Trying to prepare for a cross-country move can be pretty overwhelming with all the things you have to do. Even if you are not the type of person who keeps plenty of clutter in their home, organizing a relocation can be pretty daunting. That is why WOW Organizing LLC has prepared a simple guide to help you stay organized during a cross-country move. We will go over how much time is needed for planning, why a moving binder might be a great idea, the benefits of decluttering, and a few other organizational tips.
If you are more technologically inclined, you can also utilize one of the various organizing apps for your phone or tablet. The only issue with most of those apps is that there is some learning curve to them. None of the apps are true “plug and play” and every one of them requires some setting up to achieve peak performance. At the same time, a moving binder can’t be simpler. You just take the documents and put them in their respective place. But if you took our advice and started early, taking the time to fiddle with organizational apps can really help you with your relocation.
Before packing, declutter
There is no sense in packing all of your belongings if some of them will sit in the garage or attic unused. Thus, you want to take some time to sort through your items and determine which are making the trip with you and which are not. The decluttering process can be pretty tricky, as you will have conflicting feelings about most of your belongings.
When it comes to decluttering, you have a few good options in front of you. You can hire professional home organizing services, or you can divide your belongings into three “piles” – bring with you pile, maybe pile, and discard pile. If opting for the latter, go through each item and assign it to one of the piles. Once everything is sorted, give yourself some time to think about the things on the “maybe” pile and categorize them into other two piles accordingly.
Color-coding for easier organization
Once you arrive at your new home, you will first want to start unpacking and settling in. Having a color-coded labeling system for your boxes is the easiest way to stay organized during a cross-country move. Each color represents one room, and the number denotes which box to unpack first. A piece of advice from triple7movers.com is to create a “master list” of all the items in each box, further enhancing your organization. Remember to keep things simple by writing “tools” or “toys”. Don’t go for elaborate descriptions unless you have a lot of time on your hands. It is better to keep things as simple as possible most of the time.
If you would like help applying these ideas in your own home, learn more about our Moving Organizer Services.
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