Moving from one place to another is never easy. But what if a house move happens too often?
Frequent movers – for instance, young professionals and military members – know a thing or two about moving often. They do, but do you?
Should you find yourself in a situation where you have to move house more often than you want, then you should definitely use all the help you can get.
Use these tips for people who move frequently to make your own move easier and safer.
Moving is almost always a big hassle – nothing short of a stressful, hectic, and complicated process.
Whether moving just across town or moving across the country, nerves will be tested if things don’t go as planned and life savings might get in trouble even if things go right.
And what if a move comes along too often?
Frequent movers, such as young professionals who move often in order to establish themselves in their respective careers or military members or military families who move frequently when changing stations, know that moving often is not an ideal situation but, in most cases, they don’t really have a choice.
And if you happen to be one of those people who move frequently, then you would most certainly like to know how to make things much easier for yourself the next time you’re forced to move out of the current place and move into another one.
Pay attention to these 7 tips for people who move frequently and you should be able to make the relocation process much easier for yourself when that unmistakable moment comes again.
Advantages and disadvantages of moving often
Before getting to the practical tips for frequent movers, by now you should be well aware that moving often has its share of advantages and disadvantages. However, a house move can still surprise you pleasantly, presenting you with a bunch of opportunities you had no idea existed before that.
What are the pros of moving frequently?
Fresh start. Moving to a new city in the same state, moving to a new state, or moving to a new country will give you the unique chance to start anew. Each move will let you push the reset button – if this is what you want – getting a new fresh start and hoping you don’t make the same mistakes again.
New opportunities. Every time you move to a new place, you’ll be presented with new opportunities in almost all areas of life. Even something as basic as meeting new people, and hopefully becoming good friends with some of them, can have a huge positive impact on your life.
Personal growth. Moving often should get you on the exciting path to self-discovery. Stepping out of your comfort zone more frequently will help you grow as a person, hopefully becoming exactly the person you want to be.
Minimalistic lifestyle. Moving frequently will enable you to start living a more minimalistic lifestyle as a result of the numerous tough decluttering instances you’ve had to go through during each house move. Refusing to get bogged down by materialistic clutter should enable you to live more freely as well.
What are the cons of moving often?
The mere thought of having to pack all your things AGAIN is enough to stress you out badly.
Parting with friends. Saying goodbye to your dear friends must be the most difficult and painful thing you’ll have to go through when moving around often. Basically, you’ll have just enough time to form great friendships only to have to move away again, thus having to leave your good friends behind.
Being stressed out again. Generally speaking, moving is a stressful experience and having to go through all the stress of moving once more is not likely to be something you look forward to. Having enough moving experience should help you keep your stress levels within healthy limits but at the end of the day, stress is stress and it’s definitely not good for you.
Having to pack again. Packing for a move is the most arduous and time-consuming task on anyone’s moving checklist, so having to go through your items once more and find the best ways to protect each one can prove to be too much.
Having to adapt again. Moving to a new place marks the beginning of the official post-relocation adaptation period. The fact that you’ve managed to adapt after your previous moves doesn’t make things any easier. What’s more, depending on the new surroundings, you just might find the next adaptation phase to be the toughest of them all.
For better or worse, you’re forced by the circumstances to move again, and this time, of course, you want things to be easier than last time.
Without a doubt, one of the best things you can do when moving often is to cut the clutter on a regular basis so that when the time comes for you to pack up your things once more, you’ll only have stuff that you love and that you do plan to use in the future.
As a frequent mover, you shouldn’t make the mistake of becoming too emotionally attached to the items you own. At the end of the day, stuff is just stuff, so it makes absolutely no sense to hold on to things for years JUST IN CASE when you know that you’ll probably have to move out again in a few years’ time, or even less.
Whatever you do, just don’t move items that you won’t need. Otherwise, it’d be a total waste of your time and money to lug around tons of stuff only to put it into indefinite storage right after the move.
So, be ruthless about getting rid of stuff and do it regularly to keep both your home and your mind decluttered. If some of your boxes remain unpacked after each move, ask yourself if they contain any items that you really need.
Be sure to apply the 12-month rule – if you haven’t used an item in more than a year, then you don’t really need it, so get rid of it before the next move.
2. Organize your things for easy packing and unpacking
Label diligently each box you decide to store in your home.
Another thing you should do when you know that you’re likely to move again in the near future is to organize your things in a way that makes it much easier to pack before you move out and unpack after you move into a new apartment or house.
Unpack only the things you know you’re going to need until it’s time to move out again. If you’re unsure, then it’s better to leave those boxes unpacked so that they can be fully ready for the next relocation. A good example is a box full of seasonal decorations – until it’s time to actually use those decorative items, it’s much more practical to keep them where they are, packed up and ready to go.
