5 Ways to Stay Calm During a Move

There’s a good reason why moving is considered one of the most stressful things a person can go through in life. In fact, there are a number of good reasons why a house move can generate so much stress, worry, and anxiety: moving to a new home is often too expensive, it may lead to personal injuries and property damage, and it will take you away from loved ones and familiar surroundings.

To make things even more complicated than they need to be, moving also offers an overdose of strong emotions that can prove hard to control throughout the move – from confusion and anxiety to sadness and fear.

Without a doubt, one of the most critically important things you should do is to stay calm when moving house. It’s not going to be easy to keep your cool when your money, your time, and your nervous system are at risk, but it’s definitely something that can be and should be done to ensure a successful end of the relocation story.

Read on to learn how to stay calm during a move – 5 proven ways to remain calm, composed, and level-headed in highly stressful move-related situations, including on the move-out day itself.

1. Make TIME work for you

The best way to stay calm when moving house is to understand the major stressing factors and deal with them, one stressor at a time. And as soon as your move becomes only a matter of time, you’ll quickly realize that one of your biggest worries will be TIME itself – whether or not you will manage to finish the pre-move preparations on time. For let’s face it, waking up on Moving day with half your things still unpacked would not be the best feeling in the world, would it?

To be able to remain calm when moving, you just have to know that you’re making good progress and that you will be 100% ready prior to the day of the move. And to guarantee the successful completion of your preparation, you’ll need to make sure TIME becomes and stays your trusted ally until the end.

So, how do you make TIME work for you when moving house?

• START working on important move-related tasks as soon as you learn that you’re moving. The truth is that the earlier you begin your moving preparation, the higher your chance will be of pulling a smooth stress-free move in the end. Why procrastinate? No reason at all. MOVING CHECKLIST
• BEGIN to pack up your things without any delay. The important thing to understand here is that packing for a move will be the most time-consuming task in your moving to-do list, so you just shouldn’t wait for a second invitation. What to pack first when moving?
• FOLLOW a PACKING TIMELINE to stay organized and keep track of your overall packing progress at the same time. To reduce stress when moving, you want to make sure you’re right on schedule, or ideally – slightly ahead of schedule.

Packing timeline for moving: Packing Checklist

Calming Technique #1: To make moving less stressful, you must give yourself more time.

2. Keep moving expenses under control

How can you possibly stay calm when you know that your savings will be at serious risk due to the notoriously high moving costs?

Moving house is an expensive affair, with average moving costs ranging from $2,300 for a local move to about $4,300 for an interstate one (according to the American Moving and Storage Association). However, it’s the idea that you’re NOT spending more money than you absolutely must that should give you that elusive sense of acceptance, followed by uncharacteristic calmness.

To stay calm while moving, you must control your moving expenses to make sure you’re not overspending in any way.

• CREATE a moving budget to monitor closely the dollar bills you spend during the move and to get an early warning when a moving task requests more money for its successful completion. At the end of the day, you’ll be able to stay calm during your move knowing that your expenses stay within budget.
• HIRE an affordable moving company to save plenty of money on your local or long-distance move. Low-cost movers do exist but you’ll need to invest some time to find them. Request cost estimates from top-rated movers in your area to be able to compare those moving companies and pick the quote that best fits your budget.
• MOVE only the things you’ll need to cut moving costs and expenses by A LOT. Ultimately, it doesn’t make any sense to pack and move things that you won’t ever use again in your life. Remain calm by knowing you’re not paying to move useless stuff that’ll only take more storage space in the new home.
• GET free moving boxes to reduce the packing expenses. One brand-new packing box doesn’t cost much but when you need an average of 60 boxes to pack up your home, then you won’t like the sum you see on the bottom line.

What to budget for when moving

Calming Technique #2: Knowing that you’re not wasting any money on your move will help you reduce the stress of moving.

3. Secure help from friends or movers

A sure way to get anxious and stressed out is to realize that you’re on your own and there’s no one to give you a hand during that tough house moving period. And once you get that worrisome thought in your head, it’ll be next to impossible to stay calm when moving to a new home.

The house moving process is not meant to be a one-man affair, so one super-important task for you will be secure moving labor for the day of the move – the manpower needed for lifting, carrying and loading your large and heavy items into the moving vehicle.

