So, after spending all day travelling, you have reached your new home. Now, you are in front of your new home. After all the stress of travelling, you are now somehow filled with excitement because of the novelty of entering a new house.
But the feeling of elation suddenly vanished upon laying your eyes on the many boxes that you have to unpack. There’s a lot more work to do before you can relax and unpacking is one of the worst tasks to do after you’ve gone travelling for hours.
But there are ways you can make unpacking your boxes a fun activity. Here are some suggestions:
1. One thing at a time
Actually, you can make unpacking less strenuous and more fun if you plan for it before you packed your things in your previous home. This is one of the recommendations of professional movers like Penske and Home Depot.
Let’s assume that you have organized your boxes so that it will be easy for you to identify each one of them.
So, if you have given each room of your previous house a color identity, such as blue for the bathroom, red for the kitchen, and so forth, it will be easy to organize the unpacking once they are delivered to your new home.
All you need to do is to bring those boxes in their respective rooms in your new home, and decide which ones you need to open first.
2. Get it done according to the floor plan
You can use the floor plan of your new home as your guide in unpacking your boxes. “It’s the cornerstone of your move,” says Ann Brewer, owner of Busy Buddies, a professional unpacking company in Washington, D.C.
“You’re paying these movers by the hour, and the floor plan saves not only time but money,” she explains. Your floor plan should not necessarily be drawn into correct scale but just a basic sketch of each room and where the furniture and other household stuff should go.
It would be fun for your kids if you let them decide which corner of their room they want their beds to go. You would be able to get their help and provide them a sense of control too.
If possible, tape the plan of each room on their particular doors so that the movers will know where to put furniture and stuff without asking you continually.
3. Pack like you’re going on a vacation
If you will pack as if you are going on a vacation, you will lessen the stress of unpacking once you arrive in your new home. The idea goes like this: pack a bag or a suitable box with all the essentials that you will need immediately in your new location.
Things like toiletries, first aid kit, medication, diapers, baby stuff, toothpaste, soaps, and the like should be inside this bag or box. In this way, if anyone needs any of these essentials, he won’t have to rummage in all of the boxes just to look for the item that he immediately needs. He knows where he can easily find it – in the bag or box containing the essentials.
4. Pack the basics for each room
Instead of putting all the stuff in each room in just one box, assign a box for each room where you can put all the basics in. For example, instead of putting all the linens in one box, assign a bedding box for each bedroom.
Fill each box with a pillow, sheet and comforter. For your kids, add bedroom toys. For the bathroom, fill the box with bath towels, toilet paper, shower curtain, soap and so forth.
In this way, when you unpack your things, you won’t have to go from box to box to get the things that you need immediately.
5. Assign a kitchen box
Oftentimes, it is the kitchen that is invariably the center of attention in almost every activity. It seems that this is the part of the house where everyone winds up into no matter what activity is going on.
Taking the cue from this human proclivity, assign a box where you can put in all the kitchen basics such as plates and utensils, the coffee pot, the basic pots and pans, cleaning products, a trash can, and a microwave oven, if you use it a lot.
It will be very difficult for you to make meal in your new kitchen right after arrival. That would require extra energy and 110% willpower, considering all the things that you’ve gone through all day.
That is why having a way to easily create fast food such as pop corns, easily baked cookies, and the like will really be welcome to all those tired hands. This is the reason why you need to pack this box of kitchen basics.
