Moving House Without the Chaos: How to Protect Your Time, Money, and Sanity

Moving to a new home is often considered one of the most stressful life milestones. Not only is it physically demanding and mentally taxing, but it can also be incredibly time-consuming—especially if you don’t plan it right. (Not to mention expensive!)

While you can’t teleport your belongings to your new place in one fell swoop, it’s more than possible to make the moving experience feel more controlled and easier. These are the lessons I’ve learned firsthand about making your life less stressful during big moves:

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Make a Moving Checklist and Timeline

One way to make the moving process feel less chaotic is by making a moving checklist at the very start of the process. As I’ve written elsewhere regarding moving without the stress, I prefer an old-school notebook for such things, but you may have a fave productivity app you’d rather use instead.

There’s no avoiding it: moving means keeping track of a gazillion microtasks simultaneously, and each one has its own respective timeline. It’s easy to forget about these tasks if you’re solely keeping track of them in your head, and that can have potentially costly or delay-inducing consequences.

A much better solution is to prepare a moving checklist and timeline plan. This way, you’ll know the status of various pending tasks or be aware of things you must do before the moving date to ensure that the move proceeds smoothly.

You can find plenty of moving checklists online and customize them to fit your needs and timeframe. Generally, a moving checklist consists of multiple tasks categorized into similar buckets. You should definitely group these tasks yourself, so it’s easier for YOU personally to track your progress in each of these respective categories.

By managing your projects through a moving checklist, you’ll be much less likely to procrastinate or get overwhelmed to the point of paralysis later in the move. This way, you’ll be a lot less stressed during the process as you give yourself enough time to handle the move more seamlessly.

Hire a Moving Company

Another way you can make the house-moving process less stressful is by hiring pros to pack, transport, and unload your possessions. Even if you’re an able-bodied person with your own truck or van, moving a lot of your belongings from place to place can take a heavy toll on you, especially if you’re talking a longer-distance move.

Why? Well, for one, schlepping all those boxes and furniture pieces is exhausting, and it can leave you so tired that you don’t have the brain cells for managing the other details of the move itself. (And then there’s trying to do this when you’re NOT in a good space physically or mentally – like when Dear Husband and I consolidated households when I was very pregnant with Kimmie and on modified bedrest!)

To prevent burning yourself out physically, just hire professional movers to do the (literal) heavy lifting for you. Regardless of where you live, there are many licensed moving services that can get you to your new location safely and securely.

And if you’re worried about the cost, don’t be. For example, if you live in Australia, you can use Muval’s trusted moving platform to vet different moving companies around Australia and their rates, allowing you to find a reputable company that provides the best experience for your needs with a suitable cost structure. If you’re moving because of work, your new employer may very well have deals with certain companies, and/or be otherwise willing to coordinate the details for you.

Declutter Early

Another way to move homes without stressing yourself out too much is by decluttering things before packing the items you do intend to bring to your next home.

Moving to a new home is a great time to remove excess baggage from your life—and throughout the years, you’ve likely accumulated a ton of things at home that no longer see the light of day. Instead of bringing them with you “just in case,” it’s WAY better to declutter before you move, so you can start fresh afterward.

How to declutter when moving:

Are you stuck at HOW to declutter before moving? The three-box strategy (1) give to friends/family, 2) donate, or 3) trash) is always a good one. Go through each room of the house and slowly move clutter into one of these three categories.

This can be especially tough if you’re a parent with years of accumulated kids’ stuff, from outgrown toys and equipment, to old school supplies and clothes that no longer fit. If you’ve got the time before your move, you can recoup some of the cost of items in good condition at consignment sales; otherwise, check out my packing-to-move guide for help with chunking the decluttering into smaller bits.

Once you’ve prepared these boxes of goods, follow through with each label. You can give some old keepsakes to friends and family members who may treasure them. You can sell some valuable stuff online or at a garage sale. And for everything else, throw them away responsibly.

By giving and selling the things you no longer use around the house, you’ll enter your new home with a bright and light feeling, and perhaps even some extra cash for those countless little new-home upgrades.

Contact Your Utility Providers Well in Advance

One final tip to help you move smoothly is to give utility providers plenty of notice 3about your moving timeline. The last thing you want to do is get double-billed because the electric bills are still in YOUR name at your old residence, but you’re already paying for electricity at your new residence! This is why it’s essential to not just turn off the main power source of your new home, but also contact the electricity provider to disconnect the electricity in your old house’s electricity line.

Besides the electric bill, you should also contact your water, gas, internet, and any other utility providers about your last date at your old home, so they can disconnect your service when you turn over the keys. This will help you avoid extra costs or pesky calls after you’ve moved.

Likewise, contact utility providers in your new place and have them get ready to turn on or switch over the utilities there. Do this sooner rather than later, as this helps you transition into your new home smoothly and comfortably. (It always seemed to take longer to get things like the internet turned after moving than I ever dreamed possible!)

Here’s hoping these tips serve you well as you embark on this new life milestone! All the best in turning over a new leaf in Australia, or down the street, or across town, or wherever it is you’re moving to!

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