Top Tips to Make Moving Less Stressful

Moving can be a tedious, often nerve-wracking process. There seems to be hundreds of little to-dos you need to resolve, and a small lapse of memory can cause major inconvenience.

But moving should be more exciting than stressful. It’s the beginning of a new phase in your life, one in which you’re building a place to call home. Fortunately, it’s easy to remove some friction by taking a few small measures. Here are some of our top tips for simplifying the moving process.

Presence and Lifestyle

A small, compact home may feel cozy and welcoming when you spend most of your days out and about. But if you’re a homebody, the lack of space may soon feel constricting. This is why it’s critical to think of how much time your family will realistically spend at home when determining your need for space.

Further, you’ll need to consider the details of your preferred lifestyle. If you have an active household that is regularly exercising, playing games, cooking, or crafting, you will probably need a lot more space than a family that spends most of their time reading books or watching TV.

Get Help with Your Living Arrangements

In some cases, you can be planning a move without yet knowing where you’re going to live. This can be the case for people who are planning on house-hunting after they’ve already relocated, and also those who are having a custom home built.

If you’re among these movers, you may want to reach out for help regarding temporary accommodations. Your real estate agent or home builder can likely provide some assistance and suggestions.

For example, at Capitol Homes, we help our clients with everything they need for finding a rental to live in while they wait for their home to be finished. We have connections with property managers all over town, allowing us to find them the best options near or in the neighborhood of their permanent home. This gives our clients a chance to acclimate to their new locale and be within easy reach while the building process is underway.

Plan Your First-Day Dining

On moving day, it can be easy to forget working meal-times into your schedule. And when you’re moving to an unfamiliar neighborhood, it can be difficult to figure out a quick and reliable place to get food from. That’s why it helps to plan how you’ll handle meals before the day arrives.

When it comes to breakfast, you’ll want to keep things simple and mess-free. Choose something that doesn’t need to be cooked, and can be cleaned up with ease. This way, you can have your kitchen packed up and ready to leave right away.

For lunch and dinner, scope out the options available in the area. You may need to pick up food as you’re en route to your home, or you might be able to order delivery from a neighborhood restaurant.

Don’t underestimate how tired and busy you’ll be. Planning to cook on your first day will likely require shopping and a lot of unpacking - things you probably won’t have the time or energy for after you’ve been driving and loading boxes all day.

Create Your Utilities Checklist

There’s nothing worse than arriving at your new home on moving day, only to realize that the lights won’t turn on. Or when the first trash day rolls around, and the trucks skip your cans because you forgot to activate your account.

With so many tasks to take care of, it can be easy to forget to set up one of your critical utilities – especially if your previous home came with certain services included. But this simple mistake can cause a great deal of hassle when you’re trying to get settled in.

That’s why we recommend making a checklist of all the utilities you will need to set up in time for your move. Keep in mind that time is of the essence for some services. You may need to make arrangements weeks ahead of time in order to get an installation/activation appointment at the time you need.

For your convenience, we’ve listed some of common utilities and services you might need to remember:

Prepare the Essentials

When you’re packing, keep in mind that there will be quite a few items that you may need immediate access to in the first few days after arriving. Instead of having to locate the separate boxes that contain these things, it’s far easier to prepare a few packages that contain only these must-haves. Load them last so that they’re easily accessible once you get to your new home.

Below, we’ve created a few lists of different items you may want to pack, sorted by category.

Clothing & Personal Items
Underwear, socks, pajamas, one or two extra outfits per person, deodorant, toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo, soap, bath towels, hair dryer, medications, one backpack per person to carry these items

Food & Dining
Snacks & a few ready-to-eat foods, paper plates & bowls, plastic utensils, napkins, paper towels, ziplock bags

Basic Tools & Supplies
Scissors, box-cutting knife, tape, rubber bands, flashlight, batteries, trash bags, dish soap, laundry detergent, device chargers, first aid kit

Kids
Bottles/sippy cups, formula, diapers, playpen, night lights, favorite toys, coloring books, any other items that can keep them entertained while you’re busy unpacking

Establishing Your New Home Doesn’t Have to be Difficult

Moving to a new place should be an enthralling experience. Here at Capitol Homes, we work to help you build the perfect home here in the paradise of South Florida. Our custom home building service will assist you through every phase, from selecting the right lot in the ideal neighborhood to renting temporary housing and finally moving in.

We invite you to reach out to our team to learn more about what’s possible. With our help, you’ll be able to get the home you’ve always dreamed of, and all the support you need along the way. Contact us to set up a consultation, or schedule a visit at one of our model homes.