As you pack your items, load them into the moving truck, relocate, and bring your stuff into your new home, the post-move unpacking process continues to loom over you. Even when you’ve unpacked your most important items, there are still full cardboard boxes glaring at you from the corner of the room.
Sometimes, the moving process seems to take forever. You’re not alone in feeling this way. If you find yourself tempted to shove those fully packed boxes in a closet or garage and pretend they don’t exist, we get it, but we don’t recommend it!
After you’ve completed some of the biggest parts of your move, it can be hard to want to tie up loose ends. However, unpacking still needs to get done. That’s why we’ve outlined some tricks to help you stay focused and unpack those boxes!
Unpacking Tips & Tricks: Procrastination is Your Worst Enemy
Ask Yourself, What’s Keeping You from Unpacking?
Oftentimes, certain boxes can’t be unpacked because a household upgrade needs to be completed first. It’s possible that you can’t unpack your television set because your entertainment center shelves aren’t installed yet. Books may need to stay packed up until your floor-to-ceiling bookshelves are installed. There are legitimate reasons to not unpack some things.
If you feel you don’t have time to finish unpacking your household goods, it’s time to break out the planner. Find times when you don’t have other commitments and schedule time to unpack.
Start Planning, Scheduling and Creating Lists
No matter what the holdup is (whether it’s time, space or home renovations) it’s important to identify and list out the installations and tasks by priority. The more specific and detailed you are with your schedule and to-do lists, the higher probability you have of crossing off every single task –and let’s be honest: the more detailed you can make your to-do list, the more times you get to cross off tasks, and each bold strikethrough is a great boost of serotonin!
Use your smartphone for good
Use your phone to set reminders and alarms and make lists of what you want to accomplish in the time you have available. Break up your master list into chunks and assign tasks to each timeslot. If you aren’t living alone, you should get all the members of your household together to create these lists and assign them equitably. By breaking up what you can accomplish in a given amount of time, the last of your packing will feel less intimidating, and by sharing the load you can not only spread out the work but also make it into a fun competition to see who gets done first
Look at the big picture
Don’t fall into the trap of, “I don’t need this right away, should I even unpack it?” If you don’t feel like unpacking it now, you probably won’t feel like unpacking it when you actually need it. If you’re tempted to leave the “good china” in boxes, keep in mind how much work goes into hosting a family Thanksgiving or Christmas; set yourself up for success and unpack it now.
Plus, think of the sense of accomplishment that will set in when you’ve met your deadlines and finished everything. You get bragging rights once you’re 100 percent unpacked and settled into your new home!
Reward and Treat Yourself
It’s happened before and will continue to happen until the end of time: someone has moved months and months ago and they’re still tripping over boxes full of stuff. By setting deadlines to get everything unpacked and the boxes broken down, utilizing your to-do list and scheduling all of the finishing touches, you can avoid this debacle.
If doing yourself a favor isn’t enough to motivate you, reward yourself when you’re done unpacking. Maybe that means going out to eat, splurging on those new shoes or having a movie night. Keep your reward in mind when you start to feel procrastination sneaking up on you.
Hate Unpacking? Have the Professionals Do it for You.
If you’ve read through our unpacking tips and tricks and you still feel it’s an impossible feat for you, get help from the professional movers at Wheaton Worldwide Van Lines. We’re a licensed and reliable moving and storage company that can pack, load, deliver and unpack your belongings for you. To request an estimate or get started with your move, get in touch with Wheaton today!
