, donate, or sell. This is really fun to me because a lot of this comes down to functionality and design. When our items at home are appealing and functional, then we are sitting in a really great space as moms. I cover everything about this inside the Systemize Your Life Academy. We talk about cleaning and decluttering and everything to keep a house.
This might not come naturally to you, but I will teach you in the most efficient way of what to buy/donate/sell in your new home. So, I invite you to come over to Systemize Your Life and learn all about my home management system where you can learn how to make and maintain everything at your home to be functional and well-designed on a regular basis. So that your house is truly organized, well-kept and it’s a place you can recharge and spark some incredible joy inside of you whenever you are in your home.
Utilize a Mood Board for Moving
Let’s look at what I’ve figured out what to donate/sell/buy. It all starts with what I like to call a mood board. Mood boards are used in so many industries such as weddings or photography when you try to bring something you cannot see to life. To do this, you need to have some type of visuals. Back when I was creating my mood board to build my dream house, I pulled a bunch of images from Pinterest. I then pinned the images room by room as we were packing during the preparation phase. In this way, I would know where to put almost every single piece of furniture in our new house.
Moving Tips – What About Emotionally-Attached Furnitures That No Longer Serve Their Purposes?
Sometimes, there are one or two pieces of furniture that you don’t know where to put them. You might think, “I love them, but I have no idea how or where we will use it, but we will still find a place to keep it”. On the flip side, the perspective that we should adapt and the questions we should ask ourselves would be – “What do we have at our current house that’s functional in our new space?”, “Where can we repurpose this and where can we use it again?”, “Where can I assign you to the new space?”. If there’s nowhere to assign it, doesn’t spark joy and doesn’t fit in the dream you are going for, then you should get rid of it and get something new instead.
When I was moving, I had a hard time getting rid of my kitchen table. The kitchen table has been with me forever. I picked it up from the Facebook marketplace forever ago. It’s one of the first tables I’ve ever styled. And I thought I was the coolest person on the planet when I got it. I just loved it so much. But I also realized that it wouldn’t fit with my new house and I wouldn’t be able to repurpose it. It served its purpose. And now we are parting ways with the kitchen table and getting a new one.
Stress-Free Move Days Are Possible
Now we’ve talked about my favorite moving tips for both phase 1 and 2 of my organized moving system. In phase 2 of the system, I emphasized on having a positive attitude during moving and three important documents you should have:
- Transfer of Utilities
- Established Contractor or Services
- What to Buy/Donate/Sell?
The third phase of the moving tips system will be about resettling. I will talk about many strategies regarding how to unpack and how to get everyone moved in. Additionally, I will also talk about how to re-establish your routine after you move. But to succeed in phase 3, you need to make sure you closely follow and practice phase 1 and 2.
So go out there, get organized and prepared. If you are moving soon, congratulations! I totally feel you. It’s unbelievably fun and challenging. My hope is that these moving tips provided you with a sense of peace and organization to help you and your family handle the move like a champ. I can’t wait for you to be inspired and come along on the journey with me as I set up my new home office and everything else. I am really eager to share with you over Instagram and here. You got this, mama!
Looking for a Community to Share Your Moving Journey?
I would also love to hear your moving journey. Come over to our free Facebook community to share your stories and connect with other women who might be going through the same journey right now. If you want to take one step further and learn more about how to implement my system to the fullest, I invite you to join my Systemize Your Life Academy. You will learn how to live systematically in only four weeks. You can join as a DIY student or a VIP student, where you will also be part of the student community. I can’t wait to see you there!
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I schedule moving-related tasks to my normal routine?
The most efficient way to schedule moving-related tasks is through time-blocking. Check out my FREE time-blocking worksheet to learn the basics of time-blocking, develop the right time block for your tasks, and put what you learn into action.
