How Not to Get Overwhelmed Unpacking After a Move

Why is unpacking after moving home so hard?

Usually, it is because all the focus is on getting out of your old home and little regard is given to all the work that you still need to do after moving day.

But unpacking and setting up a new home can be just as daunting and overwhelming as moving out.

Everything is in boxes, the new home is unfamiliar to you, the area may be unfamiliar, and you may have even moved away from family and friends so you have no support network now.

It is easy to become overwhelmed when there are so many things to do, but with an unpacking strategy and a little motivation, you will soon have your new home set up and be able to get on with your new life.

And at the end of this guide are some useful links to companies that help you unpack and set up your new home which you may find is a lifesaver.

How Not to Feel Overwhelmed With Unpacking After a Move

It is easy to look at those piles of boxes in every room and become totally overwhelmed with the prospect of having to unpack each one.

But here are some unpacking tips to help you reduce those stacks of boxes and have your home ready in no time.

#1 Plan on doing a few small tasks a day, or a room a day, depending on what free time you have. Trying to have an unpacking marathon will just dishearten you, so a room a day or a set number of boxes per day will give you easy targets to aim for.

#2 Choose easy wins. If you made a floor plan then the furniture is already in the correct place. So it will be quick and easy to put the books on the bookshelves or your shoes in the shoe cupboard.

#3 Unpack bulky items like duvets and blankets. They take up a lot of space and make a big impact on the size of your unpacking pile once they are gone.

#4 Put the stuff in the loft that you plan on storing there. This is a quick and easy win.

#5 If you have friends or family that can help with the unpacking then invite them over. Assign each person a room and in no time your unpacking will be finished.

You may also like to read: How to Make a New Place Feel Like Home. Getting to know your new area is as much a part of making your place feel like home as setting up your place is. In this guide, we look at how to get to know a new area and make it feel like you belong there.

Essential Tips to Make Unpacking Easier

Unpacking takes just as much preparation and organisation as the actual home move. And your unpacking strategy starts before a single item is packed.

Easy and efficient unpacking is the result of packing your home contents properly in the first place.

The more attention you pay to what and how you pack your things, the easier the unpacking will be.

#1 Declutter

Before you start packing go through every single item you own and ask yourself if you really need or love that item.

The fewer items that need to be packed, the quicker your unpacking will be, and your home moving and packing costs will be significantly lower too.

Use a floor plan to determine if your furniture will fit in your new home. Now is the time to get rid of furniture that you won’t be taking with you.

Having a floor plan will also show the removal team exactly where each item of furniture is to be placed. There is nothing worse than having to keep moving furniture around, especially if the removal team has gone and you have to do it yourself.

You may also like to read: The Epic Guide to Decluttering for a Home Move in which we guide you through the physical and emotional process of getting rid of all the things you no longer need or want.

Essential to know: How to Create a Floor Plan shows you easy methods for creating a simple floor plan for your new home. From how to scale the plan to how to measure furniture, this guide can save you lots of wasted time and money.

#2 Choose Your Packing Supplies Wisely

Some items you may not want to unpack such as seasonal clothing or Christmas decorations, things that are likely to be put in the loft or garage.

Over time cardboard can deteriorate and is easily damaged when it gets wet, so you may want to consider using plastic tote boxes for those items you will be storing. Totes keep your items clean, dry and are easier to stack long-term than cardboard.

You may also like to read: Alternative Packing Materials for Moving Home. In this guide, we look at not how plastic tote boxes will make your home move easier, but we look at things around the home that can be used for packing to save you some money.

#3 Packing Tips to Make Unpacking Easier

When packing, keep like-for-like items together and keep boxes specific to one room. So don’t mix kitchen with dining room items for example.

This will make unpacking easier as you will be unpacking one room at a time.

Keep the boxes under 20kg in weight as they are easier to move and will pose less of a risk of injury to whoever is lifting them.

#4 Make a Packing Inventory

If you have a large number of boxes for each room or valuable contents, then it is worth making an inventory of exactly what is in each box.

Once all the contents have been listed assign a number to the box. Keep the list safe as you may need it in the case of an insurance claim or for when you need to locate a specific item quickly.

You may also want to photograph each box and how they were packed which will help in making any insurance claims should you need to.

Learn more about How to Create a Home Inventory for Moving Home in which we go into this topic in more depth and show you why it is so important to produce an inventory, especially if you are moving long-distance or overseas.

#5 Packing Box Labels

There are many ways of labelling your moving boxes but it is essential that you use a labelling method.

This will make unpacking so much easier, you will quickly be able to locate things if you need to, and you can easily identify if a box has gone missing.

Every box should be colour coded with the corresponding room that the box will be put into. For example red for the bedroom, blue for the bathroom, and green for the kitchen.

You could choose to use coloured markers, or labels to mark your boxes. Alternatively, a great idea is to use a piece of coloured wool threaded through the box on two opposing corners. Then no matter which way the box faces you can clearly see the coloured wool.

When you arrive at your new home put a coloured piece of wool around the door handle that matches the colour you assigned to the boxes for that room.

Everyone can then identify which boxes go in which room.

Clearly label each box with a brief description of the contents and which way up the box should be moved. Clearly mark on every face of the box if it contains fragile items and the box number.

You may also like to read: How to Label Moving Boxes – An Easy and Foolproof Way. Here we share a method of marking your moving boxes that not only identifies which room they need to go into but the importance in which they need to be unpacked.

How to Get Motivated to Unpack After Moving Home

If you followed the packing tips above then unpacking your moving boxes is going to be a whole lot easier and there will be fewer boxes too.

