Congratulations on your new home! Now that you’ve collected the keys from your realtor, there are a few things you need to do to make moving in less stressful. First, check street access in front of your home/building to see if you need to apply to your local municipality for a temporary parking permit to reserve space for the moving van. These permits usually only cover the moving truck, not the personal vehicles of the moving crew or friends/family. Locate a car park nearby where they can park at no/low cost.

If you are moving to a multi-level building, reserve the loading area and freight elevator. Check with the city (or your building) to learn how to dispose of your moving boxes and packing material once you have unpacked. In addition to Craigslist, you can also advertise your used boxes and packing materials on other online classified sites like freecycle, kijiji, or neighbourhood Facebook groups.

Do a Walk-Through

If you have already done a walk-through of your new home with your realtor on your possession date, do another one before the moving truck arrives. Make sure everything is in working order (light switches, outlets, appliances, etc.) Flush the toilets and check the hot water. Turn up the furnace or air conditioning, depending on the season. Note the location of the fuse/breaker box and emergency shut-off valves for water and gas.

If there are issues with the house, your realtor/lawyer can help you address them if they were noted in the sale contract. If problems are not covered in your contract, you’ll have to deal with the repairs yourself. But at least you will know what needs fixing and be able to prioritize the work. For example, you need to repair a blocked toilet quickly, whereas you can probably manage for a few days if a light fixture doesn’t work.

Designate Safe Zones for Children and Pets

If you have young children or pets, create a zone where they will be safe. Block off staircases, cover outlets, lock windows, tie back the cords from window blinds, etc. Use gates to separate these rooms from the rest of the home. Remember that both children and pets love to climb in boxes and over stacks of boxes. Ensure that the moving team knows not to remove the gates or place moving boxes (full or empty) in this area.

Inspect the yard before letting your pets out unsupervised. Check the sturdiness of the fence and gate. Remove nails, sharp objects, garbage, or feces from other animals before letting your pets explore. Ideally, hire someone for the day (a local teenager, for example) to look after your children and pets or place them in a daycare for the day.

Open the Unpack-First Boxes

Now is the time to open your Unpack-First Boxes! Even if you have had the home professionally cleaned, some may want to use your Cleaning Supplies Box to wipe down the insides of cupboards and closets and clean the bathrooms before you start to unpack.

Unpack your Bathroom Box and ensure the bathrooms have toilet paper, soap, hand towels, and other essentials (diapers, wipes, paper towels, etc.).

You might not need your Kitchen Box right away but keep it handy. You can place the items from the box into their designated cabinets and drawers. Putting everything out on the counters can reduce space for unpacking, but if you need a coffee, go ahead and set up the coffee maker.

Label Your Rooms

Use painter’s tape to attach labels to each room (e.g., principal bedroom, toddler bedroom, dining area, etc.) In each bedroom, use painter’s tape to make an “X” on the wall where you want to place the headboard. Use a similar mark on walls where you want to place other large pieces of furniture (credenza, piano, etc.).

Assign Areas for Incoming and Outgoing Materials

Once furniture and boxes start coming off the truck, the house will fill up quickly, and it will be challenging to move around. To keep the moving in process running smoothly, assign an area in each room to incoming (full) boxes and outgoing (empty) boxes. Ensure you don’t block off doorways, hallways, or areas where you will place large pieces of furniture (e.g., beds).

Add a garbage bag to each room to collect wads of used packing tape and other pieces of trash. Hang the bag from a doorknob or tape it to a wall with painter’s tape.

Assign one area of the home to collect unpacked boxes (flatten them to save space) and packing materials such as a garage. If you are in a condo/strata/apartment, you could use a balcony or building hallway. But be prepared to make frequent trips to take the empty boxes to the recycling centre or back to the moving truck. You do not want to block any emergency exits.

Almost every client we’ve unpacked finds something they should have decluttered before they moved. This second pass is very common and expected. We suggest that you create a Donation Station in your new home. Some people choose a bedroom closet, spare room, or corner of the basement.

Create a UFO Box

In every move, there will be random bolts, screws, and plastic parts that fall out of the packing materials – Unidentified Found Objects (UFO). These odds and ends may be essential pieces to reassemble furniture, so you don’t want to lose them. Use a box or bin with a colourful label to collect these items. Once you have set up your new home, review the items in the box and decide what to do with any leftover UFOs.

Five Moving In Tips

1. Unpack the essential rooms first – bathrooms, bedrooms, kitchen and eating area. Then unpack the other rooms as you need them. For some, the laundry, playroom or living room might be more important; for others, it could be the home office.
2. Build shelving units and assemble bookcases before you start unpacking the items that belong there.
3. Always unwrap items over a soft surface (or over opened packing box). At Out of Chaos, we place yoga mats over counters and tables to protect things that may slip out of the packaging. It also protects the surfaces from damage.
4. Stuff packing materials into one or two empty boxes. You can separate the packing material into recyclable and non-recyclable for easier disposal.
5. Flatten empty boxes and remove them from the home to create more space to work.

You are welcome to read more of our tips on creating a stress-free move. If you still have questions or find the whole moving in process overwhelming, let Out of Chaos help minimize the stress and disruption with our Stress-Free Move Services. Contact us through our website today.

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