10 Tips for Easy Relocating!

•  CREATE YOUR PLAN! DON'T LEAVE IT TO THE LAST MINUTE

It's very important to plan all the little details that are involved in packing and moving. You might think that's all there is to it, but there's a whole lot more that can have a huge impact on your sense of humour! So, create a plan, and with the 9 tips to follow, you should be right. It will be up to you to create a schedule or timetable for your plan to be enacted, but if you follow these steps, you will be on the right track and be able to reduce some of your stress. You might want to follow a step a week, to accomplish everything in the plan.

Moving is a very stressful time, so make sure you plan some time-out, for yourself, your partner, your children and your pets! Time-out can range from exercise to flopping in front of a friend's TV with a drink in hand! Keep the balance by eating regularly and keeping water intake up!

2. DECLUTTER - IT'S LESS TO PACK!

Okay, your home is on the market and you need to prepare it for presentation, anyway. Why not declutter the excess and pack as you go? It saves double handling, which will save you time and energy. To me, it seems such a waste of removal expenses to throw out at the other end! So, go through everything now and you'll find out that what you have been hanging onto for years really isn't needed.

•  IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS

Equip yourself with a folder with plastic sleeves and call it your Relocation Folder. Put everything in it that you might want to find in a hurry: passport, identification, credit card numbers, pension details, passwords - unidentified of course, insurance details, banking details, etcetera. Think of all the documents or phone numbers that you might need access to, when everything is packed and you can't get to them! You could even draw up an alphabetical list with the phone numbers at the beginning of the folder.

•  CHANGE OF ADDRESS

Get stickers or a template Change of Address letter made, advising your change of address, as soon as you know where you are going to be living. You can then place in an envelope and post to business/friends/organisations for prompt changes to be made.

Also, leave a page of address stickers in the house, for the new owners/occupiers to forward your mail on. It is inevitable that once the three-month period (or whatever you have chosen) of the redirect is up, that some mail will come through for you. It can also be very annoying to have to redirect someone's mail; so do make sure that you keep up your end of the bargain.

Of course, make sure that you allow enough time for a redirect to occur. Usually, it takes 3 to 5 working days to enact, so visit the post office at least 1 to 2 weeks prior to leaving your home.

5. CANCELLATIONS and RETURNS

Make sure that you cancel any regular deliveries, utility services such as gas, electricity and phone, and collect refunds on pre-paid pro-rata accounts. Just send a letter to the service,

stating the cancellation date and making sure that you sign the letter. Include your new address and postcode if at all possible. Timely payment of any accounts will also act to provide a reference for further credit arrangements with these companies, particularly if moving to another city or state.

Be sure to return any library books or borrowed items from friends and family. Also, collect what belongs to you that you have loaned out, well before you need to pack it. Trust me, it is frustrating to be chasing items because you want to close the box, tape it shut and finish the job! And your friend hasn't returned that sweater, book or article to you, and now you're waiting!

•  PETS

It is just as stressful for pets to relocate, as it is for humans! Anyone who has owned a Siamese cat will be able to tell you that the cat sounds like a baby crying, when it is travelling in a car! It's true! The moment that cat is in the car and the car moves, it starts crying! And after hours of this, you may well wish that you had flown the cat to the destination.

So, pets do need preparation for moving. Make sure that your pet has been vaccinated, registered, and prepared for travel. Short moves are fine, but you may need to arrange to fly your pet, or put him or her on a train instead. Be prepared for the cost of this and any requirements that the mode of travel will dictate. Get this information in advance and both of you will be less stressed.

•  CHILDREN

Children can find moving extremely stressful. Especially if they have taken a long time to build up friendships, or become unsettled whenever there are changes in the air. Some children are naturally like this, so you will need to spend some time each day, leading up to the actual moving day, when you just sit and listen to your child's worries and woes. A listening ear and acknowledgement of emotions is very important. It is much more important that you show you understand how your child is feeling, than you say things like “You'll love the new place, you know.”

Find experiences that your child has been through and come out the other side, to use as examples when your child shows readiness to begin letting go of their current home and willingness to think about the new place. Or, perhaps your son or daughter has knowledge of other people's experiences, to call upon. You might refer to little Johnny three doors up “Remember when Johnny moved here and you and he made friends! I'm sure Johnny still remembers his old friends and now he has some more friends. You'll probably make more friends too.”

