Preparing In Advance For Moving Day

All of us are well aware of how stressful moving to a new house can be.  It can feel like an overwhelming task especially if we have lived in our current home for many years.  Even if you are not moving for a while yet, what are some ways you can prepare in advance so that the day of the move is not so traumatic?

Simplifying our lives is not just a good idea when we are moving, it is a good thing to do in general.  A good way to start is by sorting through items that we haven’t used in more than a year.  If we haven’t used them in this time, its unlikely we will.  Start sorting them into piles, for example, one can be for a yard sale, another to donate or give to people you know who could use them.  By going through your things ahead of time, you will also be less likely to just throw them away on the day of the move.  Another benefit to recycling your things is that you are also doing your part to protect the environment.

While it is great to be able to donate unused items, what about those items you don’t use that cannot be donated or thrown away?  It’s hard to imagine a household that doesn’t have some box with old electronic equipment in it, but these cannot be simply thrown into the garbage, neither can light bulbs, old batteries, paint cans and chemicals to name just a few.  These are all items that need to be disposed of in the proper manner.  If you are unsure about what to do with them, call your local environmental agency who can provide you with information on where to take them.  If you try and sort through items like this on moving day, they may well just end up in the garbage which would be hazardous to the environment. 

Preparing well ahead of the moving day will help us to have a less stressful move and will help us dispose of things in the right way.  Also, the less we have to move, the less we will have to unpack later on which is always a good thing.