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Moving house is difficult no matter how many times you’ve been through it, but there are ways you can improve the overall experience. While there are plenty of guides and articles on how to complete every step of your move, we’ve summed up the 10 best ways to survive the entire process.

1. Think ahead
Planning is an essential part of any move, and it’s a good idea to start at least a month and a half before your occupation date. Not only does this leave enough time to get everything sorted before the big day, but spreading your tasks out also reduces the stress and anxiety.

It’s also a good idea to buy a notebook or create a file with all your moving ideas, notes brainstorms, lists and numbers in it. Keeping all your documents in one place ensures you don’t lose anything and will also prevent you from having to keep it all in your head; a recipe for sleepless nights.

If you are moving into a house that’s having renovations done to it, be sure to leave plenty of ‘wiggle room’. Even the smallest renovations often take longer than expected and it can make things extremely stressful if you’re not prepared.

Finally, moving seldom runs 100% to plan, so you need to be prepared to be a bit flexible. Having a ‘plan B’ wherever possible goes a long way to maintaining your sanity.

2. Divide and conquer
You’ll have plenty of lists when moving house, and that’s a good thing. It can, however, start to make you feel stressed when you look at the number of things that need to be done.

Productivity experts advise breaking the list up into no more than 5 important items a day.

Of course, if you get these done you can move onto the next list, but knowing that you only have a limited number of things to do in one day prevents people from feeling overwhelmed.

3. Delegate
If you’re moving with your family, sit down and delegate a list of tasks to each member. Even children can be given a small list to help out with. The secret to successful delegation is to get each member to acknowledge and agree to their list and set a definite date for completion. Remember to reward and incentivise as much as necessary.

If you don’t have a family (or even if you do) you may want to hire help. Write down the things you are least looking forward to or that you know you’ll struggle with and see if you can’t outsource it. Is it the packing? The heavy lifting? The cleaning? No matter what it is, chances are that you can find a professional to help you. You stick to our strengths and let them stick to theirs. It’ll be worth every penny.



4. When in doubt, throw it out
The more things you have, the harder your move will be. Months before you move, it’s a good idea to go through your home room by room and throw out anything that’s not useful or that you don’t love. Conducting a major declutter in advance will streamline the packing process and give you a better idea of what you have and need to move.

The best way to do a clean like this is to start one room at a time, take absolutely everything out of the cupboards/off shelves and put it all in one big pile on the floor. Pick up each item one by one and decide whether you really need or love it. If you don’t feel, from the very moment you pick it up, that you really want to keep it then it’s time to pass it on.

This includes duplicates (do you really need 3 half-empty bottles of the same shampoo?) and things you’ve been meaning to get fixed for 2 months or more. You really don’t want to be moving that broken printer or tupperwares with no lids. Throw them out.

A new home is a fresh start, don’t bring things you don’t love with you.



5. Book a babysitter
If you have small children, a baby sitter on the big day is probably a no-brainer, but you may also want to book one for a few hours in the days prior to the move when the packing and organising reaches its peak.

This allows you to give your full attention to the task at hand and means you don’t have to juggle children and everything else.

Even if it’s only a small move, people often underestimate how challenging and stressful the process is. Having somebody to keep an eye on the kids will allow you to use those rare moments of calm to recharge your batteries and attend to your own needs.



6. Equip yourself
Moving house requires a barrage of boxes and an incredible assortment of packing materials.

It’s always a good idea to buy your boxes, bubble wrap, tape, labels, packets and anything else you might need ahead of time, in order to avoid breaking your flow when you’re already in the swing of things.

A handy tip is to always buy a few more than you expect to use – chances are you’ll need far more than you initially thought! This also allows you to pack your belongings more effectively and avoid having to overfill boxes (which makes both lifting and unpacking more of a challenge).

Some companies offer a buy-back service for boxes, so it’s not a totally sunk cost and you don’t have to worry about how to store or dispose of them once you’re done.

7. Get the right tools
Packing supplies aren’t the only thing that make a move easier. Tools like trailers, pallets, trolleys and a ute are invaluable if you’re planning to move on your own. No matter how fit and strong you are, lifting fridges and carrying couches gets annoying very quickly.

Many of the moving tools you need are available to borrow and rent for the day or by the hour. Having the right equipment will not only make the move quicker easier, but it may well prevent an injury or physical strain.



8. Colour code or label your boxes
If there’s one thing that’s never a waste of time it’s properly labelling your boxes. This little bit of extra effort goes a long way as unlabeled boxes can nearly double the time it takes to unpack.

An additional tip is to use coloured stickers to mark boxes for each room (blue for living room, red for bedroom, etc.) so you can easily unload boxes in the correct places.

If you’re using a moving company, remember to mark each room’s door with the corresponding label or colour. You might know which room is going to be the guest bedroom, but they will not.



9. Pace yourself
Moving house is exciting and you’ll want to have your new place in ship shape as soon as possible, but don’t expect to be completely done in a single weekend. The reality is it will take a bit of time to get completely settled and accepting this will prevent you from getting overly stressed about it.

Don’t put unnecessary pressure on yourself by planning a premature housewarming or asking guests to stay too soon after your move. Unless they’re the type of friends who are happy to live among the boxes, making arrangements like these will only create unnecessary anxiety.



10. Schedule some downtime
Moving is hard work, so make sure you schedule your rest periods or you’ll burn out.

It’s a good idea to pre-book a massage or a yoga class to make sure you’re forced to attend. Otherwise, you’ll find you end up ditching the me-time in favour of more moving chores.

Moving house is rated just behind death and divorce on the stress scale, so although it sounds fluffy, getting plenty or rest during this period is critical. Making sure you find time to de-stress during the chaos of moving will keep you healthy and make the whole process more enjoyable.