Moving into a new house is often both an exciting and stressful experience. Whether you are moving across town or across the country, making sure the details of your move go smoothly can help relieve some of the stress. As a top new home builder in the Central Valley, we want you to not only love your new home but to have an enjoyable moving experience. Here are four tips to make your moving experience go smoother. 

Do Not Procrastinate Preparing for the Move

Although it might be several weeks or even months before you are moving, start preparing for your move now. Go through items and get rid of things you no longer want or need. In this way, you will not be packing knickknacks or clothes and moving them to your new home only to end up selling or donating them later. Plus, the less you have to pack, the easier it is to unpack. 

If there are items you want to sell on eBay or other online sites, make sure you post them online at least six weeks before your move. It can take several weeks to sell an item. If you are donating larger items to charity organizations, arrange to have the items picked up a week or two in advance. Some organizations only pick up on specific days.

It is also important to fill out a change-of-address form at least two weeks prior to the move. You can either do this at the post office or online. You should also change your address for credit cards, magazine subscriptions, and other accounts. Even if you do not get a lot mail, a change-of-address form might be important just in case you forgot to give someone your new address. 

Create a Box Code System

To make unpacking easier, each box should only contain items from one room and you should create a box code system. For example, use a certain color tape on the outside of the boxes for each room. Maybe pink tape could be for your daughter’s room. Blue tape could be for the master bedroom. Brown tape could be for the guest bathroom. Orange tape could be the kitchen. Then people helping bring boxes into your new home will know exactly where the box belongs.

Alternative coding could be putting a certain letter on all boxes from a certain room. Also, number all your boxes and create a record of what is in each box. This can be especially helpful if you are using a moving company. By doing this, you will know if everything has made it safely to your new home and will help if you need to make an insurance claim.   

Pack Creatively

Wrap breakable items including dishes and glasses in clothing or towels. You can even wrap smaller breakable items in clean socks. Yes, this will probably mean going slightly against the above tip of packing only items which belong in the same room, but clothing can easily be transferred to the correct room once the items are unpacked.

You can also use baskets, hampers, suitcases, and other containers in place of boxes. Then these items can serve a purpose beyond just moving with you, and you can cut down on the number of boxes you will need for your move. Tags can be tied to the handles, and these items can also use the room code you have used on your boxes.

This article in the Denver Post has some great advice, including Don’t Pack Air, Don’t Pack Heavy and Hang ‘Em High.

Take Photographs of How Wires Connect to Electronics

With a DVD or Blue-ray player, a couple of gaming systems, and a variety of other devices attached to your television alone, it can be confusing where all the wires attach. Taking photographs of where the different wires attach to each device can make the set-up a lot easier when you get to your home.

For more moving tips, see this article in Buzzfeed Life. If you are interested in packing up and purchasing a newly built home in the Central Valley of California, contact us.