Moving home can be a stressful experience. Whether it is changing a flat or house, there are a whole host of points to consider when moving from place to place. With a lot of admin, bureaucracy, stress, and even physical labor involved, it can have an enormous effect on your mental health. Nonetheless, it is often a necessary part of becoming an adult and something that most people have to deal with in their lives, with the average person moving 11 times in their lifetime! To make this process as easy as possible, we have written a great guide of items you should consider!

Packing and Labelling Boxes

Packing is the quintessential part of moving a house. It is likely that you have a lot more items than you initially bargained for when you start packing, meaning that it is sometimes worth seeing what you can shed so that your new place is even better organized than before. After you have done this, it is time to start packing. Nonetheless, the worst action you can do is to arrive in your new home and have no idea what went in which box. That is why we would recommend labeling each box individually so you know exactly what should be taken out when you arrive. This will make the process a lot quicker and minimize the number of annoying boxes taking up space in your new home. Try to pack boxes by room rather than type as well, as unpacking will take a lot less time.

Changing State ID (If You Move State)

While, unlike many countries, the USA does not require you to register your new address, there are likely to be some issues if you are one of the three million people each year moving into a different state: including setting up different insurance policies and the different tax brackets you will find yourself in. Another thing to consider is your State ID; make sure you know where to go and who to contact so you can ensure that you have the new document ready to go as soon as possible from when you arrive.

Contacting Utility Providers

Whether it is your water, your WIFI, your power, telephone, or monthly transport bill, let all these companies know well in advance that you are moving. They may have you on difficult-to-get-out-of contracts, meaning that you do not want to get in contact with them too late only to know that you will still have to pay them off well after you have actually moved away. It may seem excessive, but this is something that you should think about at least a year before you make the big move. If you don’t think about it, you could be paying double bills, which can be rather costly. This, of course, includes:

Giving Your Landlord Notice (If You Have One)

No matter what kind of relationship you have with your landlord, we would recommend giving them at least six months’ notice so that they have sufficient time to find a new tenant. This means that you won’t be paying double rent when you move into your new home, something that can be a deeply stressful experience and can easily leave you in debt. We would also recommend doing as much as you can to clean the old flat so you get as much of your deposit back as possible.

Notifying Change of Address

Once you know your new address, it is important to let everyone know. Whether it is the bank, the IRS, or even friends and family, you don’t want to miss any essential letters. Make a checklist of all the people and companies who know your current address and let them all know well in advance about your move. It is worth going over these details with anyone that you may be co-habiting with, as it is likely that you are going to forget someone or something. Another way to double-check everyone knows is to broadcast that you have a new address on social media so that people can get in touch with you if they need to – never post your actual address on social media for safety and privacy reasons.

Delivery Options

Moving house is likely to cost you a lot of money. If you do not have that much stuff, it is always possible to rent a van yourself, put everything into it, and drive to your new location. Nonetheless, it is likely that there will be more objects in your old house than can be carried in one journey. This is where a third-party company comes in. Survey the different delivery options out there in order to secure the best deal for you. This will also include:

Vehicle Delivery

If you are looking to move your car or van between homes and if the logistics are too difficult to manage yourself, there are many companies that can do it for you. This means door-to-door drivers taking care of the drive for you, something which could definitely come in handy if you have more than one car! One company that we would recommend is Acertus Delivery, which can help manage your vehicle home delivery for you, leaving you to focus on the more important parts of moving home.

Buy Essentials for Moving Day

One thing a lot of people forget is the basic essentials you need when you arrive in a new place. A terrible mistake to make is forgetting toothpaste, toilet paper, or food for your first meal. What you do not want to do is to arrive in a new place, late in the day and find out that no shops are open, resulting in an uncomfortable night. Make a checklist of everything you need and make sure to buy it well in advance so that nothing goes wrong on the day.

Figure Out Where The Important Parts of Your House Are

By the time you move into your new home, you should know every inch of the space from top to bottom. This means that when you arrive, you can turn the heating on, turn on the stove and watch the television with an absolute minimum of fuss. This will make the move much less stressful than arriving and suddenly realizing you have no idea how your new house actually works.