Most people get so consumed with everything that needs to be done to move out of their old home that it almost comes as a huge shock that there is so much to do after moving day.
A place for everything and everything in its place
But setting up your new home takes just as much planning and organisation as moving out of your old home.
Despite all the excitement of your new life, when you arrive in your new home there seems like a million and one things to do which can seem totally overwhelming.
So here we offer you some top tips on how to get your new home organised and how to make the unpacking process so much easier.
And it all starts before a single box is even packed.
Tips for Moving Out to Make Moving In Easier
Use our coloured coding labelling method for the easiest unpacking ever
Hire a Full-Service Removal Company
Declutter
Create a Floor Plan
Label Moving Boxes
Pack a Moving Day Essentials Box
Consider Moving Over Several Days
Hire a Full-Service Removal Company
To conserve energy and make moving out so much less stressful, as well as making setting up the new home easier, most people choose to hire a full-service removal company.
A full-service removal company will pack everything, dismantle your furniture, reassemble it at your new place, and position the furniture and boxes exactly where you want them. And in half the time it would take you.
It really will make moving day so much less exhausting.
Essential reading: How to Pick a Good Removal Company. A step-by-step guide on how to choose the best removal company for your particular home move.
Declutter
The fewer items you have to pack the fewer items will need unpacking.
So go through all your possessions and donate, give away, or sell all those things you no longer need or want.
Take into consideration where you are moving to and your new lifestyle. Decide whether you will still need numerous business suits or 15 pairs of formal shoes, or whether your modern furniture will create the ambience you want in your 300-year-old cottage.
The more ruthless you are with this process the cheaper and easier your home move will be.
Allow yourself plenty of time for this task, it is not only physically, but mentally exhausting.
Must read: How to Declutter for a Home Move. Room by room we share the best ways to not only cope with physically decluttering but how to cope with the emotional side of getting rid of things as well.
Create a Floor Plan
A floor plan is not only incredibly useful to determine whether your furniture fits in your new home but also whether those pieces of furniture are able to be moved through the doorways or up the stairs.
By creating a floor plan you can see where each piece of furniture will fit so that on moving day they can be placed in their right positions and you don’t need to move them again.
It also helps you decide which pieces of furniture you really need and those that you do not pay to have packed and moved.
Must read: How to Create a Floor Plan. In this guide, we explain how to create a simple floor plan for your new home.
Label Moving Boxes
It will make placing the boxes in their respective rooms and finding the items you need quickly once you have moved in far easier if you label your boxes properly.
The quickest and simplest method is to use a colour coding system.
Pack all your seasonal and seldom-used things first, packing the things you use constantly last.
Assign a colour to each room of the home with the corresponding colour on the boxes for that room.
This makes it easy to see which boxes go where and makes unloading the removal van and unpacking easier.
Essential reading: How to Label Moving Boxes. A Foolproof and Easy system. Here we suggest a great way to colour-code your moving boxes. Seldom-used items are coded red, more frequently-used items are coded yellow, whilst frequently-used items are coded green. A colour is also assigned to each room making placing the boxes in their respective room so much easier. Read this guide to see how easy it is to make unpacking easier.
Pack a Moving Day Essentials Box
On moving day and the first night in your new home, you will need easy access to some essential items.
You may choose to pack a box for each member of the family as well as a box that will contain important paperwork or valuable jewellery for example.
These boxes should stay with you and not be loaded onto the removal van.
Must read: How to Pack an Open First Box. In this post, we suggest items that you might want to include in your essential moving day box.
Multi-Day Home Moves
If circumstances allow, consider moving into your new home over several days.
This will give you the opportunity to thoroughly clean your new place and get the essentials sorted out and ready for the arrival of your furniture.
So on day one, you give your place a spring clean, replace all the locks, pet-proof the garden, and make sure everything is safe and working properly.
On day two your furniture and boxes would arrive.
This is by far the easiest and least stressful way of moving home but of course, is not practical for every home moving situation.
