How to Prepare Your Home for Moving Day

When you've decided that you want to move to a new place, there is a lot of things that need to get done. You need to find a new home, get in touch with a good moving company, get a moving quote, and start selling your current home. Once you've gotten all of this accomplished, there are still a few things that need taking care of around your home. By preparing your home in advance of moving day, you take out some of the stress, and make the day a little easier. Here's how you can do that.

Start Organizing and Packing

The first thing you'll want to do is start getting your home organized, and packing things up. Go around your home, room by room, and figure out which things are coming with you to the new home. Buy yourself some boxes, and start loading them up, marking each one with which room it belongs in. Don't make any of the boxes too heavy, and make sure all of them are closed tight with some packing tape.

You won't be able to pack everything up right away since you'll still need some things up until you move, so write these things down so you don't forget. By the time you are finished, each room should have a neat pile of boxes that are ready to go.

Take Apart Furniture

If possible, it's a good idea to take apart some of the bigger furniture pieces before you go. This will make getting them out of the house easier, and storing them in the moving truck. For example, you can take apart any bed frames that you won't be using, or remove the drawers from any dressers or chests. Anything you can do to make something lighter or more compact will help you out on the day of the move. Remember to keep any parts that you remove – such as nuts and bolts – and how to put the furniture piece back together again.

Take Down Decorations

You've probably spent a lot of time on your home decor, but now it's time to take that all down. Things like picture frames need to be taken down from the walls, and any other artwork you might have hanging up. Chances are the next people to own the home won't want them, and they'll only be in the way on moving day. Be sure to wrap them up nicely so that they are not damaged during transit as well.

Disassemble Electronics

For some of you, you'll have to go around the house and disconnect any electronic or media systems you have set up. For example, if you have a TV mounted to your wall – and it's not included in the sale of the home – you'll have to disconnect it and take it down. The same goes for any computers or media centers that you have hooked up. Keep all of the wires together, and pack them in a way that they will not be damaged. Taking apart these systems can take a little bit of time, so it's best if you can do it before the day of the move.

Get Rid of Junk

By now you'll probably have a good idea as to which things are going with you, and which things you no longer need. Before you move out, get rid of as much junk as you can to make moving a little easier. Host a garage sale if you want to make a little money off of it, donate some of the stuff to charities if you want a tax deduction, or simply put to the curb anything you can't get rid of. The less clutter in your home on the day of the move, the easier things will go.

Give It A Good Cleaning

Finally, someone else is probably going to be moving into your home, so it's a nice courtesy to clean it up a bit. Don't go crazy – plenty of it will get dirty again on the day of the move – but doing things like dusting and cleaning the light fixtures will make the home look nice. You should also take the time to perform any minor repairs that are needed, such as patching up holes in the walls or fixing a broken lock.

Make Moving Day Easier

Moving day is stressful, and a lot is going on. You're moving your entire life to another location, and you'll have a lot on your mind. Make the job a little better by having your home ready to go on the day of the move. By getting the above items done in advance, you can worry about just the move when the day comes.