Moving into a new home can both be an adventure and a challenge. Sure you get to embark on a new chapter of your life, but you’ll also have to face the hassle of logistics as you transfer your current belongings to another location.
Aside from adjusting to a new neighbourhood, you’ll also have to deal with rearranging your furniture, focusing on interior design, cleaning each nook and cranny, and double-checking the utilities.
As the busy day takes a toll on you, some personal stuff such as your favourite clothes, books, bedding, and tools might be hard to find; some may even be left behind. This will lead to added stress, as you’re forced to search for them or go back to your old home to retrieve them.
To avoid that, you can follow a pre-moving guide that will help lessen or even avoid the stress of moving in. And, ensure that you can undergo the process as smoothly as possible.
7 Pre-Move Tips
Before you transfer, make sure to follow this checklist for a more stress-free experience:
- Transfer or Check Utilities
Water, electricity, gas, and HVAC systems should be a priority when moving to a new house. Before you officially live there, make sure all the necessary utility providers are connected.
Contact those nearest you and make a list of service providers as well for easy reference, like a plumber from Beaches, Toronto, if that’s your general location. A ready list of service providers will help you if an emergency repair is needed when moving in. To have a smooth transition, make sure to keep in hand all the needed documents.
- Ensure the Safekeeping of Essential Documents
Once you transfer places, remember to bring your essential documents with you as well. Create a list of all these vital papers and place them on binders or organizers. Once you’ve moved in, place them in a safe or metal cabinet where they won’t gather dust, and are secure from fire or termites.
Unnecessary documents should also be discarded or shredded right away. After you’ve moved in, make sure to double-check your inventory if the documents you’ve carried with you match your list.
- Update Postal Address
One common mistake of first-time movers is forgetting to update their postal addresses. From insurance, chequebooks, monthly bank statements, mail, vehicle registration, and licenses, your mailing address is a crucial piece of information.
To ensure that your private documents don’t fall into the wrong hands, update all these companies and government agencies right away regarding your new mailing address.
- Arrange Internet Services
Internet connection is a part of modern-day life. Without it, you’re essentially living off the grid and disconnected from the world.
To ensure that you won’t get temporarily disconnected from family, friends, and even from work, contact a reliable service provider in your area to get connected. This task should be done at least 2 to 3 weeks before the moving process, so you’re Internet provider can work out any connectivity issues beforehand.
- Use Photograph Inventory
Remembering the objects of every box that you’ve decided to pack into your new home is impossible.
To guide you during the transfer of belongings, try to take a picture of what’s inside every box before you tape it up instead of listing them. This way you can also check and have evidence of their condition before and after the moving-in process to determine if any of them has been damaged during transit.
- Get Creative with Storage
Creating space in a new house that is not as big as the one you’re used to can be a challenge. Before you move in, make sure to scan and measure the rooms first and consider the places where you could install creative storage options for your belongings.
You can even visit furniture stores in Toronto to look for furnishings that can double as storage space. This will also make it easy for the delivery process later.
- Research Local Businesses
Familiarizing yourself with important local businesses like dentists, supermarkets, banks, and schools (if you have kids) near your new home is a great way to ensure that your transition goes as smoothly as possible.
Doing so can help you have a more organized approach to dealing with your current home problems if they ever do arise. For example, if you need pest control in Collingwood, make sure to research the nearest stores that offer these services, so you’ll know who to contact at a moment’s notice.
Transferring to your new home can both be an emotionally and physically taxing ordeal. To ensure that you can cope in the best way possible, it’s better to have a preordained guide that will list your tasks, so you won’t end up getting overwhelmed.
By having this checklist, you’ll have an easier time transitioning to your new environment and meeting new people. You can even add more to this list or even a more detailed one if you have more important things to consider.