It’s no secret that for most people moving house is a pretty stressful experience. In order to understand how you can make the moving in process more enjoyable, we need to identify why it is so stressful.
Why is moving house so stressful?
Money –
A large part of the stress associated with moving house is financial. It’s likely you’ll have been saving up for years to move. Furthermore, once you finally do find your dream home there’s plenty of other purchases you’ll need to make.
Having made the biggest purchase you’ll ever make, you’re going to want everything to go perfectly. Of course that isn’t possible, there will be bumps in the road. The financial strain is a huge pressure on top of your move.
Physically tiring –
Another element is the strain on your body. After saving up all that money you’ll also have to save every ounce of energy in preparation for moving day.
The moving process involves a lot of physical activity. From moving the hundreds of boxes, cleaning from top to bottom of both your old and new house and trying to get a sofa through a VERY narrow door frame. The physical exhaustion definitely adds to the stress.
External sources –
Moving house has many life changing effects on its own, but when you throw in stress from other areas of your life then the process becomes even more complicated.
The rest of your life doesn’t go on pause just because you’re moving to a new home. You still have your personal life, problems at work or family issues which make the process of moving far more stressful.
People’s expectations –
The final element is other people’s expectations of you. Moving house is a huge deal and tends to involve friends and family too, as you’ll want all the help you can get. Most people in your life will have moved house at least once, so they know exactly what you’re going through. They’ll have certain expectations surrounding how it should be done.
Their previous experiences may mean that they assume things will go wrong. Or they’ll think it’s nothing to worry about and not be understanding when things don’t go to plan. This puts more pressure on the move because you’re trying to please a large number of people.
All these factors taken together cause a lot of pressure! A lot of the stress that comes with moving is the fear of the unknown. This is why we need to explore how you can prepare to move in order to reduce stress.
How you can make moving house a nicer process
Whilst you’re not going to be able to eradicate all stress associated with moving, you can take steps to try to reduce this stress and make the process as easy as possible.
Acceptance –
Accepting that there will be some level of stress, can be extremely helpful when moving home. Anticipating this stress will allow you to mentally prepare for the move. This will also mean that you are able to accept when things don’t quite go to plan and move forward much quicker.
Ask for help –
Moving will be significantly more stressful if you try to do it alone. So you need to ask for help, and not just with the heavy lifting.
It’s likely your friends and family will want to help you out, so ask for it! Whether it be with child care, unpacking boxes or lending you a ladder. These small contributions from the people around you can make the biggest difference to your stress levels when moving.
Declutter –
You don’t want to open your boxes in your new home to discover half of the stuff in them you don’t want or need. If you don’t declutter whilst you’re packing away all of your belongings, when will you?
As you go through each room packing for your move, consider if you want to take everything you have with you. Do you want items taking up space in your new home or could they be donated or thrown away?
This process will contribute to reducing stress around your move. The less you have to pack and transport, the less you’ll have to worry about.
Book a removal company –
Just as friends and family can help enormously with your move, professional help can also be used to levitate stress. A reputable removal company doesn’t have to be a huge expense and they will provide an extremely efficient service.
This dedicated moving day support, should greatly reduce stress as you’ll be able to focus on other aspects of the move.
Moving Sorted provide a vast range of services to help with your home, including removals. They are able to provide the lowest cost quote for removal services across the country. So not only will booking a removal company ease the stress of your move, the process of booking the company couldn’t be easier!
Use a checklist –
Whilst we have established that accepting that things won’t go completely to plan when moving is crucial, you can try to ensure that you don’t miss anything important.
The most effective way to reduce stress when moving is to create a detailed checklist. This will allow you to tick off each box as you complete it and map the progress of your move. By creating a checklist far in advance of the date of your move, you’ll have time to review it and ensure that you haven’t missed anything major.
Don’t forget to accept that things will go wrong though! Whilst a checklist will be useful, you don’t want it to end up adding to your stress.
Try to enjoy your new adventure!
When your offer was accepted on your new home you will have been excited! Try to remember that feeling as you undertake the moving process.
So try to have fun, remember why you are doing it and look forward to all of the good memories for years to come!