10 Tips to Ease Your Moving Day

It's Moving Week!! Finally, I can't stress how excited and anxious I am to begin and end some chapters in my life. Like crazy excited!!!! So I'd thought I'd give some tips not only for packing and moving but for separating and untangling lives. (Warning: language! I'm stressed over this move, so the nitty gritty is my uncensored life, people).

For those of you who don't know, I ended a 7 year relationship in April with a guy whom I'd been engaged to for 5 of those years. The relationship had gone stagnant, we barely spoke and had to pull teeth to spend time together. I was over it and had been for quite some time. But due to poor planning on my part and the loss of a job, I was left a sitting duck in a house with my now ex and our roommates. It's been a stressful 6 months but I'm finally to a point where I can get my own place. So this weekend I move into what I'd like to refer to as a quaint little apartment :)

 

How my life is feeling about now...and how my house is looking!

1.  Always know your circle. I am still learning this, and it's a hard lesson, I promise. But you have to look at those around you- are they helping your life in any way; are they adding joy and happiness to your daily life? Or is this someone who comes to you for information and the next thing you know your personal bizz is splashed across the enquirer? If people are only coming to you when they need something, going behind your back after you confide in them, or are just a total downer to your daily being, it's time to take inventory and start making cuts to everyone and everything lowering your profit margin. You'll know your true friends, they'll want to go out and do things with you, not interrogate your lifestyle. 
2. Take notice of important things that you brought into the household or relationship. Whether it's a divorce, a breakup, or just moving away from your roommates, make sure there are clear boundaries when it comes to your belongings. Nothing worse than someone raising hell because you took their favorite spoon (real life here people).
3. And with that, pick your battles. Do you really need that spoon? I mean really, c'mon. If they are going to fight over something stupid wait til they realize how much stuff is actually yours and not theirs.
4. Pick your bitch moments. I've held my tongue and closed my eyes and ears for months now so that when this week finally arrived, it would be as civil as possible. No need to have a bunch of hostile guys holding grudges breaking your stuff as they 'help' you move. Or worse, refusing to help.
5. Label those boxes and use plenty of duck tape. Write what's in them and/or what room they go in. If its stuff that you need right away, like toiletries or food, write that on there as well. And mark as fragile!
6. Garbage bags are perfect for odd shaped items, clothes on hangers, hangers, blankets, anything really.  Use them to your advantage, if you cant find boxes for free somewhere, spend $3 on a box of garbage bags and make do. So long as it's not fragile, it fits in my book. (Take note, I'm not moving but across town, so I don't need a u-haul and bubble wrap.)
7.  Purge! Clothes that don't fit or you haven't wore in months, toss it. Ratty shoes, toss. 10 random, partially filled shampoo bottles, combine and toss empty bottles. When I dug through closets and junk areas, I found so much stuff that hadn't been touched in years! It definitely got tossed. My garbage man is going to hate me Friday morning. Don't be a hoarder, you don't actually need that stuff.
8.  Have a moving day plan. Know what's being moved in what vehicle and whose driving it. Know when something or someone is supposed to arrive. Have a rental truck if need be, and make sure you rented it for the correct number of days. Since I'm going such a short distance, in the morning I'm loading down my car for several trips. Then in the afternoon, the guys are driving over the furniture on the trailer. And don't forget to eat and hydrate!!
9. Change your address. The post office will reroute your mail for free, just fill out the form. Mine even gives you coupons when you ask for the form. Have a list of all creditors, doctors, family, businesses, anyone who sends you mail and notify them of your new place. This is easy to forget, yet simple to do.
10.  Don't stress. Stress won't make anything better, it's like worrying, it just causes unnecessary problems that weren't there to start with. Refer back to 3 and 4. Just do it. This what you've wanted and waited for. Be excited, start that new chapter in your book like it's the best thing that's ever happened to you. I know your heartbroken, but everything happens for a reason and soon something will fill that void and you'll forget why you even stressed to start with.

That's probably the most random list of moving tips ever, but they are all things that I have been faced with during my move. Ladies, your stronger than you think. And gents, well, for now I'm bitter with you but you'll survive and move on too. What tips do you guys have for me that have helped you in a breakup-move out type situation??