5 Tips on Moving Successfully

 We are all moved in and somewhat settled into our first home!

It was a big move, and the weather couldn't have been hotter but we made it.. now we still have some boxes to unpack, some things to buy, and some rooms to organize, but it's going well, and we have nothing but time now.

 

 

Our first night here was amazing! Waking up in our own home and walking out on our back deck and having a coffee is wonderful, nothing compares.

Our cats have been adventurous the last couple days - getting used to the house and getting into everything, but we made sure almost everything was delivered/installed/unloaded before we brought them over to make their adjustment a little better.

Some tips if anyone else will be experiencing a big move in the near future:

1. Do not get sick! Of course, this is somewhat our of your control, and it happened to me! We took possession of our house on Friday and Thursday I started feeling like I was getting a sore throat - I chalked it up to excitement and nervousness - boy was I wrong! By Saturday, I was useless and had the worst head cold I have had in years. I am now just starting to feel better, but not great by a long shot. If I could have done something to prevent getting sick, it would have been better for everyone and made the move a little easier.. Maybe just make sure you get plenty of rest in the week leading up to your move, and if you feel like something is coming on, try to catch it before it really comes on strong.
2. Call utility and service providers early enough. Since we moved on a long weekend this was a big one. I contacted all of our providers and utility companies with about 3-4 weeks to let them know when we would be moving and if we needed to have a setup/installation service. Luckily, our cable company was able to come out on the Saturday of the long weekend and hook up our television, but we did have to go until today without a home phone or internet. We also, being first time homeowners, completely forgot about having to pay our own water bill now that we never contacted the city water. With everything that happens during buying your first home, we're lucky that's all we forgot about! Thankfully, they are keeping it on until we make it in by the end of the week.
3. Ensure you have reliable help. We had lots of offers of help, but knew early on that the only people we could truly count on to help out were my brother and Barry's parents. If you have lots of offers for help, ensure they are serious and will actually show up on the day of.
4. Plan to eat out. We have eaten out every meal from Friday morning to last night due to how much we had to accomplish and how everything was a mess in the kitchen.. It is just a given, no matter how much stuff you are moving, planning to eat out will save stress when you are trying to find a coffee cup or spoon in 20 boxes labelled 'kitchen'.
5. Labels! Label every single box, tote, etc. This helps anyone helping you and when you are unpacking into your new house you know exactly which room to put each box into. This makes the unpacking process so much easier for everyone involved. Thankfully, we are both very organized and did this right from the very first box we packed, or else things would have been much, much worse.

All in all, the move went very well and I'm sure we will be busy for the rest of the week arranging things! Pictures will be coming later, but it's nice to be back online and blogging again.. 4 days without a computer was a nice break, but I did miss it.