Preparing for a Move

May is national moving month!

Preparing for a move can be overwhelming, stressful, and emotional. For many of us, the thought of packing makes us want to pull our hair out! Recently, on More Good Day Oregon, Organizing Expert Vicki Norris and Professional Order Restorer Carol Bausch gave a few tips to help you get through packing in an intentional and sane way.

Knowing where to begin can be daunting, especially in storage spaces like the attic and garage, which tend to accumulate various types of items. Here are a few steps to tackle these spaces.

Create a staging area with enough room to hold the items for sorting
Sort each item into the staging area, grouping like items together
Go through items one by one to determine what should be done with them – what is special and dear and should be kept, what can be donated to worthy charities or friends and family who could use them, and what is simply not needed any longer and can be recycled or thrown out.

This part of the process can be both time consuming and emotional. But, it doesn’t have to be! If you are feeling overwhelmed with going through your items and making a decision about whether to keep, donate, or recycle/throw away, consider enlisting the help of a family member, friend, or professional to help you keep the process moving.

When considering items in storage areas, prioritization is key!

Some items, such as archival files, are not urgent or pressing and can be moved as-is and tackled once settled in your new home. Keep in mind the amount of space you will have available in your new home, along with the amount of time you have prior to your move. Be careful not to avoid the process of sorting and purging when it is necessary! Do what you can prior to the move to be ready for a fresh start.

Another helpful tactic when packing is to color code your boxes.

Instead of writing directly onto the boxes or bins, which can be difficult to read, securely attach a sheet of colored paper to the front of the box. Use a different color of paper for each room in your new home. Make sure to write in large, legible handwriting to make unpacking the moving truck a breeze. This simple step will save much time and confusion on the day of the move.

Preparing for a move is going to include the discovery process – going through your items one by one – and prioritization – determining what you can do now to get ready and what to handle after the move. Also, be sure to create a staging area in your home to hold packed boxes in one location until the day of the move. Stack boxes in the staging area according to your color-coded system!

Being intentional about preparing for a move can give so much peace of mind. By setting time aside in a measured way leading up to the move you can take back the reigns of the process. Watch Vicki’s segment on More Good Day Oregon to see these strategies in action and witness how Carol helped her client have an ordered and sane move.