Stress-Free Moving

We are getting ready to move into a house. Sounds very exciting, right? It is! But with the excitement comes the stress of packing, unpacking, finding movers, paying for movers, and the list goes on and on. I guess the title should have been “How to make moving a less stressful experience?” so we can enjoy and welcome this change into our lives. Of course, research shows that we need a little bit of stress (u-stress) to get us going and motivated, too much however, will actually hinder our performance. Here are a few things that I am implementing into my life to help with this exciting transition and keep myself from getting too ‘excited’:

• To do lists are so helpful these days. We put one on the fridge, so both my husband and I can see what we need to do in the next few weeks. Start it as soon as your offer got accepted on a house.


• Pack one box at a time. The idea of packing all at once was too overwhelming for me, especially since I travel a lot. I took a risk (possibility that we don’t close) and started quite soon after our offer was accepted. I would only pack one box a night. It would give me a sense that I have accomplished something that night, yet I could still focus on my regular activities.


• Use packing as an opportunity to do some spring cleaning. This feels very energizing and exciting for me. I started a donation pile, recycled a lot of old magazines, coupons, papers, expired drugs. It feels freeing not to be moving all that with us.


• If you want to sell some items, don’t forget to use internet (Ebay, Craig’s list) in addition to or instead of the traditional yard sale. I was able to sell all my curtains that I cannot use in the house on ebay. I think I did get rid of them a little too early, because one of the rooms has been having a beautiful echo (due to emptiness) for a few weeks now.


• Use moving opportunity to bring something new into your life. It can be anything from a new organization of your space to switching to more eco-friendly living. One of my obsessions has been trying to get rid of as much plastic as possible in my kitchen (especially). So, I have been looking for ways to get rid of plastic tupperware and substituting at least some pieces to glass ones.


• Keep yourself energized by activities that bring you pleasure about the new place of living. For example, we walked to our new house a few times a week and tried to experience what it would be like to live there. We thought about ideas for improving the backyard. Finally, we went to a bookstore one night and browsed a few books for decoration ideas.


• Take it slow. Once you do get a lot of energizing ideas, you may feel an urge to change everything at once, which is a recipe for disaster and may be quite costly. Instead, enjoy the beauty of doing things slowly and seeing your place evolving over time. My goal is to take some time to choose things for our home. It will save us money and I will be able to get to know the personality of my house or even contribute to it.


• Elicit the help of others. It is amazing how much more fun and faster packing, unpacking, painting goes if you have your friends/family around you. Some pizza and drink will all you need to have a moving party.

Did I miss anything? If so, please share, because I can definitely benefit from some suggestions.