255. Mistakes to avoid when moving house

Narelle King: Welcome to More Organized Less Clutter, a podcast to empower individuals and neurodivergent families with practical, realistic tools to create a more organized, sensory-friendly, clutter-free, and intentional home that works with your lifestyle and brain, not against it. I'm Norelle King, a professional organizer and neurodivergent mum who understands the unique challenges of family life. I help people just like you simplify your space. Build sustainable organizational systems and create more breathing room physically and mentally. Every fortnight you'll hear solo episodes and guest conversations filled with practical strategies on decluttering, home organization, routines for neurodivergent families, mindful living, and how to build a home that feels safe, calm and functional. You'll walk away with actionable takeaways you can implement even if you only have 10 minutes to spare. Ever felt overwhelmed by all the packing and chaos that comes with moving house? In today's More Organized Less Clutter episode, I am unpacking the biggest moving mistakes: underestimating how much time you need, forgetting to declutter first, and not labeling boxes when you're packing or in detail. If you're ready to make your move smoother, simpler, and way less overwhelming, you'll want to hear these five biggest mistakes. That people do when they're moving and how you can avoid them. Let's jump into this more organized, less clutter episode. Thanks for joining me for today's solo episode where I'll be talking about something that can feel overwhelming for most people, and that's moving house. Over the years, I've worked with so many clients who've faced the chaos of moving. And the stories are always the same. The last minute panic, the stress of too much stuff to do, and the exhaustion that follows. One client told me how they underestimated the time it would take and ended up living out of boxes for weeks before they contacted me because they didn't label the boxes properly. And this I see regularly. Those boxes labeled miscellaneous are the ones that cause the stress and the problems. So today I'm going to go through the biggest moving mistakes that I see as a professional organizer. So I have five of them and I'm also going to share with you how you can avoid them. I also have two other moving episodes that I've recorded which I'll put in the show notes for you to refer back to. So let's start with number one biggest moving mistake is not planning enough time. This is number one. So packing, sorting, cleaning, it takes so much longer than you think. So you need to give yourself extra days and even weeks leading up. So my first thing that I usually do with a client if they've come to me and it's a while out from the actual move is we prepare a timeline working back from the day of the move and everything that needs to be done is then allocated into that time frame and maybe even allocated to different people. And I will usually do this on a document, like a Word document, that can then be shared with other people if it's necessary, or we just print it out. The next thing that I make sure I do with clients when we're preparing enough time is pre-booking everything, including the removalist. These are the number one people if you're not doing it yourself, because they are busy, busy people. And you need to keep in mind if it's a really wet day and depending on where the person's moving from, the actual removalist will change the day and actually then may have a backlog of days of moving. So just make sure that you have that in mind and they're not necessarily going to have availability that next week that you want to move or at the end of the week. Same with us as well. We get people who ring us or message us and ask us to help them move next week. And usually we're too busy. We need a little bit of leeway and time. And generally we're going to be helping you over a whole day. Another thing to think about is a skip. that you may be using to get rid of all the things that you don't want to move to the next house. Maybe it's like mattress removal, maybe it's also document removal. I've had a client where we got all the documents weren't coming with them and we actually got the document removal company to actually come to their house and did all the shredding on site for them. It may be that you need some storage before you go to your next house or within the next house. So you might be not able to move in completely. And you may need to store some things. Maybe you also need to sell some items because you're not going to have enough room in your new house. Maybe you're actually downsizing. And you need to think about the boxes. Boxes that you are going to put your things in to take. I love boxes because you can stack things on top. Whereas when people use bags, you can't stack, say, five bags on top of each other very well. And they're all going to tumble down. So I really enjoy using boxes and then you can label them clearly. Think about like Facebook Marketplace if you're going to use that to maybe be able to s get rid of some of your items. Also looking at a clean. If you're getting someone else in to clean, same people that same problem. They book out in advance as well. And maybe you need to get someone in to actually fix items in the home. Maybe it's like a plaster hole that needs to be repaired. or something else that's been broken that needs to be fixed. And also remembering the disconnection and reconnection of your water, gas, electricity, internet, whatever it is that you need to do. So we need enough time to get all of these things done. Now, when I meet with a client and we've got plenty of time, I will then get them to start packing items that they aren't going to use in the next couple of weeks. If we leave the packing all to the week or two weeks before, It's really stressful. And it's so much easier if you can start and find a a place in your home where you can put the boxes that you've packed. So this might be like Christmas decorations or it might be extra sets of things. So you might have extra dinner set, toys, books, maybe d serving dishes. Maybe it's you're not gonna be cooking anything like cakes and cupcakes and muffins and you don't need those trays. And you could box them up and label kitchen items. So Make sure you have enough planning time prior to your move. Number two mistake that I see is that people do not declutter beforehand. So they will then be taking all of the things that they own onto the next next home. And I know that letting go of things can be hard, especially when there's so much emotion involved and, you know, life is busy and people are juggling things. But moving is the perfect chance to actually declutter. So that you can start afresh in your new home. So keep what you use and need and let go of the rest. It's your future self and in your new home that's really gonna thank you, but also your wallet. Because who wants to pay for moving all these excess items over to a new home and then getting rid of them? So I had a client last year and she had 10 boxes that she was taking to move her things. interstate. And if she