I have started to think about the things which might affect me during the preparation for the move and here are some thoughts:

Don’t do it all by yourself

In the past Mick & I have moved using a van with a tail lift. Over the last few times both of us have said we are not doing it again, and yet. This time I have decided that we will have a couple of people with a van. We don’t need a huge van but I don’t want to be moving a tall Fridge freezer on an old sack barrow *ever again*. You may be able to get some friends or family to help you depending on the size of your move.

Create a plan

I am a big one for plans so I have a Kanban board with a load of basic task areas which will get split into smaller tasks as I go along. I have put due dates on them just so that they can be sorted into a sensible order. In some of these tasks are checklists. Another issue in the past has been packing boxes and not writing what is in them on the outide. This time will not be like that!

Don’t try to do it all at once

We don’t have a move date yet but I am aiming for the end of February at the moment and pacing my packing. Again breaking down tasks helps me to avoid overwhelm. I leave subtasks in the larger task to avoid number of tasks overwhelm too.

You don’t have to do everything

General advice is to get rid of anything you don’t want to keep before the move and I would love to go through everything in the flat and sort it before moving but I know that is unrealistic for me and so I am leaving anything already in a box undisturbed and will deal with it when we get there. We are moving from a one bed flat to a 2 bed house. Your mileage may vary if you are going the other way.

Get an accountability partner

It could be anyone, a friend of family member (although that can be difficult) I have an accountability coach and the move is one of the things she asks me about when we speak on a daily basis. It helps me stay motivated so that I can report progress. They don’t have to physically help you they are just a motivating factor. They could be with you in person or on a call.

Use whatever you need to to stay on task

If it helps to set a timer and keep going until it goes off, or try to beat the timer, pomodoros/time boxing with breaks can be helpful to avoid overwhelm. Listen to music or a podcast and make sure that your phone is somewhere you are not tempted to pick it up and scroll but try to make it as fun (as possible). I intend to have a wall of sickies showing progress.

Take care of yourself

Moving can be exhausting and stressful, so be kind to yourself and don’t overdo it.

What are your top tips?