Label clearly each box you have put into storage in your current home. Make sure you label those boxes clearly on several sides for easier identification. If a box contains too many small items, then you can make a separate detailed list on a piece of paper and attach it to the box in question. Pay special attention to the items that you will need to unpack immediately after moving into the new place.
Moving often from one home to another means that you’ll also be taking with you a bunch of important documents every single time. This also means that you’re going to have to organize all your essential documents – personal documents, employment documents, legal documents, financial documents, motor vehicle documents, etc. – to avoid misplacing any of them in the process.
When you move frequently, one great piece of advice is to keep all your crucial documentation inside a special folder (accordion folders are excellent for storing important documents) that you should keep with you at all times.
You can pick a folder with bright colors so that you can identify it right away at any time and then place inside it all the documents that you just cannot afford to lose during the notoriously chaotic house move.
Of course, you should also keep inside the folder all move-related documents such as the bill of lading, cost estimates in writing, house inventory sheets, receipts, and so on. Remember that you alone are responsible for the well-being of that special folder – whatever you do, just don’t hand it over to your movers.
One great advantage when moving house often is the fact that you’ll be readier for all the relocation challenges that await you the next time you have to move out of the current place. The more move-related experience you gain with each subsequent move, the better your personal moving checklist will become.
This is how it all works: you’ve used a moving checklist the first time you moved, right? Maybe the initial moving calendar you used wasn’t very thorough or maybe it contained some mistakes. And that’s normal – after all, you were moving house for the very first time at that time.
But then, little by little, you must have perfected your moving checklist by either adding important entries to it or deleting unnecessary ones. The final result? A detailed to-do list that you’ve personalized, prioritized, and streamlined for maximum efficiency.
So, make sure you use your foolproof moving checklist to guide you throughout the move – the moving to-do list that you can use over and over again whenever the time comes for you to move out once more.
When you complete a house move and you’re done unpacking your stuff, the best thing you can do under the circumstances is to keep the cardboard boxes that are still in decent condition and can be reused on your next move.
Seriously, why should you throw away perfectly good moving boxes only to have to look for new ones when it’s time to move out again? When moving frequently, it’s important to think ahead and come up with ideas that will save you time, money, and effort in the future.
So, flatten out the cardboard containers in good condition and store them away for the next time when you’ll have to start packing up your things. The good news is that those boxes shouldn’t take up too much storage space in the home when they are properly flattened out and wrapped up in plastic as a way to protect them from moisture and dust.
What’s more, you should also keep all the bubble wrap and wrapping paper that have not been completely destroyed in the previous move. The idea is to avoid having to purchase brand-new packing materials for your next move, or even having to waste precious time in search of free packing supplies from friends or local businesses.
As a person who moves often, you must think at least one move ahead to ensure a smooth, trouble-free relocation. The thing is that once you’ve tackled a problem in the past, it’s only normal that you should look for good ways to avoid the same issue in the future.
One potential problem for you as a frequent mover is to forget to set up the utilities in the destination place. Imagine stepping inside the new apartment or house after an exhausting moving day only to find there’s neither electricity nor running water in the place. What a warm welcome it would be, right?
Remember to first get in touch with your current utility providers so that you can arrange the disconnection of the home utilities in the place you’re about to leave soon. Then, get in touch with the corresponding utility companies in the new city or town and request the connection of the new-home utilities by the time you arrive there.
Bear in mind that changing or transferring the utilities before moving is one of the things that people often forget to do when moving house. So, make sure you include this important task in your streamlined moving checklist to avoid doing the same mistake.
One of the most crucial things you need to remember when you move often is that moving huge pieces of furniture can be a rather expensive and time-consuming affair. And back-breaking too! Also, you should add all the stress of making sure the big and heavy furniture pieces arrive safely at your new place.
Why would you do this to yourself?
As a rule of thumb, you shouldn’t bother moving your bulky furniture when you know another move can be seen on the horizon.
What you can do when you move frequently is to rent only fully furnished places that have all the basic furniture for normal habitation.
This way, you won’t have to worry about what you should do with your furniture pieces when the time comes for you to move out again.
Another option for you is to consider renting furniture from a good furniture rental company. Now, the best thing about using furniture on-demand is that the professionals will deliver and arrange the furniture pieces when you need them (when moving in), and they will come to take those big and heavy items away when you no longer need furniture (when moving out).
When you move house frequently, probably the best advice you can ever get is to keep using the same moving company… provided that you’re happy with their services and that you’re OK with their rates.
Now, it’s not always easy to find a great mover regardless of whether you’re moving long distance or when you’re moving locally. So, whenever you manage to secure a reliable top-rated moving company for your move, simply consider using their high-quality moving services for your future house moves as well.
However, if you weren’t satisfied with how your previous moving company handled your move, get free quotes from the best-rated movers in your area to pick a great service provider for your upcoming relocation.
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