so she really had to think about what she was taking. That's her and a child, all the things that they were taking. So they really had to weigh up the cost of the item and the cost of them taking it in their boxes, whether it was worth it, whether they could replace it when they actually got to their new home. So I highly recommend you decluttering before you actually move, if that's possible. Number three mistake I see from clients is trying to do everything perfectly. And obviously I see this a lot with neurodivergent clients who want everything just right. Perfectionism can really slow you down and also drain your energy. We want to aim for good enough. There's small wins every day instead of like a huge perfect process. Because believe me, there is going to be some problems. I've not done a move where there is not some problem. along the way that's inavoidable. So trucks cancelling is definitely something that's happened a few times due to the weather. And it's because maybe their driveway was really steep and there is no way that they could actually get their truck up or down safely with the amount of rain. Maybe there's also been a handover if it's a purchase of a house or a property and there's been a handover delay with it. There can be delay with maybe the repairs in the home when you're moving into it as well. Maybe it's a brand new build and it's just been delayed as well. So we need to make sure that we're thinking ahead and planning that there may possibly be a problem, but we're going to be able to work through this and everything isn't always going to be perfect. Number four mistake I see is not labeling or organizing the boxes thoughtfully. This is a time when myself and my team have been called in because it's overwhelming to then unpack boxes that are just labelled miscellaneous. So making sure your labels are really clear on your boxes will take the stress out of unpacking. And putting rooms on the boxes and even a quick contents listed on every box is going to help you because then if you need certain items, you don't have to unpack everything all at one time. You could just get those few boxes, the items that you need, and unpack those. I also really like using colour coding tape and so I will get that from Bunnings and it might say kitchen and that's the pink one. And I think the lounge is green and the bathroom's blue, but we will allocate a colour to each person's room. So it might not necessarily match what the writing's on the tape, but everyone knows what color is their tape. and that's all their boxes. It makes it really easy for removalists to bring the boxes in if you're using removalists and say, that's the pink room, that's the orange room, that's the blue room. So I really encourage you to label them and also using maybe a color code as well. So when we're packing, we're packing with unpacking in mind. We're trying to avoid that miscellaneous box label. So I would have four boxes maybe in front of me and I would b just be putting like all the kitchen in one and then I'd be putting things from the lounge. If I'm packing a fair bit of time ahead, I'll still make sure that the items that are going into that box all relate to each other and are in that same room. And I will use linen as padding around the items as well rather than then having to pack a separate box with linen. Maybe the last ones are But I try to use as much as I can as I'm actually packing. And the other thing to think about is when you disassemble furniture is keeping the screws and the small parts in like some sort of labelled bag and then taping it to the furniture. If you think you're not going to be able to remember how to actually put it back together, take photos of videos. This has saved us so many times when we've had to then put things back together because it is overwhelming and you will possibly forget. The last Mistake I see is people forgetting self-care, forgetting to look after themselves. Moving is a really emotional marathon almost. You need to make sure that you dress on moving day in comfortable clothing that's suitable for lifting and moving. Number one though is eat something nutritious for breakfast or in the morning so that you have enough energy. You need so much energy on a moving day. And this is just someone who does it. for a living and works with clients and does it quite regularly. We haven't actually moved for fourteen years is the last time I actually moved house and I remember we had a toddler and a baby and it was really hard work. But I now see it on the other side helping people. And so I know how important it is to make sure you have enough energy and even stacks throughout the day so you can keep up that energy supply. Water, making sure you have enough water on hand and you just stay hydrated throughout the day. You also need to think about taking deep breaths throughout the day. Whenever you've got that moment is like taking a huge breath and letting it out, and that is going to help you to de stress throughout the day. And the last thing is asking for help. If people offer to help, maybe not on the actual moving day, but they may be helping to pick kids up. They may be saying I can have one of your kids over the weekend before while you're packing. Accept the help. It's going to make a huge difference on the day of the move. Maybe it's one of your pets is going to be looked after for you in someone's house and then they're going to drop it off later to you. Definitely ask for help. Let's just go back through those five mistakes that I see on moving day. So not planning enough time. Number two is not decluttering. beforehand and just waiting till they get to their new house and then decluttering. Number three is trying to do everything perfectly. Just know that some things are not going to go as planned, especially if it's a new build of a house as well. Number four is not labeling or organizing your boxes thoughtfully. So making sure that we use some sort of label system on the boxes so they can go into the correct room on the day of the move. And number five is forgetting to look after yourself. So making sure that you've eaten on the day of the move and even preparing before and giving yourself enough time. I hope by highlighting these moving mistakes you feel more confident about making a smooth transition to your new home. And if you want to stay organized on moving day, be sure to download the Moving Day Essentials checklist. It's got everything you need to Keep close at hand during the day and after the move. Just head to simply happy dot com dot au and find it in the resource tab. Thanks for listening to More Organized Less Clutter. Moving to a new house? Make your relocation a breeze with our Free Moving Essentials checklist. You'll have everything you need for a smooth and stress-free moving day at your fingertips. Don't let the chaos of moving overwhelm you. Download your Free Moving Essentials checklist from simplyhappy.com.au in the resource section. I'd like to acknowledge the Watherong people of the Kulin Nation on which this podcast is recorded as the traditional custodians of the land. I pay my respects to their elders, past, present and emerging.