When you hear the term “house move,” it’s not out of the ordinary to feel a bit iffy. After all, a house move will likely take a lot of weeks to plan, and a lot of stressful days to pack and prepare for everything. When you have a household to manage, having a house move can definitely be overwhelming. However, this doesn’t mean it’s impossible to manage. After all, what if we told you there’s actually a way to transform your house move into a family bonding experience? With the right planning and the right setup, you can actually pull this off.
Scout the location with the family. What better way to get to know your new home than with a road trip, right? If you have a weekend or two free, try to go to your new home’s neighborhood with your family prior to the move. Treat this as some sort of “scouting” trip that will let you know what to expect during the move.
- This allows you to determine what spots you can stay on during the moving process. Are there restaurants you like? What emergency services are nearby? Are there any shortcuts you could take?
- You can also get a general idea of how the neighborhood is like during your short visit. Are your neighbors friendly? Is there a village association?
- You can also use this to determine whether there are long-distance movers you can contact in your home’s location. Having a long distance mover can make it much easier for you to transfer your belongings.
Sort out your inventory. Before the packing proper, make sure you’ve found a way to sort out your inventory. This might seem a bit of a drag, especially considering this might take a while. However, this can be extremely helpful when you plan on hiring a moving company New York City, or wherever your areas of interest are, and into determining what you really want to take with you.
- When you do an inventory, decide on whether you want to do a physical or a digital inventory. There’s no real preference, except for what you’re comfortable with using. Make sure this is always updated.
- In your inventory, include the type of material your belonging has, how many of them you own, your projected price, and their status. You can sort them in whatever way you want.
- With this list in mind, try to sort out what items you might want to sell or what items you want to give away. Not only can this save space on your end, you can also earn some money as well.
Buy packing things together. Another fun way you can bond with the family is to buy your packing essentials together. After going through your inventory, you can actually schedule a day to go to stores and get all the supplies you need. This also helps the rest of the family get more familiar with your packing process.
- When you sort out your inventory, determine the kind of packing materials you need. List them so you and your family know what to look for.
- Try to buy at least twice of what you’re planning to buy. While this might leave you with a lot of extras, you at least don’t have to worry about going to the hardware store for a second trip.
Assign roles to everyone. As parents, we hate being left out of important things that happen to our kids. And for our kids, they pretty much feel the same way. One of the best ways we can uplift the family spirit is through making sure everyone knows they’re part of the moving process. Assign roles to everyone so they know how best they can cooperate when it comes to the move.
- Have a meeting and determine where the strengths of everyone in the family lies. Maybe some of your family members have a knack for organization, so they can handle inventory. Some might love to do weightlifting, so they can be in charge of carrying.
- You can assign everyone to help fix their own rooms. This gives them a sense of responsibility and ownership. This can go from fixing their room for the move or fixing their new room for after the move.
Make packing a family day. When you have your inventory and assignments sorted out, you can dedicate a day or two of family day into a packing day. This can be a great way to get everyone together to work on the move.
- This makes it much easier for you to organize your belongings in a single session. After demonstrating your preferred packing way, you can teach everyone how to do it so they can do the packing to their own assignments.
- This speeds up the packing process and can free a lot more time for the entire family to rest before the move.
A House Move And Your Family Equals Fun!
Who says a house move has to be extremely successful? If there’s anything mommies know, it’s how to make even the most boring activities seem fun. And what better way to bond as a family than to transform your house move into a fun bonding experience? If you follow the tips above, it’s going to be easy making your house move something you won’t ever forget. And if you tinker some of the steps above into your own version, then you’ll surely make your house move something your family will cherish.
[…] Dedicate one night before the move to say goodbye to your home. You might want to have a small party that includes a goodbye cake and some pizza, talking about your favorite memories in your home, and even taking a tour around the rooms to say goodbye. It’s a great way to help your kids get closure and it’s a moving activity that encourages family bonding. […]