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Child and pet-proofing your new home should be a priority to ensure their safety
You will be eager to get unpacked and get life back to normal after the last few stressful months. But if you do things in a logical order, with a plan, it will make settling into your new home safer and easier.
Here is our suggested list of things to do when you move into a new home.
#1 Do a Walk Through of the Home and Garden
Take a pen and notepad and walk through your new home room by room.
Ensure that all the things that were agreed to be left are there, for example, curtain poles or kitchen appliances.
As you walk through make a note of anything you see that needs fixing or needs your immediate attention.
Locate the stop cocks, fuse box, and gas safety shut-off valves.
Make sure all the utilities and things like heating and the boiler work
Locate instruction manuals for cookers, boilers, and other appliances
Check all the lights and electrical points work.
Walk the outside areas and note whether the fences, gates, and outbuildings are secure and if you have kids or pets that they cannot escape.
Check all the outside lights work
#2 Do a Deep Clean
If you can do this before your furniture and boxes arrive it will be so much easier.
Start with the rooms you need to use immediately such as the bathroom, bedrooms, and kitchen. Then if you run out of time at least the rooms you need on your first night will be clean.
You may like to read: How to Deep Clean a Home When Moving. In this guide, we not only offer practical tips to quickly and easily get your home sparkling clean but also offer some recipes for natural cleaning products.
#3 Child and Pet Proof the Home and Garden
Make any immediate repairs and take safety precautions so that the home and garden are safe for your children and pets.
If possible arrange for your children and pets to arrive at the new home a couple of days after you move in to give yourself plenty of time to get everything set up for their arrival.
If the children’s bedroom is set up and the garden is safe for your dog it will be far less stressful for them and you.
You have no idea who has a set of keys to your new home so change all the external door locks immediately.
Don’t forget to change the padlocks on any outbuildings and check that all the windows lock securely.
#5 Check Smoke Detectors
Even if the smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors work when you test them, it is a good idea to change the batteries now.
Don’t forget to unpack and place your fire blanket and fire extinguishers.
You may also like to read: Fire Safety in the Home. In this guide we offer tips to not only prevent fires in the home but also how to create a fire escape plan should the worst ever happen.
#6 Change Security Alarm Codes
Change the codes for any security system your new home may have, again, you have no idea who has the old code.
It is also a good idea to change the batteries in any detectors.
Also, consider if zones need changing because you have pets for example.
Now your new home is clean and safe you can unpack the things you will need for your first night from your essential moving day boxes.
If you have used the colour-coding packing system we suggested earlier then should you need access to anything in the other moving boxes it will be easy to locate them.
#8 Set Up Essential Rooms
The first rooms to get set up should be the bathroom, your bedrooms, and a sanctuary, a place where the family can relax in comfortable and warm surroundings away from all the moving boxes.
You may wish to set up the kitchen too with essentials for the first night and breakfast tomorrow.
Setting up the bathroom is quick and easy and will ensure you can all have a good shower after a hard day moving home.
It is especially important for children to have familiar surroundings so make setting up their room with a night light or favourite toys, as well as familiar bedding, a priority.
And don’t forget your pets. If they had a blanket or food in the kitchen at your old home, place them where they can easily find them.
The more familiar you can make your new surroundings the less stressful and unsettling it is for you all.
#9 Relax
It is so tempting to want to get everything done in one day, but it is really important to take time to relax at the end of a hectic moving day.
Whether that be a long hot soak in the bath or watching a family film, take some time to congratulate yourself on making the move, recharge your batteries, and get a good night’s sleep before unpacking and organising your new home really starts.
How to Unpack After Moving Home
Unpacking can be overwhelming. Follow an unpacking plan and do a room at a time.
Faced with piles of moving boxes it is easy to become overwhelmed with the unpacking and organising that now needs to be done in your new home.
But follow these few easy steps and you will be settled into your new home in no time.
