Every summer, many families decide to move to a new home. This move can be across town or on the other side of the country. Making the move in the summertime is easier on the children. Change is always difficult even in the best of times. Now with the job market and the housing situation, many families are forced to downsize. Then we also have our parents deciding to get rid of their larger homes and move into something that fits their life in retirement. Some families are moving in together. Moving can be overwhelming and emotional! We can help you!
It all starts with making it fun even if you are not excited about the move. Your attitude is everything. If you think it is going to be hard, it will be; if you imagine it being a breeze, then your dream will come true! What you think about, you bring about!
Just 15 minutes planning your move is going to help you feel in control of the situation. Pour yourself a nice tall glass of lemonade, prop your feet up and get your notebook out. We are going to build your Moving Control Journal.
You will make lists of things to get done. We all love lists but instead of this being one big random list that goes on for 10 pages we are going to break this move into babysteps. Place a heading at the top of each page. As you think of things you can flip to the page it goes on.
Things to do in the new location: Turn on power, telephone, television, gas and any other thing you can think of like cleaning carpets and painting. Just the basics; don’t get caught up in your perfectionism before you even get there. It doesn’t have to be perfect! Progress not Perfection!
Things to do at your current location: Turn off power and other utilities, get a truck, hire movers, declutter and PACK!
List things you will need when you get to the new location. This is usually the same things you needed the last day in your old house; coffee pot, sheets, towels, clothes, toiletries, basic food preparation tools and food. The last thing on the truck is the first thing off. Plan it this way. Unless you are going to get to your new home way ahead of your moving van, then you will have to take this stuff with you! Think of it as going camping.
Make a list of things you need to make packing go smoothly; moving Control Journal, lots of same sized boxes, colored markers, colored note cards, lots of packing tape and several tape holders, duct tape (for labeling trash so you don’t move it), bubble wrap, tissue paper and several boxes of big tough trash bags. I like the new unprinted newspaper sheets because the dishes will be clean when they go into the box and they will be clean when they come out. Keep a master list with your boxes numbered and color coded per room. This will help you put the boxes into the correct room at your new destination. Then you will be able to find stuff easily. Your job will be to direct traffic with your master list in hand and your color coded notecards posted over the door of each room. Please don’t mark every box miscellaneous. This will create CHAOS for years! Can’t Have Anyone Over Syndrome!
Now in order to pack, you are going to have to change your attitude. You can’t move everything you have. Moving clutter makes this job unbearable. Release your clutter and bless someone else with it. Put a FREE SIGN on it and place it by the curb. You will be blessed tenfold because you will not have to pay to move the stuff, figure out how to pack it or put it away when you get to your new home. You can’t organize clutter; you have to get rid of it so you can move in a peaceful fashion.
For more help getting rid of your CHAOS, check out Marla Cilley’s website and join her free mentoring group at www.FlyLady.net, listen to her www.blogtalkradio.com/flylady show, or read her books, Sink Reflections, published by Bantam, and her New York Times bestselling book, Body Clutter, published by Fireside. Copyright 2008 Marla Cilley. Used by permission in this publication.
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