When
my husband was ready to go back to school on the other side of the ocean, I was
left planning a major move in, which I didn’t mind as I love organizing stuff
like that!
Before
leaving to the USA, I had sent ahead some boxes with personal items, but no
heavy pieces. Once we arrived at our destination, we had to furnish the
apartment we had rented from top to bottom. Knowing that we would not stay
there for more than a couple of years we decided we needed a sort of planning.
And
I came up with my own checklist:
* PLAN AHEAD
When
you go shopping make sure you have a shopping list, so you won’t buy more than
you need, which is good for your wallet and eventually your back (I know….that
vase you saw on sale was really beautiful….but do you really need it?!?). Buy stuff purposely and refrain from
cluttering your space.
* VISUALIZE THE SPACE
Every
room has its purpose, so fill those spaces accordingly.
Don’t
leave clothes in the living room or books in the bedroom.
Depending
on the space you have, you must try hard to organize it efficiently.
* SORTING OUT STUFF
10-12
weeks before moving out, start prepacking things, for example, books or clothes
you won’t need during this last period and you can ship them back already.
Seeing
rooms/spaces getting emptier will help you see what is left to do. Another way
to get by it is to empty each room one at the time. This is also a great chance
not only to get rid of things but also to decide what you want to do with them.
These are the alternatives:
- throwing them out because they are totally worn or unusable
- giving them to charity
- giving them to friends
- selling them.
That
is always a personal choice: if you want to maximize your investment, you want
to sell everything; otherwise let someone else enjoy something you used for a
couple of years.
We
ended up using a combination of all the above.
If
you own a car, well that can be tricky so you’d better start doing research at
least 6 weeks ahead depending where you live {in a metropolitan area your
chances are higher versus a smaller area). Make sure you know the value of the car
and what people are willing to offer. In order to get the most out of it, try
to sell it to a private party. If you don’t want to get involved in that, or
don’t have any other options, you can always try a local car dealer, but that
should be your last resort.
* MOVE OUT:
- Notify the landlord/lease office (the timeframe is variable, and agreed upon the signing of the contract)
- The house/apartment must be ready for inspection, make sure there is nothing left behind that belongs to you. In our experiences of moving in and out we never came across a clean place and we were always left with the hard job of cleaning after someone else. It is a matter of good manners to leave a place the same way you’d like to find it. Based on my experience in North America, emptying the place is considered enough to get your deposit back.
- Little digression: Personally I always like doing the extra cleaning because that is the way I was raised and am used to. Besides, making sure all cabinets are empty, as well as the fridge and freezer (don’t leave behind your food, open cans, etc.), clean the bathroom (toilet, basin, bathtub…some bleach will do) and the countertops in the kitchen. Vacuum all the floors and mop the hard floors. Good old-fashioned European cleaning leaves Americans speechless ;))
- Cancel all services and utilities
- Make sure your mail is either forwarded to your next address or returned to sender
If
you want to know more how we managed the rest, contact me!
I
am happy to share with you my skills in packing, moving, cleaning, and
unpacking and all the tricks I have learnt on my own.
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