Tips to Make Moving a Breeze
Productivity tips can make moving and storage less stressful. An organized plan can help you move with peace of mind and efficiency, knowing the details are already taken care of. We’ve helped hundreds of families move, and here are some of the best productivity tips for moving we’ve found over the years!
Create Your Strategy
Creating a top-down approach will help you organize your move and prioritize objectives. You can create this checklist by task category (house, travel, packing, relationships) or in reverse chronological order. If you’re stumped for ideas, use our moving timeline, or ask your movers and packers if they have a schedule they recommend!
Here’s the key: immediately put these tasks on your calendar. Schedule every item as a milestone you won’t forget. Put it on paper or in your favorite calendar app. You’ll be more likely to remember each errand, and you’ll have a sense of accomplishment as you cross them off your list.
Financial Preparation
Financial preparation includes planning for changes in income, savings, investments, and retirement accounts. Being prepared will relieve stress and anxiety, and make the unknown conquerable. Bankers are more than mere tellers—they’re experts on wealth management and protection.
Work with your wealth manager, insurance agent, or branch manager to find the best way to save for your move. Having an extra “rainy day fund” just for moving can provide peace of mind for any last minute details or goodbye souvenirs. Use your professional network to find referrals for service providers at your new location, and work with your spouse or significant other to prepare for the move.
Get Packed
We’ve covered similar topics in our moving guide, but we haven’t looked at productivity tips for packing. There are three approaches: room-by-room, least-used to most-used items, or pack things as you can, when you are able. The third option may be tempting, but efficient packing can save time and money. Space out your packing into an hour per day or in sprints over the weekend.
Get Started
If you’re feeling overwhelmed, sometimes it helps just get started. Willpower is a muscle, and it’s the strongest in the morning. While some prefer to start with the biggest tasks, it can build morale to see your to-do list shortened by a few lines. The pride of achievement and hope of accomplishment can build momentum for our next tip.
Fight Procrastination
Procrastination is the main culprit behind lost moving productivity because some tasks just aren’t as intrinsically rewarding as others. Your brain is constantly at war between the fun things you want to do and the less stimulating things you need to do. Eating ice cream and dusting out the basement activates two separate parts of your brain, and understanding it is the trick to beating procrastination.
The key is to activate that part of your brain in charge of planning, complex decision making, and executive functions. Examine the reasons you’re choosing to procrastinate, and then try to reverse them or reward yourself for overcoming them. If cleaning out the refrigerator is unpleasant, reward yourself with a nice meal afterward. If you are dreading phone calls to tie up loose ends, consider the time and energy you can save if you bite the bullet and get it done.
In conclusion, setting aside an hour to plan and schedule your moving timeline will let your mind rest and help you focus on the task at hand. With a firm financial foundation and an organized approach, you can dive in and be ready for your move!
