3 Common Mistakes People Make When They Move House

3 Common Mistakes People Make When They Move House

When you decide that the time has come to move from your family home into retirement housing, there’s generally a lot to consider, such as packing and hiring removalists, as well as hiring cleaning professionals and garden maintenance to ensure the house and garden looks nice once all your belongings have been moved out.

The hardest decision to make is, of course, making the move itself. Still, there are also many more minor decisions to make along the way.

Knowing you have so much to plan and think about can lead to some very common mistakes. A small amount of research before moving day may help you avoid many of them – such as these below.

Not Hiring a Moving Company

Even though you might be thinking about all the costs associated with moving, hiring a moving company can actually be a lot more affordable than you might think. If you decided not to hire one, you often have to find people with trailers to help you move, and if such people aren’t available, you may end up needing to hire a company anyway.

Moving companies can handle all parts of the moving process, from loading your possessions and furniture into the truck to unloading it into your new home. Many people who have hired moving companies before say they would do it again in a heartbeat due to how convenient it is during a high-stress time of your life.

Not Making a Plan for Moving Day

It can be easy to underestimate just how much is involved in moving from one house to another – regardless of whether you’re going into a similar home or retirement housing.

You not only have to pack everything carefully but ensure you have the timing correct for vacancy and occupancy. Rather than wing it and hope for the best, create a timeline so that you can remain on track.

You might hope to have all your possessions packed in boxes by X date and book a mover to help on X day. Having a written plan that you can refer to for clarity may make a world of difference to your stress levels.

Not Packing Properly

Believe it or not, there can be quite a lot of skill involved in moving house. If you have never done it before, it can be worth doing some research to find out how to pack your possessions as efficiently as possible.

Make sure to pack delicate items with as much protection as possible, first and foremost. You can then put time and effort into labelling boxes for each room in your home, with a few details about what might be inside.

For example, if you mark a box as ‘kitchen’, you might go one step further by detailing that it contains teacups and saucers. The more proficient you are with labelling, the easier it can be to organise boxes in your new home.

However, if you’re downsizing to a retirement house, you may find that you don’t have room to store everything how you did in your old home. In that case, consider packing items based on their importance in everyday life. You may decide to leave family trinkets in their boxes, and prioritise everyday items like kitchen utensils and bedding, instead.

Moving house can be stressful, but it can also be straightforward if you do your research. Now that you’re aware of these three common mistakes above, you can do your best to avoid them and help the moving process go swimmingly.