In an ideal world, we’d all have a lot of notice to plan out every little detail of our house moves, and take all of the necessary steps to make sure it’s a stress-free breeze. Unfortunately, we don’t live in an ideal world! Sometimes, life throws us a fast one, and we find ourselves having to move into a new house or apartment at short notice. If you’re in this situation, here are a few pointers to make it as easy as possible:

Start Packing. Right Now! From the moment you know that you’re going to move, before every little bit of paperwork is in order, you should begin your packing process. Packing everything you’ll need is a big task and the sooner you get started, the sooner it will be out of the way. Obviously, there are certain things that you’re going to want access to between now and when you’re all settled into the new place. For this reason, start off with the least essential items, like art and other decorative items. Make sure to keep your boxes nice and organized, labeling them with categories or the room that they’re ultimately headed to. It’s also a good idea to clean the place up as you go, which will save you having to do it in one big rush closer to moving day.

Packing up house really is a monumental task. It can be exhausting and, frankly, overwhelming at times. If you are feeling the stress of packing, there is always help available even if your friends and family can’t fit an assist into their schedule. Simply enter a search for “movers in Raleigh, NC” (or your local area) as chances are high that a professional team of movers offers packing services too.

Make Reservations Well in Advance: After taking a bite out of your packing, this should be your next highest priority. While business comes in peaks and troughs, the removals industry is never exactly slow, and various moving companies, valet storage services, and so on are going to have pretty full calendars for the year ahead. For this reason, you need to start calling companies up and making reservations as soon as you have a definite moving date. First of all, this will give you a little more wiggling room for comparing quotes and finding the services which are most cost-effective for you. Secondly, there’s a slim, but potentially catastrophic chance that you won’t be able to find any professional movers in time! If you need to be out of your property pretty soon, then start making calls as a matter of urgency!

Set Deadlines: Seeing as you’re reading this, there’s a fair chance that you have a date where you definitely have to be out of wherever it is you’re currently staying. However, this shouldn’t be the only thing that you’re marking on your calendar. Moves are inherently stressful and if you want to mitigate that stress as much as possible, it’s important to exercise some self-discipline and set yourself deadlines for packing up certain boxes, making arrangements with the movers, sourcing help from your friends, and so on. Organizing yourself like this might feel like way too much but you’ll be doing yourself a big favor, and because you’re on a tight schedule you won’t have to be self-disciplined for too long! 🙂

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