When it comes to moving helpers, you basically have a couple of good options to choose from depending on the specifics of your home move:

• Friends. In most cases, you’ll be able to stay calm knowing that your good friends have agreed to come and give you a hand with packing, heavy lifting, or any other task that you can’t seem to tackle on your own. The thought that you won’t be alone during that difficult period should be enough to ease your worries about whether your move will be a success or not.
  Contact your best friends and ask them if they will be willing to help you move – do this early in your preparation in order to give your pals enough time to fit you into their own plans.
• Movers. The best thing you can do to remain calm when moving house is to let someone else worry about your own move – let’s say, moving experts who know what it takes to bring a house move to a successful end.
  Transferring the stress and risks of Moving day to professionals is a smart thing to do… but it will cost you. It’s no secret that hiring full-service movers is one of the most expensive options to move house. And yet, factoring in the emotional stress of moving and the possible dangers of Moving day, a full-service moving company may still be exactly what you’re looking for.

10 Tips for Moving Out for the First Time

Calming Technique #3: It’s so much easier to stay calm when moving house once you know that you’re not on your own on this – you know that either your good friends or professional movers, or sometimes both, will be there to give you hand.

4. Eat healthily and get enough sleep

Packing up an entire home for a move sounds like a genuinely exhausting job, and it is exactly that – an energy-draining task that will take days and days to complete. So, if you’ve decided to cut the moving costs by packing up your things by yourself – that is, not paying for professional packers, then you’ll need to make sure you remain calm by not pushing yourself beyond your limits.

One thing you should do to keep your body and mind stress-free is to maintain a healthy diet during the entire house move. That means that you shouldn’t skip any major meals just because you’re so busy with so much stuff to do and so little time until the move-out day. Also, you should make an effort to (continue to) eat healthily – eat more fruits, vegetables, and nuts – to have the energy and stamina required to tackle the moving tasks you’re working on.

Another thing you can do to keep yourself calm and relaxed – as opposed to feeling annoyed and irritated, nervous and anxious – is to keep your normal hours of sleep. You may not realize this but getting enough sleep is crucial for surviving something as stressful and nerve-wracking as a house move.

It’s a really bad idea to reduce your habitual sleep hours just to be able to do more work. If you do it, then you’re likely to get fatigued sometime during the move, and that will only put more strain and stress on you, both mentally and physically.

So, if you’re getting behind on your packing or moving schedule, then the better option is to ask for help than to sacrifice your health in the process.

Moving Day Checklist: How to Survive Moving Day in 20 Steps

Calming Technique #4: To stay fairly calm when moving and keep those stress levels within normal values, you must make sure you get enough sleep and continue to eat healthily.

5. Steal some quality time for yourself

It can be really hard to stay calm when moving house due to the great number of stress-inducing events happening all around you. Still, you should be able to breeze through all the stress, anxiety, worries, and fears with a simple calming trick: dedicate some time each day to an activity you love to do to give your mind and body a much-needed break from the house moving chaos.

10 Ways to Reduce Stress During a Move

Do something you love to do, be it only for an hour each day during your moving preparations. Mostly, it’s about clearing your mind and recharging your body for the work still ahead of you.

• Do yoga. If you’re into yoga, then some refreshing yoga exercises can do wonders when it comes to staying calm when moving house.
• Enjoy nature. If you happen to live close to a big park or to a forest, then do spend some time surrounded by nature to relax and re-energize yourself. Just enjoy the greenery and the pleasant sound of birds singing, be it for a little while.
• Listen to music. Music is known to have a great calming effect, especially when people are stressed and anxious, just like you will be. Relaxing music works best but you can listen to anything that’ll put your mind at ease, like your favorite movie soundtrack.
• Play games. If you haven’t packed your board games yet, then you can surely have some fun with your family or friends in the evenings when you’ve already tacked all moving tasks for the day. Playing computer games is never a bad idea either.
• Read a book. Having your favorite book by your side and reading it whenever you get some downtime is a great way to escape the harsh reality and remain calm when things around you get really tough to handle.

Calming Technique #5: Find time to do something you love to clear your mind of all move-related thoughts and remain calm and stress-free when moving house.