How To Prepare For Moving Day

One of life’s most stressful experiences is moving from one location to another. Even the idea of sorting through all your treasures (and all the stuff you don’t remember why you’ve kept ), packing them up, moving them to a new location, unpacking them, and then finding a perfect place for them at your new location can be anxiety-inducing. Whether you’re relocating to Detroit, or moving from an apartment or condo in the city to a home in the suburbs, there are strategies that you can embrace to make the process easier.

First, find your new dream home.

It doesn’t matter if it’s an apartment, a condo, or a house – find where you want to move to in Detroit before you sell your current home or before your lease is up. Don’t wait until you are forced to move out to start looking. This one tip will save you from not only experiencing stress-filled days of hurriedly searching for a great place (or having to crash on a friend’s couch), but also settling on any old place vs. one you really want. When you take the time to start looking for your new dream place in Detroit, you’ll be able to explore the neighborhoods, check out community events, and make sure the place you choose to call home has all the features and fixtures you can’t do without. If you wait until you’re already out of your current apartment or have sold your house, you might be forced to move your treasures into a storage facility or sign a contract on a place that doesn’t have those high ceilings, fenced-in backyard, or authentic wood floors you wanted.

Designate a notebook for this process.

Sure, you can keep your notes on all your digital gizmos and gadgets, but you’d be the only person able to access it in a moment’s notice. Instead, opt for an old-school notebook to keep organized through the moving process. Include important phone numbers (you can keep a backup in your phone) of friends, relatives, your local mover, your local storage company, and other industry specialists you’ll be contacting at some point. Make a list of things you have to do (change your mailing address, remove the LED sun-powered lights from your deck (you’ll want to take those with you), and check the dryer to make sure you haven’t left any clothes in it). You can create lists for things you have to buy, people to contact, and things to do. (Just be as vigilant about keeping the whereabouts of that notebook as you do with your phone!)

Get your moving supplies.

From heavy-duty permanent black magic markers, packaging tape, and big storage baggies, to bubble wrap, boxes, and plastic bins, purchase all the moving supplies you’ll needbeforeyou start packing. While you might have to run back out at some point to purchase more supplies (depending on how much stuff you are going to take with you), having a decent supply of everything from the get-go will make the packing process much easier! If you start packing some of your family treasures from your China cabinet and realize you don’t have any bubble wrap left or a box to put the fragile pieces in, you’ll have to either put the heirlooms back or leave them on a table (and hope they don’t break) until you get the supplies. In addition, clearly labeling each box with boththe contentsandthe room the contents belong inat your new place will make unpacking a breeze! After all, do you really want to go through tons of boxes to find your silverware, socks, or that soup ladle?

Keep. Donate. Toss. Sell.

There’s no better time to do that deep organizing of your stuff (that you’ve been meaning to do for years) than when you are preparing to move. If you plan months in advance, you’ll have plenty of time totake your timeand go through all your things in all your rooms. Instead of simply dumping the stuff from your all-purpose “junk drawer” into a box to move to your new location, for example,go through it. See what you can toss, donate, and want to keep. Minimalize. Simplify. Moving from one location to another gives you the opportunity to do that. Embrace it. If you find stuff you have two of or things that never made it out of their original boxes, consider having a garage sale. If you’re downsizing and your new place doesn’t have a basement or a garage, think about what you can absolutely do without and sell or donate that, too. If you can’t fit it into your new place, you don’t want to have to rent a storage facility for it!

Don’t give away the kitchen sink.

Be mindful in your decisions of what you are going to sell, donate, or toss. If you don’t make the time well in advance to go through everything as you prepare to move, you might end up doing what so many others in the process of moving do (and then regret): tossing what they really should have kept! Don’t be so quick to get rid of lamps, side tables, chairs, art pieces, holiday decorations, kitchenware, tools, or tons of other stuff that you really ought to keep. If you’ll have a lawn and garden to maintain at your new location, take your lawn and garden tools with you. Sure, you can buy (again) the things you purged, but why?