Tips and Tricks for Unpacking After A Move

You finally have arrived at your new home. Congratulations, the hard part is over! Now, what happens next!? In some ways unpacking your items can be more difficult than packing, because of just throwing everything in boxes we have to re-organize everything in its new place. This may seem like an impossible amount of work to do right now, but little by little you’ll unpack everything into its rightful place. Pretty soon this new foreign place will feel more homelike as you unpack all your belongings into the empty space.

To help you along the way we’ve offered some tips and tricks to help ease the process of unpacking.

Organize When You Pack

It may be a little too late for this tip, but it is infinitely easier to unpack everything if it is organized and labeled. If you didn’t have the time or energy to organize don’t feel bad. It may take you a little longer, but just view this as a lesson learned rather than a bad experience. To make packing easier for your next move, consider using color-coded labels for each room, so you can quickly identify where each box belongs as you unpack.

 Consider an Unpacking Service 

Even if you didn’t hire your movers to help you with the unpacking, there are many unpacking services available out there. If the project of unpacking just seems to overwhelm you right now, even just hiring a service to unpack your home partially can be a huge help.

Clean and Dust First

Before you unpack a single box, cleaning at least the bathroom and the kitchen is a good idea. It is a lot easier to give everything a quick clean now than when there are boxes, furniture, and your sanity scattered all about the household. If at all possible, it can even be a good idea to get into clean the house before moving day.

 Plan Rooms

Before you move, but certainly before you unpack, it is a good idea to sketch out on paper or in your mind how you want each room to be laid out. When moving by yourself, creating a detailed checklist for each room can streamline the unpacking process, ensuring nothing is overlooked. At the very least have an idea where you want the furniture to be because it is a big hassle to rearrange furniture around multiple times when you are just trying to assemble the house.

Place Furniture

Before you unpack any boxes, we highly recommend getting the movers or whoever is doing the heavy lifting to place all the furniture. If there is furniture that needs to be assembled, at least put it where it is supposed to be when you put it all together.

Prioritize 

Unpack the rooms that are most vital to your existence first. Usually, that means starting with your kitchen, bathrooms, and offices. This all depends on the person, though, so think about where you want to start before you begin hitting the boxes.

 Try to Focus 

The time you spend shifting from one room to another is a waste of energy and time. Try to focus on one room/task at a time, so that you don’t spend a lot of time flailing about without getting much done.

 Don’t Try to Get Everything Done in One day

 Claim Your Territory

Plan a Reward

If you’ve taken the time to prepare, unpacking shouldn’t be too difficult. Nonetheless, you’ll still have a number of tasks ahead of you. Here are some things to consider when moving in to help everything go smoothly.

Assembling Furniture

Hopefully, your couch made it over in one piece, but some furniture—like your bed—is probably best when transferred in disassembled form. If you find that you don’t remember how to put things back together again and the manual isn’t available online, you can often have instructions sent to you from the manufacturer by just making a quick call. If email isn’t an option for them and snail mail will take too long for you, oftentimes you can convince the company to fax the instructions. A quick Google search will turn up several 30-day free trials for fax services that you can use to get your instructions and then cancel as soon as you have what you need.

If your furniture wasn’t dusty or dirty when you loaded it into the moving truck, it probably is now. Before you bring it into your home it’s best to wipe it down just a little bit. You can dust more thoroughly once inside, but definitely be sure to do it before you put the furniture to use.

Setting Up Electronic Devices

The first stage is to unpack all the electronic equipment and accessories and arrange it by room. By doing this, it will be less likely that anything will get misplaced or broken while being unpacked. After everything has been unpacked, set up the devices in a secure and orderly fashion, making sure that cords and cables are not tangled and that devices are placed in secure locations.

The next stage is to connect all the devices to the proper outlets and the internet after unpacking and organizing. This might entail setting up a new internet connection. To do this, get in touch with your internet service provider and follow their directions. It’s critical to test each device after the internet connection is established to make sure it is functioning correctly.

Use Your Closets

It’s easy to clutter up your home when unpacking because you’ll have stuff everywhere. It can become a little intimidating when you have to move it all around. If you can manage, fill your closets first—even if it’s only temporary. This will help keep clutter out of the way and leave you more room to unpack the important stuff.

Trash Disposal and Recycling

When you’re all done, you’ll have papers, boxes, and other items left over. Getting rid of boxes can be as easy as a quick post on Craigslist. You can’t pass everything along, however, and will need to dispose of it properly. If you’re moving into an apartment, it’s best to check with your building’s management before seeking out trash and recycling. The building may have unlisted policies you’re not aware of.