The Moving Report
Children are a big part of the moving process. You want to make the move as easy as you can on them. Involve your children in the moving process as much as possible. Let them help pack their room. Have them write their name and new address on the boxes so they can begin learning it before they arrive. Be sure that they have correct addresses and phone numbers for all of their friends. A letter or phone call from an old friend can go a long way toward lifting the spirits of a child in a new community.
Choosing a new school and be time consuming and difficult. With the local shool district and the various public and private schools in the surrounding areas, you've go your work cut out for you. Do your Homework! Checking with the local shool district, you can help to narrow I down by determining what school closely matches your child's current school system. Talk with the teachers and learn their approaches and philosophies and make sure that it offers all of the extracurricular activities that they enjoy. Not only will this make their transition easier, but it will take a weight off of your shoulders as well.
Also, make a list of your children's activities. More than likely, there are many things that your children like to do, either together or alone. Maybe they enjoy parks and nature walks or they could be active in scouts or little league. Your kids may love going to the mall and the movies. To make life easier after the move, consider relocating to an area or school that has many of these activities. It is important to re-involve your children as soon as possible. Finding familiar extracurricular activities can help to ease the transition.
Pets can also cause added stress during a move. To make things easier on everyone involved, you may want to consider keeping the pet out of the home during the move. Ask a friend or neighbor, or use a kennel, to look after your pet. This will be less stress on you worrying if your pet got out and it will be less stress on the animal coping with the strange goings on in the house.
One more thing to consider on moving day, don't book any flights or travel for the day of the move. "People tend to book their flight in the afternoon on the day of loading. If there are any problems at all that day, it creates a lot of unnecessary stress, so schedule your flights for the following day."
Moving Day
- Make note of your shipment registration number and keep it with you in case you need to call your mover with questions about your shipment.
- Designate one drawer of a dresser for sheets and towels so that you won't have to rummage through boxes for these essentials the first night in your new home.
- If you need to store some of your goods, it's a good idea to tour the warehouse of the mover you're planning to use. Look for cleanliness, organization, etc.
- After you've thoroughly cleaned and dried the inside of your refrigerator, put a handful of coffee, baking soda or charcoal inside a sock or nylon stocking and place it inside to keep the interior fresh.
- Pack your current phone book to take with you. You may need to make calls to residents or businesses back in your former hometown.
- Before the van foreman leaves for your destination residence, give him a phone number where you can be reached. It's also a good idea to provide him with an alternate contact in case you can't be reached.
- Place pictures in boxes between sheets and blankets to give them added protection.
- Plates and record albums should be packed on end vertically, rather than placed flat and stacked.
- Before packing medicine and toiletry items, make sure their caps and lids have been tightly secured.
- At your destination, you might want to consider having the TV and VCR hooked up first to occupy the kids while the rest of the van is being unloaded.
- When moving plants to your new residence via your car, try not to let the foliage rest against the windows, as the leaves with scorch.
- Upon arrival at your new home, let your PC "acclimate" itself to room temperature before plugging it in.
- Leave the rest to us, sit back and relax.