Cleaning each room is a priority so if you did not have time on moving day to get that done then it is a priority before you unpack any boxes.
Once your new home is nice and clean it is time to unpack your moving boxes.
If you followed our box labelling advice then it is going to be far easier to know which boxes to unpack first.
It may be that you are going to decorate a certain room so you may only need to unpack the green-coded boxes.
And with the furniture in place, it is easy to start unpacking straight into the cupboards or bookshelves.
Go for quick wins by storing the stuff in the loft that you need to. Unpacking bulky items like duvets and pillows dramatically reduces the size of your unpacking pile.
Unpack and organise the rooms that you use the most, one room at a time, so the order would be bathroom, bedroom, kitchen, lounge, guest rooms, garage, and then shed.
It may help to get each member of the family to unpack and organise their own bedroom leaving you to unpack other rooms.
Essential reading: How to Not Get Overwhelmed When Unpacking After a Home Move. We go into this subject in far more depth in this guide, step by step. With tips on how to make the process easier, faster, and less overwhelming, it is a must-read for any home mover.
Tips for Organising a New Home
It takes time to get to know a new home, to find out whether the layout works for you, and what you do and don’t need.
So whilst you will want to get as organised as possible as quickly as possible, it is best not to splash out on an expensive organisational system straight away.
But a new home equals a new start so if you start by putting things away in their right place and having a place for everything, then it becomes a habit, a new, good habit.
Here we will share some tips and inexpensive ways to organise your home to help keep your new home looking amazing and make finding things so much easier.
#1 Store things in the room you use them in
If you have to move things between rooms, for example, you move kids’ toys from their bedroom to the living room, it becomes a chore to take them back to the bedroom, so they get dumped somewhere in the living room.
Create a proper place to keep those things in the living room so that you are more inclined to put them away properly and so keep your living space clutter-free.
Under-seat storage is ideal for things like toys and games as it is low enough for the kids to be able to tidy things away themselves.
If you drink lots of coffee, for example, don’t keep the coffee jar in the pantry. It will be too inconvenient to put it away every time and will just get left on the kitchen worktop.
So think about how often you use something and where you use it so that you create storage that is functional and convenient.
#2 Keep frequently used things within easy reach
The items that you use frequently should be stored in an easy-to-access place and conversely, things that you seldom use should be put in more inaccessible places.
The easier it is to get something out, the more inclined you will be to put it away again in the right place.
#3 Group things like for like
Keep like for like things in the same place. So socks all in one drawer or plates all in one cupboard.
When it comes to taking things out or putting things away you will subconsciously know the right place to put those things.
#4 Set up your hallway or porch
Something as simple as a coat rack will help keep your new home organised.
It is easy for the rest of the home to become a dumping ground if you do have not designated places for things like shoes and coats.
If there are not enough coat hooks then the chances are coats will get thrown over a chair and bags dumped on the floor.
So set up the hallway or porch with a place for everything, maybe a shoe rack, coat hooks, shelves or hooks for bags, and a safe place for keys.
#5 Create a filing system
Whilst the majority of bills are paperless there are still things like receipts and guarantees or instruction manuals that you will want to keep safe.
A simple filing system in an easy-to-access place will keep all these sorts of things in one place.
Have separate folders for each category of paperwork which are labelled so that you can easily find them and put things away into the correct folder.
#6 Wall-mounted tool storage
Often long handled tools such as brooms and spades are just stood in a corner. They soon become one tangled mess with the rake caught up in the broom.
Hanging such items on the shed or garage wall not only makes accessing them easier but keeps the floor clear of tripping hazards.
Use the same hanging hardware for mops and brooms in the utility room or under the stairs.
#7 Plastic boxes or tubs
Plastic tubs keep opened packets tidier and fresher
Plastic tubs are inexpensive and will keep a multitude of things organised.
Use them for stacking in a fridge to make full use of the deep shelves that most fridges have.
