Why is moving house so stressful and how to avoid it?

While moving into a new home might be an exciting new venture, the process that comes before move-in day can be a nightmare to navigate. Moving house can be a stressful, turbulent experience, not to mention an emotional upheaval.

The key to minimising stress during a home move is simple: you need to be organised from day one, leaving nothing to chance and leaving nothing to the last minute.

In this guide, we’re going to give you some free advice on how to reduce stress during the moving period, so you can enjoy a fuss-free transition from your old home to your new one.

Leave nothing to the last minute

When it comes to moving home, it’s important that absolutely nothing is left to the last minute. Whether it’s updating contacts about your new address, hiring a removal company or beginning to pack up your belongings, leaving things to the last minute adds unnecessary pressure to the experience.

The best way to minimise stress is to have a checklist, with dedicated tasks for each step of the process.

Take well-deserved breaks

While you might want to get everything done as fast as possible, it’s nonetheless important to take regular breaks from packing, organising and making important phone calls.

When you’re moving house, it can be easy to become completely absorbed by the process, ignoring the outside world and focusing all of your energy on your move. This is unhealthy, and will only lead to an accumulation of stress.

Instead of spending all your energy on home removal tasks, take well-deserved breaks from time to time. Go to a coffee shop with friends, hang out with friends, or go see a film. Do whatever it takes to re-charge your batteries, so you have the energy and resources to tackle the move (and the stress that goes along with it.)

Book a removal company in advance

One of the most significant ways you can minimise stress during a move is by booking your removal company well in advance (around 4-6 weeks.) Not only will this save you on costs (as there will be more choice, more free dates and more flexibility to choose the company you want) but it will also give you peace of mind.

It’s a good idea to shop around for a removal company quote around 6 weeks before your estimated move-in date. This is due to the fact that you’ll want to get the right price, obtain a list of items that removal companies can’t transport, and get a fixed quote so you’re informed well in advance of the cost of the move.

Use Checklists

When it comes to moving home, there will be a number of tasks - some of them incredibly important - that you’ll undoubtedly forget to do if you’re not using checklists.

Checklists are an amazing way to organise tasks by priority and time frame, while also enabling you to delegate tasks to other family members.

The best way to use checklists is by priority, aka making checklists and marking them by date. For example, you could create a checklist called “6 weeks before move-in date”, listing all the necessary tasks and steps needed during this process.

Checklists will prevent you from forgetting any important tasks, while also keeping you focused on the timeline and avoiding missed deadlines.

Delegate

When it comes to packing up a home, it really does take a village! Enlist friends, family members and even helpful neighbours to assist in the packing up process. Not only will extra hands help take the load off, but having fun company will help you to manage your emotions and remain buoyant as you pack up your home.

If you’re already hiring a removal company to help pack up your belongings, you can delegate tasks to family members using checklists. This will help balance the load of the work and make it easy to keep track of what still needs to be done.

If you have children, delegating fun tasks is the best way to get them involved in the move - e.g., packing their books, toys and other belongings.

Keep a box of personal items

Packing up all your belongings can be a stressful and emotional time, especially if your home has sentimental value to you. In order to help you process this change and manage your emotions during the move, keep a small box of personal items that you can rely on for some comfort as you pack.

The box can include anything from photographs, keepsakes, soft toys or gifts; anything that represents something meaningful and can give you a bit of comfort will do the trick. You can also hold onto photographs of your new home, so you can get excited about the move rather than dwelling on the big change.

Be strategic

On your first night in your new home, there’s nothing worse than rummaging through unmarked boxes trying to find your electric toothbrush. In order to minimise stress, it’s important to be strategic about your packing process.

Use labels, markers and colour-coding to organise your packed boxes, and always ensure you have all the necessary tools to open the boxes when you arrive at your new place. The best way to be strategic in your packing is to use different boxes for different rooms in your house - that way, it’s easier to unpack when you get the keys to your new place.

Outsource

You can also pay your chosen removal company to pack your belongings for you. Not only does this help you use your time doing other more administrative move-in tasks (such as updating your old addresses) it also means your packing will be done efficiently and professionally.

Some removal companies will even provide all the necessary packing materials for you, so you don’t need to worry about going on a hunt for boxes from the supermarket.

Don’t forget that removal companies won’t be able to pack everything for you, so you’ll need to obtain a list of restricted items from your chosen removal company, ideally a few weeks before your move.

Expect the unexpected

Unfortunately, due to the house buying process in the UK - moving house is full of minefields, trials and tribulations. You may be completely dependent on other house sales in a chain to complete before yours does. At this point, you may have already forked out thousands on surveys, new furniture for your new home or solicitor expenses which is a high stress situation that can feel helpless. It’s only natural to be stressed however, to guard against this, just know that if your sale does fall through - everything happens for a reason and it’s likely that you’ll end up somewhere better!

If you’re moving house in the Kent area, we offer reliable removal services in Kent from house removals in Maidstone, Removals in Sevenoaks, Tonbridge removals and more! Get in touch with us today!