Leaving your home and going into the unknown is never an easy thing. Seeing how a lot of people do this while faced with emotional havoc, it is no wonder that some important steps get overseen. This causes a lot of commotion in situations when you need it the least. In order not to make this mistake, here are five things that you absolutely must do before moving into a new home.
Leave a Clean Slate Behind You
Moving doesn’t just mean taking all your staff from one place to another and changing your address. You need to leave a clean slate behind you. If there are any overdue rents to your previous landlord, now is the time to pay them off. The same goes for other bills and utilities. Moreover, you may want to cancel all of your subscriptions.
Let People Know You Are Moving
The next step is probably the one that gets the most neglected of them all. Sure, not everyone needs to know right away, but it is always good to make a list of all those people you should notify first. Seeing how a business offer is most commonly the reason for such a move, you probably won’t have to bother with people at work, but your family and friends should definitely be included in this list. As for the neighbors, throwing a moving party is always a good idea.
Change the Lock
The absolutely first thing you must do upon entering a new property is changing the locks on all exterior doors. No matter how trustworthy the previous owner or tenant may have appeared, you simply can’t be too careful. Furthermore, you never know who else has the key. They may have given a key to an ex or a friend, or maybe even to a former maid. Be as it may, just knowing that there is a chance someone out there has the key to your family home is not a pleasant thought. On the other hand, changing the lock is a quick and inexpensive procedure.
Clean Up the Place
The next chore you must take care of is thoroughly cleaning the place. Start with all the larger surfaces, like walls, floors and ceilings. In fact, it might even be worth your while to do some DIY repainting in order to both freshen up the place and save some money. After this, you need to proceed to cleaning up some areas which require a bit more attention, like your kitchen and bathroom. For your kitchen, the safest choice is to only use natural solutions like soapy water, vinegar, baking soda and bleach. When it comes to the bathroom, you are allowed to use some a bit stronger products as long as you air the room properly afterwards. As an alternative, you can always hire someone to do all of this for you.
Bring in the Toolbox
No matter how solid your new household looks upon the first inspection, once you settle in, things start to uncover themselves at an astounding pace. This is why a toolbox needs to be the first item you bring into your new home. Sure, calling a handyman whenever you need some help is easier, but why not fix some of these issues on your own. Apart from saving a small fortune, you also get to brag about solving these problems with your own two hands. What you need is a set of screwdrivers, tape measure as well as some basic woodworking tools.
As you can see, moving is not nearly as difficult as some people make it to be. However, in order for things to run smoothly you need to be systematic and highly organized. Luckily, you usually have months in advance to plan the whole thing and you can even try putting some of this on paper.
Great article. Very helpful.