Creative Tips To Make A Summer Break Move As Stress-Free As Possible
All those television commercials depicting summer break as a relaxing time to sit back and enjoy lemonade on a shady porch are just not realistic for most families. In fact, during the summer months when many schools are not holding maintaining regular class schedules for kids, families are often kept busy arranging family vacations, figuring out temporary child-care arrangements and play-dates for out-of-school kids, and playing hosts to visiting family and friends, all while continuing to work and maintain their home.
Yet even with all this activity, summer remains one of the most active months for moving, storage, and relocation companies, as families hurry to get settled in a new home before the new school year begins. If you are planning to move this summer, the following tips will help you make the experience as stress-free as possible.
Select the moving company and lock in the dates as soon as possible
Any assistance that will be needed for the move—including moving services, storage options, or packing services—should all be chosen and booked as far ahead of the move as possible. Doing so will not only ensure you have all the professional help you need, but it will also give you a firm timeline for making all the other preparations so that your next home is ready and waiting for your arrival when you need it to be.
Enlist the family's help for a short packing session each evening
Instead of trying to combine all the sorting, packing, and organizing into just a few very hectic days, choose to make moving preparations a daily chore for the entire family to share over a longer period of time. By working together for just an hour each evening and concentrating on just one room at a time, family members can make packing for the move not only efficient, but fun, too.
To get the most from each session, try sorting the items in each room into four categories:
- unwanted or unneeded items (these should be bagged for dropoff at an area shelter, consignment shop, garage sale, or recycling center)
- items that will be kept but that will not be needed until after settling into the new home (these should be packed securely for the move, labeled clearly, and stored in an unused room in the home, or taken to the mover's on-site storage area)
- items that are broken, stained, or of no value (these items should be bagged and sent immediately to the trash)
- items that will be kept and will be needed for use before the move (this category should be pared down as much as possible, to make the final job of packing right before the move more efficient)
Children who are allowed to help make sorting decisions about their toys and clothes will be better able to understand the need to pack some of them away for a few weeks until they arrive in the new home.
Use the weather to your advantage
Summer weather encourages people to be outdoors, and that makes it the most lucrative time to hold a garage sale to sell any excess items you may have. If possible, allow children to assist with running the sale as both a learning process and a way to keep them actively entertained during summer vacation.
For more information on summer moving tips or to purchase sturdy packing supplies, contact a reputable moving professional in your area as soon as you find out that you will need to move. This will allow you to choose and secure the most optimal dates for your move and make sure that you have all the materials, assistance, and information you need to make a summer move as stress-free as possible.
Share