Empty bags of flour and rice into plastic boxes, they will keep your cupboards better organised than a jumble of packets.
From toys and games to foodstuff, to cleaning materials, if stored in plastic tubs they will be tidier and easier to access.
#8 Use Labels
Whilst it may be overkill to label everything, it makes sense to label a box or container if it makes identifying what is in there easier.
There is no need to buy expensive labelling systems, some masking tape and a marker pen are sufficient.
#9 Door-hanging shoe racks
Keeping a home clutter free and tidy is not always easy, especially in smaller homes.
It will be a case of finding creative ways to make the best use of the available space, such as using hanging shoe racks on the back of doors.
Having shelves within cupboards to enable you to use the full height, under-bed storage, ottomans, and using the space above cupboards and wardrobes to place seldom used items are all good ways to keep things tidy and make the best use of the available space.
#10 Use Ice Cube Trays for small objects
Fishing tackle boxes are great for organising small bits and bobs
We all have a junk drawer full of odds and ends that is usually a complete mess.
To keep it tidier and easier to find things use small containers to keep like-for-like items together. Most people recommend dividers in junk drawers but I find that things tend to spill over into the next compartment or people just throw things into the first available space.
You can use a multitude of things around the home to keep your junk drawer tidy, you don’t need to splash out on expensive drawer dividers.
An ice cube tray is great for keeping small and easily lost items in. A pill box is equally as good. When your Q-tip tub is empty they are great for storing things in.
Small jars, empty ice cream tubs, and deep-frozen food trays are good organisers as well.
Avoid if possible using things for storage with lids, it can be a faff having to take lids on and off. The easier you make your storage to use the more likely people are to use it.
You may also like to read: The Best UK Blogs for Home Movers. In this post, we suggest some of the best blogs that will help you get your new home organised as well as blogs that cover every aspect of having a home.
How to Organise Keys for a New Home
You can make some amazing displays with old keys
Whenever you move into a new ‘old’ home you invariably end up with a bunch of keys, and unless the previous owners have been really good to you and labelled each one, you have no idea what key does what.
Ideally, you will change every door lock, window lock, and padlock in your new property so the majority of keys will become redundant.
If that is the case identify and dispose of the keys you know you definitely do not need any more.
(If they are old interesting keys you could even frame and display them)
It is a good idea to keep the keys you find no match for, you can guarantee in 6 months’ time you will come across something that needs one of those keys.
Whether you have moved into an old or brand new home knowing how to label and organise keys is often a challenge.
Many people have a keyring just for house keys and another for car keys.
The easiest way to identify what each key is for in your home is to have them on the keyring in the order that you would use them.
So that may be:
#1 Garage
#2 Porch
#3 Front Door
#4 Backdoor
#5 Shed padlock
The key next to the fob would be key number 1.
To make it easy to find the correct key in the dark take a file and put a notch into the head (the part you hold in your fingers).
So in this case, the garage key gets 1 notch, the porch key gets 2 notches, and the front door key gets 3 notches and so on.
Then all you need do is run your finger around the edge of the key to identify which key it is.
It is never a good idea to label keys with which lock they fit for security reasons in case you were to lose them.
Equally, never keep keys in the open near the front door, keep them inside a cupboard and definitely out of sight of any windows.
If you have a large number of keys that numerous people need access to then use a key cabinet to store them in.
Never label the keys with which lock they fit, instead use a numbering system with the legend kept inside the key cabinet.
This works like this. Designate the ground floor as #1. Then the front door is #1. The key and hook are numbered 1.1
Then number each key on that floor moving clockwise. So the 1st door on the left inside the front door is #2. So the key and hook are numbered 1.2 and so on.
The next floor is #2. So the key to the first door on the left is numbered 2.1 and so on.
By using a numbering system if the keys are ever lost or stolen nobody will be able to identify which lock they belong to unless they have access to the legend as well.
We hope you found these tips useful and if you have any tips for organising a new home that you would like to share then please post them in the comments below.
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