Or, “remember you were a bit scared about going to Kindy, and now you love it?”

Hopefully, you will have involved your children in the decision to move, as they will embrace it much more easily, if you have. Of course, there are exceptions to the rule and it can take time for them to adjust to their new location. Showing understanding, encouragement, a sense of humour and non-responsiveness to temper tantrums (in other words - patience) will go a long way to ease the situation.

8. TRANSITION TIME

If it's at all possible, have anything that needs attending to in the new home, completed before you make the move. So, if the floors are going to be polished, or the walls painted, or the kitchen redone, do it before you move. There is sufficient chaos during the transition period that the more that is completed prior to moving, the easier it will be once the move is made. Do you really want to be shifting furniture and boxes while painting is going on?

Likewise, the emptier your old home, the easier it will be to clean it, ready for the new occupants. Before you pay for carpet shampooing or walls to be cleaned, check whether they are going to be ripping up the carpets, or painting. You could save yourself a bundle in these fees, or time and energy if you were to do it yourself, if you don't have to do these things.

At the other end, make sure that you have organised for the gas, electricity and phone to be connected and/or switched on, ready for the day that you move in. By doing the phone earlier, you can supply it to those who might need it early in the relocation process.

It's also important to allocate some funds to buying take-away food, during the period of packing up your old home and moving into your new one! This is a very stressful time and you will make it easier for yourself and others if you don't have to cook and clean up after a meal. In fact, if it's at all possible, take the time off work, or delay starting a new job, so that you can get your new home in order. You'll feel much better!

•  ACTUAL PACKING AND MOVING

You have the choice of packing and moving yourself, packing everything yourself and having removalists do the moving, or have removalists do the lot. Certainly, if you can afford it, the latter is the way to go. Removalists will be able to provide you with a list of things that can be packed, and those that can't and should have second hand boxes available for packing. If you pack yourself, remember to find out the weight limit per box, so that you don't exceed Workplace Health and Safety regulations. Boxes of books can be a real problem, in this regard. Additionally, if you pack everything yourself, check that the removal company will still insure your possessions. Better to be safe than sorry, as accidents do happen.

It's a good idea to carry your valuables (jewellery, laptop, relocation folder) with you, rather than with the removalist.

Always remember that what you have used and needed in your current home, you will probably need and use in the new place! So, don't be concerned about things that are awkward to pack, the removalists will cope! It is much cheaper to hang onto existing implements / tools, than to buy new stock, after you have moved.

Your pets and children should be in someone else's care, on the actual day of moving! You will save your breath and your temper, when you can do the job without the help or hindrance of little one's underfoot. Of course, big kids can be helpful - just usually depends on their mood on the day!

•  SURVIVAL KIT

According to psychologists, moving house and relocating is one of the most stressful periods in a person's life. So take heart when you feel overwhelmed, fed-up, and ready to kill the kids, the husband, the wife or the dog! And don't let it get to that stage! Pull out your survival kit:

•  First Aid kit including something for headaches, aches and pains.

•  Snacks of nutritious food such as sandwiches, nuts, dried fruit, seeds or muesli bars, or fruitcake and fruit.

•  Remember that chocolate is a great comfort food as well as a terrific bribe!

•  An esky containing juice and low alcohol drinks for the adults can go a long way to helping tempers to improve! Especially if the fridge has gone and it's going to be a while before you can get anything cold. Alternatively, you may need a thermos flask of hot soup, or hot coffee or tea, to stoke those cold tummies!

•  Be sure to put in some NEW activities for the little ones. New items will hold their interest for longer. Books, of course, are always good.

•  Be prepared to count to 10, to walk away to calm down and cool off, and to LAUGH ALOUD - LOTS!

•  Remind each other that this was what you wanted and focus on the good times ahead, which you will get through and you will emerge stronger for it! All that character building stuff, okay?

Well, that's it! You've now got an Action Plan to follow, and a survival kit to take care of you.

This Report is aimed at helping you learn more about surviving a move, and how to get the best result for you. Thank you for calling on me for help. If there is anything further that you require, do call.