Moving house is always an emotional time. Whilst your old home undoubtedly holds happy memories, there is the exciting potential of what your new home could bring, not to mention the stress of packing and unpacking all of your belongings. If you are relocating to another part of the UK, such as from Dartmouth to London, you might have the additional stress of leaving behind family and friends and needing to build up a new social network, as well as not knowing the area. Even if you have looked for different moving companies and hired one that can help reduce some of the stress, there are still a lot of other things that you need to think about and plan for.
To help you make sense of the chaos, here is a short guide of things to help make relocating that bit easier.
Read more tips from DSCENE editorial team after the jump:
Study the local area online
You may not be able to explore your new town on foot while you are waiting to relocate, but you can research it online. Google Maps is the perfect tool with which to get acquainted with your new street. You can use it to map out regular routes, such as to the local shops and your place of work so that the new roads are not as unfamiliar to you when you move. You could also research the history of your new town, and use websites to find restaurants and bars for you to check out and other things to do in the area. By researching your new home as you would a new travel destination, you are sure to get excited about your imminent relocation.
Plan any redecoration and renovations to your new home
With the time it takes to fully unpack and the previous owner’s taste still evident, it might take a while for you to fully settle into your new home. However, putting your own mark on a property can be one of the most fun aspects of moving! Before you move, why not put together some mood boards for how you’d like various rooms to be decorated? Then, when you finally move, putting your own style on the house can be a much quicker process. You might decide that you want to carry out more extensive renovations, for instance, converting the loft into a bedroom with an en-suite bathroom.
If this is the case, you can still search for local contractors remotely: search for loft conversions in Croydon when you are currently in Dartmouth, for example. Making serious renovation plans before you move can help you get your perfect home just that bit quicker.
Build up a social network online
One of the most daunting aspects of relocating to another part of the UK is the prospect of leaving your friends and family and having to build a new social network. Facebook, WhatsApp, and Skype are all invaluable tools in helping you to keep in touch with friends and family back home, but they can also be used to make new friends. Many towns have local groups on Facebook, so you could join one of them and get chatting to people. Once people find out that you are moving to the area, you are sure to get many offers to show you around!
Moving home is known as one of life’s biggest cause of stresses, but if you plan ahead, the potential for things to go wrong is significantly reduced. Ideally take a day off before the moving day as well as the moving day itself so that you’ll be able to avoid any last minute issues as well as finishing up packing. Moving is not as easy at all, but this list of things will surely help you make the experience less stressful.
Related story: 4 Things To Consider When Moving Abroad
