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Moving house is rarely that easy. If you’ve been through all the paperwork and have a moving date, you likely feel a huge sense of relief. But that doesn’t mean its all over. It’s important to keep that in mind, because otherwise complacent planning can leave you shortchanged when trying to plan out the logistics of your transition.
Putting that more simply – make sure you have your schedule well-organized to ensure all your stuff can be moved at the right time. This might sound obvious, but it’s easier said than done. It’s also much harder to deal with if it’s just you.
Perhaps you’re a single parent with children to look after, but no relatives or available friends to help you put everything together. Maybe your partner has had to start their new job at the new location early, leaving you the uncomfortable (but accepted) task of getting everything together and moving with it.
Whatever your situation, it’s hard not to feel a little exhausted before you even begin if it looks remotely similar to these examples. In this post, we’ll discuss how to better manage a house move if it’s just you, with the intention of helping a little:
Start Packing Earlier Than You Think You Need To
It’s tempting, especially when you’re so busy, but try to avoid waiting until the last minute to get the boxes going. It’s true that when you don’t have another pair of hands to quickly tape and fill boxes, the entire process takes a lot longer than you might imagine. However, if you can begin tackling the non-essential items and rooms at least a month, or even two, before the moving day is actually scheduled to arrive, you’ll feel so much better about the timeline.
You don’t need to pack away the kettle yet, though. Think about starting with the garage, the guest room closet, or the books you haven’t read in years first. Getting the bulk of the smaller, fiddly items out of the way early will mean the last few days are only spent packing necessary items like toiletries and bedding. If you have a slower, steadier pace, you get to avoid the huge stress and exhaustion that comes with trying to rush the packing process all by yourself.
Use Professional Movers
While asking friends for help with the heavy lifting can be great, not everyone has the ability to do that. This means that relying on a professional moving service is a much more capable move when it’s just you handling the logistics, as many can pack some items for you if you want some level of insurance over them.
After all, they have the right equipment for lifting heavy furniture, and they can usually pack a truck much more efficiently than your group of well-meaning amateurs (no offense). That cost is often offset by the time and physical stress saved.
Better yet, you can easily direct the professionals on where everything goes without worrying about injuring yourself or someone else trying to carry a refrigerator down a flight of stairs.
Use Master List For Everything
It’s the easiest thing in the world to lose track of what you were packing over the weeks, and certainly when you have so much else to do. If you can, take the time to build one single, detailed master checklist or inventory based on the constituent elements of each room. The list should include tasks like utility shutoff dates, the contact details for the movers, and a running count of your packed boxes divided by each room area.
This can also be used quite easily through an app like Notion or your phone notes, as you’ll have everything to hand and may even be able to share that with someone else helping or cheering you on..
Book Temporary Storage
Sometimes, your old house has to be emptied before the new one is ready for you. If you’re moving alone, trying to manage a staggered move can be impossible without outside help and could simply not have time for everything. We’d suggest that using temporary storage, perhaps as a sizeable unit, will be a great way to handle the gap.
If you know your inventory can be picked up from later on down the road, you don’t have to rush the closing process or pressure friends to hold your things in their spare room. This also buys you a fair amount of time to deal with moving in using just the essentials. Perhaps if the budget is tight this can even save you removalist costs too, for a couple months at least.
Pack An Essential Moving Day Bag
On the day the movers arrive and everything is up in the air and crazy, you don’t want to be scrambling through partially unpacked boxes trying to find a phone charger, a coffee mug, or the scissors to open a box. Putting together a dedicated “essentials” box or bag that travels with you in the car, containing everything you need to survive comfortably for the first 24 to 48 hours in the new place, is something you’ll thank yourself for.
But what should you include? If we could be so bold, we’d suggest toiletries, medications, paper towels, basic tools, snacks, water, a change of clothes, and charging cables for your devices. Knowing exactly where your must-have items are located ensures the first night in the new house can be a relaxing period instead of a lament over what you can’t use.
Automate As Much Of Your Change Of Address As Possible
Changing your address with utility companies, banks, subscription services, and government agencies is painful, and it’s one you have to do completely by yourself. Scheduling a period of time to tackle all these administrative tasks at once, or using an online service to handle notifications for you, can feel like a chore, but it has to be done.
Remember that setting up mail forwarding through your postal service is a basic but absolutely necessary step to catch anything you might have forgotten to notify. A spreadsheet keeping track of who has been informed and when can make sure no important bill or piece of mail gets sent to the old location by mistake.
With this advice, we believe you’ll manage a house move, even if it’s just you.
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© Copyright 2025 Antonia, All rights Reserved. Written For: Tidylife
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