Top 5 Things To Remember When Moving Somewhere New
Whether it’s to the other side of the city, the country, or the world; there are a lot of things that you need to keep in mind when preparing to move. Moving can be a difficult, time-consuming and expensive task, so preparing well ahead of time is essential to make it less stressful. Since I moved from the United States all the way to the Philippine Islands, there was a lot of preparation required. So, with that, I would like to present to you my Top 5 Things To Remember When Moving Somewhere New.
Top 5 Things To Remember When Moving Somewhere New
5. Give your job plenty of time to find a replacement.
If you are currently an employee, moving will require you to leave your job. As such, please be as courteous as possible to your employers by giving them adequate notice about your plans. In my case, I formally turned in my two weeks notice before I quit, but I informed my employers months ahead of time that I would be leaving, so that they wouldn’t need to stress about finding a replacement at the last minute. I was even able to offer a hand in helping them find someone new to do my job, as well as train the new employee who would replace me.
4. Make sure you have plenty of time to sell/re-home items that you don’t intend to bring.
This includes furniture that you don’t intend to ship to your new place, things of value that you don’t want to clutter up your new home, and even finding a new home for pets, if you are unable to bring them to your new place.
I started listing my furniture on Craigslist at least a couple of months before moving. This gave me lots of time to sell things like bookshelves, dressers, lamps, and more. If I had left it all to last minute, I wouldn’t have been able to sell nearly as much as I did, which would have forced me to leave behind the items with no money to show for it. As it was, I still was not able to sell everything off. I would recommend starting this process as soon as possible to increase your opportunities for sale.
Saying goodbye to my beloved Stitch as I waited for her new family to come get her.
I also had to find a new home for my darling kitty, Stitch. As much as it broke my heart to have to part with my cat, I am very glad I made the decision to do so early, because this gave me plenty of time to screen people who wanted my cat. I turned down many offers from people saying they wanted to take her in until I found the family that I felt comfortable putting in charge of caring for my feline companion.
3. Start packing at least a few weeks before your moving date.
My room just days before moving with only a few things left to pack.
When it comes to packing, many people tend to leave the chore until the very last minute. While there are certain things that you WILL have to put off (particularly everyday things, such as dishes and personal care products), make sure you start packing everything else up early. I started packing about a week before moving, and even then, I barely had enough time to finish with everything. The last day was stressful, rushing around trying to get everything done so that I could go catch my plane.
Start by packing the things that you know you don’t need to have for a while. Things like books, clothes that you don’t wear often, jewelry, extra blankets, sheets and pillows. It will save you a lot of time and stress later on if you just have the necessities left to pack up last minute.
2. If you’re going somewhere far away, make sure you plan out the shipping of your items.
In my case of moving overseas, I was only allowed to get on the plane with 3 suitcases, each with weight restrictions. There was no way I was going to be able to fit everything that I wished to take with me in them. As such, I decided to ship a few boxes overseas for everything I couldn’t bring on the plane. If you want to do the same thing, make sure you do so early (it took months before my boxes arrived in the Philippines) and that you know the exact costs of doing so, as well. Shipping boxes can be pretty pricey, so you may get forced to choose what is really important to keep and what you can actually bear to part with.
Even if you’re just moving across the city, you will need to figure out how to get your things from point A to point B. If you have someone with a big van or truck who has offered to help out, great! If not, then you’ll need to do a search for local shipping trucks for rent, find out their rates and make sure they will have one available for you on your moving date.
1. Remember where you’re going.
Just an hour after arriving in Manila: me and my suitcases with nearly everything left that I owned.
When preparing to move, you need to consider a lot of things. If you have pets, you need to learn if your new landlords will allow you to keep them or if you have to find other options (re-homing your pets or finding a new place to live). If you’re moving to a new country, you need to learn about visa requirements, what impact being a foreigner will have on things like job opportunities and what the cost of living will be like there. If you’re just moving across town and you don’t want to quit your job, find out which new route you will have to take to get to work and how long it will take you to get there.
There are so many things to think about when committing to moving to a new place. Overall, though, the most important thing is to give yourself plenty of time to figure everything out. Don’t leave anything to the last minute if possible. Preparation is extremely vital, and you will never regret giving yourself too much time to prepare. So, plan ahead to avoid as much stress and headaches as possible, and you will have a much more enjoyable move in the end. Trust me.