But you may still lack the motivation to unpack after moving.

How to motivate yourself to unpack? Fear not, there are some unpacking strategies you can try that will help motivate you to get the task finished.

#1 Set a Deadline

When leaving your old home you had a deadline, moving day. This means you had no choice but to have everything ready to go by that date. In the same way, you need to set a deadline for your unpacking.

One of the best ways to get motivated to get the unpacking finished is to set a date for a housewarming party or for having friends come to stay in your new home.

This will give you a deadline to work to and will give you the push you need.

#2 Remove Distractions

Don’t unpack your Xbox or have the TV on whilst you are unpacking.

Put your phone in another room so that you are not tempted to keep browsing it.

The fewer things that you have around you to distract you from the task at hand the better.

#3 Decide Your Priority Rooms

Most people will unpack their bedroom and bathroom boxes first.

The bathroom is easy to set up and is likely to be just a couple of boxes.

Congratulations your first room is unpacked and ready!

Unpack your bedroom moving boxes onto the bed.

If you want to sleep in your bed tonight you will have no choice but to put your clothes away.

#4 Tidy as You Go

Tidy up as you unpack.

Flatten the boxes for recycling and move them into the garden or shed or take them straight to the recycling centre at the end of each day’s unpacking.

The last thing you want is a huge pile of empty boxes to have to deal with once everything is unpacked.

#5 Reward Yourself

At the end of each unpacking session give yourself a small reward be it an hour walking around the park or a coffee in your new neighbourhood café.

#6 Make it Hard NOT to Unpack

Make it as inconvenient for yourself as possible to have the moving boxes left unpacked.

Stack the boxes where they cause you the most inconvenience, where you have to walk around them, or where they just get in your way.

You will get so fed up with them being in the way that you will want to unpack them as soon as possible.

#7 Focus on the Result

You have set yourself a deadline to get your unpacking done, whether it was a party or friends staying over.

But the added bonus of getting all your things unpacked is that you can start to make your new place feel like your home.

Once all the trinkets and ornaments are unpacked your new home will be filled with familiar things, things that you love to see every day.

And everything will be where it is supposed to be.

No searching through boxes for a teaspoon or your favourite scarf. Your home will be ready to be lived in and you can start to enjoy your new life.

You may also like to read What to Do With Cardboard Boxes After Moving Home where you will find lots of practical, fun, and useful ideas for all those empty moving boxes.

How to Unpack After Moving Home

So, you are raring to go, to get everything unpacked and begin the adventure of your new life in your new home.

But those piles of boxes can seem daunting and you are left wondering what to unpack first after moving.

#1 Unpack Your Essential Moving Day Box.

The very first thing you will unpack is your essential items from your moving day box.

The box that you put everything in that you may need on moving day, things like tea and coffee, the kettle, maybe bedding or medication.

There will not be that much to unpack and it will all be things that you need so get this box unpacked first.

#2 Unpack The Bathroom

You will want a nice hot shower after moving and unpacking so get your bathroom set up. This will likely be only a box or two and will take no time at all but will make life a lot more comfortable for you.

#3 Unpack The Bedrooms

A good night’s sleep is paramount, so get your bedroom boxes unpacked and everything put away.

Get the curtains up, the beds made, and have the kid’s favourite bedtime teddy ready so that the children immediately feel at home.

If the children normally have night lights on then get those set up, the more familiar the children’s surroundings, the sooner they will settle into their new home.

You can get each member of the family to unpack their own bedrooms which makes the unpacking process quicker and easier.

#4 Unpack The Kitchen

Next, you will want to get the kitchen organised so that you can prepare and cook food. Before unpacking though now would be the ideal time to give the kitchen a thorough cleaning.

#5 Unpack The Most Frequently Used Rooms

The rest of the house you can unpack in the order that they will be used the most. It is a good idea to get pictures up on the walls and ornaments unpacked so that there are lots of familiar things around you, this will help stave off relocation depression and will make your new place feel like home quicker.

 #6 Unpack the Outbuildings

Often the garage and shed will be the last boxes to be unpacked.

You may also like to read: Where to Get Free Stuff After Moving Home. With the ever-increasing cost of living kitting out your new home can be an expensive exercise so in this guide, we look at where you can get discounts as a home mover and even where you can pick up things for your new home for free.

What’s Harder Packing or Unpacking?

I hate packing moving boxes! I hate unpacking moving boxes! Never again!

Probably the two most used phrases by people who choose to move home by themselves.

Both packing and unpacking are equally time-consuming and laborious, although unpacking is generally considered the easier of the two tasks.

However, nearly every professional removal company will offer a packing service and many removal companies now offer an unpacking service.

And for the small amount that it costs these services are well worth paying for.

With the unpacking service, many removal firms will reassemble furniture, unpack your moving boxes, and take the packing materials away.

This allows you to settle into your new home in the shortest time possible, and if you have babies or a demanding job for example, making use of an unpacking service will allow you to make better use of your time.

You can get a quote for a full-service home removal in just a couple of minutes so that you can see just what good value for money this service is.

You may also like to read: What is a Full Service Removal Company? In this guide, we look at what a full-service home move is and how it could make your home move so much easier and less stressful.

There are also white glove unpacking and house staging services popping up all over the country.

You can hire such a company to come into your new home, clean, unpack, stage your home and even stock the fridge leaving you to just walk into a fully functioning new home.

• www.unpacking-services.co.uk
• www.atidymind.co.uk
• www.organiseyourhouse.co.uk

We hope that you found this guide useful, you can visit our home moving blog where you will find many more tips and guides about settling into your new home and neighbourhood.