How to make moving less stressful
Cardboard Boxes On Living Room 3434533

Moving houses can be a very stressful process.  Some studies say it is amongst the top three most stressful events in life. Up there with the death of a loved one and divorce.  Although I tend to disagree with these studies, moving houses can take a big toll on you. Finding a new place that you and family love, dealing with different service providers for the different things that you need when moving, packing, and unpacking. All this could easily increase your stress levels.  Moving during a pandemic could even be worse. You may find yourself worrying about whether the previous residents were exposed to Covid-19 or not. And how you can protect yourself and your family if that were the case.

Fortunately, there are some ways to pack and unpack faster and reduce the amount of work which may lead to stress. Here are some of the ways to make moving houses less stressful:

  1. Start earlier and pack one room at a time. If you focus on one room at a time, it won’t feel like you have a huge task ahead. Plus, it gives you enough time to organize all your belongings nicely whilst throwing away those things you do not need anymore.
  2. Source boxes for moving, earlier on. You can either buy boxes or ask for boxes from your nearest grocery store. They are always willing to give boxes for free. I have also seen people ask for boxes from the Facebook neighborhood groups.
  3. Allocate a box or more to each member of your family and give them the responsibility to pack certain items. Even your three-year-old can be asked to pack their own toys in their “special box”.
  4. Hire professional helpers. Hiring professional movers will take some of the load off your shoulders. Not every service is reliable out there, so when you begin to look for movers, do your research so that you hire a reliable service.   You can either hire a reputable      moving company online or ask your friends to refer a good company to you. To check if a company is reputable, Google it and read their online reviews.
  5. Hire a cleaning or organizing company to help with the packing. Some companies offer purely organizing services. There are also cleaning companies who offer packing and unpacking services. Use the same principle in hiring the cleaning company. Always check for reviews or use a referral.
  6. Move on a less popular day. Moving on a less popular day will save you both money and stress. Moving companies are a lot busier on weekends. If you move during weekdays, you can save a few Rands.
  7. Take time to relax and pamper yourself. It helps to create relaxing moments for yourself and family. It’s also important to accept that this will be a difficult time as everything is out of place.