‘Content correct at time of publishing and subject to change’
Moving home is one of the most exciting yet daunting moments in anyone’s life. Ensuring your conveyancing process is as smooth as possible is key to a stress-free moving experience, because we all know that moving home is known for being an extremely stressful and anxiety-inducing process.
Here are six of the best ways to aid your moving process and ensure you don’t get overwhelmed with stress and anxiety.
1. Communication is key
Communicating regularly with your solicitor and the estate agent will always ensure that you’re up to date with your moving process, and will allow any issues that arise, to be quickly resolved. Not only will you always be up to date with the process, but it will most likely give you peace of mind knowing that everything is moving forward as it should be. By keeping in the loop with your solicitor and estate agent, you may also be able to start piecing together a rough time of when you may finally be moving.
Having regular questions during this time is completely normal, so do not hesitate to contact your solicitor or estate agent at any time.
2. Don’t over-plan
Setting deadlines without a professionals guidance is an easy way to stress yourself out when it comes to moving house. Even though we are always told that planning is a useful mechanism in our everyday lives, overplanning can cause unrealistic time frames. If you set unrealistic time frames for each step of moving home, you’re most likely to be left severely disappointed and most of all stressed when it doesn’t plan out the way you envisioned.
An average conveyancing process can take anywhere from 8 - 12 weeks to complete, but delays are extremely common so it’s best to not stick to these time frames either. Your conveyancer should always keep you updated on any delays or when big steps of the process have been completed so that you can see things are progressing and know whereabouts you are throughout the entire course.
3. Don’t leave packing to the last minute
Regardless of whether you’ve lived in your house for 1 year or 20 years, packing can be a very long and time-consuming process. To keep your stress levels down, it’s important to leave plenty of time to pack at your own pace and ensure that you have enough time to sort through your belongings. We all know that living out of boxes isn’t ideal, but it will greatly help your stress levels if you start sooner than later.
A useful packing tip is to pack all the things you use less frequently first and pack a suitcase for your first night in your new home as if you were staying in a hotel. By packing an overnight bag for your first night, all your essentials are easy to find and you won’t be spending hours looking for your toothbrush in an endless pile of boxes.
4. Don’t attempt to move without help
Whether you choose to hire a removal company or ask your family and friends to help you move, it is one of the most well-known ways to reduce stress on moving day. Many hands make light work and this is something you should live by when moving house.
From packing to unpacking to cleaning, it’s always useful to get any help you can on moving day. The quicker you’re in your new home, the quicker you can settle in and off-load the days’ events and the months running up to moving.
5. Ensure children and pets are not adding to your stress on moving day
Ensuring your children or pets are looked after whilst you attend to moving house, is another sure-fire way to relieve any added stress you may be harbouring. Placing children into daycare or asking family members to help out whilst you get settled into your new home is completely normal and helps to focus on moving without worrying about your children.
Keeping pets at a relatives home is also useful during your moving day and even until after your first night of settling in, especially since animals may find it distressing or unsettling when they leave their old home.
6. Keep a note of utility providers and balances
One of the most complicated processes of moving house is cancelling current providers or insurances and then finding new providers in your new home. A great help when it comes to moving is to keep note of any meter readings, suppliers and account numbers for both properties, old and new. By doing this process, once you have moved, you will have all the information you need and you can easily inform your providers of your move and avoid overpaying bills or underpaying.
Another tip that should help reduce any stress is to not rush into finding new providers when you move. It is always much easier to stick with your existing providers from your old home until your settled in your new home, as it will inevitably allow you to take care of much more important issues first. Royal Mail also provides a redirection service at low costs so that any mail with your name on it with your old address, will get forwarded to your new address.
By following these six tips, you are most likely to eliminate the common causes of stress when moving and you may find that your moving process is much smoother and organised.
Although moving house is daunting, these tips will hopefully help you manage moving home a lot easier. Contact us today to discuss moving home further.