Moving in to a new house can be overwhelming. It’s that time when you feel excited because you are moving in to your dream home. And at the same time, moving can be tiring because there are so many things to do; from planning your move to making house moving checklist, hiring movers and packers, preparing for the final move day and getting settled in to your new house. If you are planning for a move and you are busy with planning and preparations for the ultimate move day, then you are at the right track. But what to do and how to settle down easily in your new house requires serious planning, and that’s what I am going to help you with in today’s post. I am sharing a list of the most essential things to do after moving in to a new house and settle easily in your new home.
In order to make your move successful and hassle-free, the best
thing to do it to make two different checklists for your move i.e. the pre and
post move checklists.
Post-move checklist of things to do after moving into a new house
While the pre-move checklist will help you plan and organize everything correctly and move safe and without hassles. The post-move checklist will help you tackle the most essential things to do after moving in to your new house.
And this is the most ignored aspect of moving a house. But
if you have planned for a move, then you can use this post-move checklist of
things to do after moving to your new house.
Post-move checklist of things to do after moving into a new house
We often tend to plan everything correctly to ensure packing and transportation is done right. We take pre-move tasks and planning seriously. Right from choosing to do it yourself to hiring movers, creating inventory list of items, requesting house moving estimates from relocating companies to preparing our appliances for the final packing; we do everything possible to ensure that our goods get packed and moved safely.
But we just forget to plan the post move activities that are
even more crucial. Because if you start unpacking randomly and without even
matching the number of boxes and ignore other crucial thing to do after a move,
then you may have tough time settling into your new house.
So, if you are moving your house and you have checked vital moving tips and hacks then , then I am sure you are well prepared, and ready for the big day.
But if you have not planned for things to do after moving to
your new home, or you have no clue about how to settle correctly in your new
house then this checklist of essential things to do after moving to your new
home can be of great help to you.
After all, unpacking and getting settled in your new house, handling post move activities should not be that tough and complicated. And this post move checklist is going to help you get it right.
So, here we go.
Count the boxes after unloading
This is a no brainer, but there are many who just forget to count
the boxes after unloading by the moving company. It’s totally unsafe to assume
that all the boxes have been unloaded and they have delivered it to you.
If you have used the movers and packers service, then they
must have given you a packing list, most of the movers do. So take out the
packing list and count the unloaded boxes, containers and packages to ensure
that you have received exactly the same number of items, and that nothing is left
in your old home or in the truck.
If you find anything missing, then immediately alert the
moving team and your move coordinator about the missing boxes or items.
Precaution: The movers and packers will ask you to sign the delivery challan, to confirm that you have received all of the boxes and household goods. Don’t sign the delivery challan, without tallying and counting the boxes. Once you sign the delivery challan and then you notice about missing boxes, then the moving company may or may not believe you and you won’t have any written proof to establish your case.
Inspect your boxes and containers
Counting of unloaded and delivered boxes ticked. The next crucial
thing to is to check that there is no visible damage to any of the appliances.
It may not be easy to quickly unpack and inspect all of the boxes,
but still take a good look at each of the boxes and crates to check if there is
any damage due to mishandling or poor packing.
There is a very thin chance of damage especially when if you
used the services of a moving company, but still if there is any sign of minor
or major damage, you should make a written complaint with the moving company.
In case of major damages, usually the moving companies take
it to the insurer and get your claims settled. In case minor scratch and
damages, they can settle it on their own.
But whatever be the case, inspecting your goods is seriously
important and the earlier you do it, the better for you.
Schedule post move activities
As you already know, there are tons of activities lined up
for you before you finally settle in your new home. Right from getting the electricity
and water supply up and running to hanging ceiling fans, connecting home appliances,
installing water purifier to setting up bed and making required arrangement for
your kids and pets and resuming your office and work.
There is so much left to do. But, now as your goods are
already delivered safe and sound by the moving company, you should take a
breather, pause and make a schedule to handle post move activities comfortably.
In order to schedule a comfortable post move activities
list, you should not down the tasks that have to be completed and then assign a
priority to it. The task that needs immediate attention and does not require much
effort can be taken up first. And similarly, you can move down to tasks that
can wait for a day or two.
For example, it’s absolutely critical to unpack essential items
and connect all your home appliances. But decorating your home and socializing
with your neighbors can wait for a day or two.
I’m sure you got the point. So get ready and start working
on how you want to schedule various tasks. Feel comfortable to do it as per
your needs, availability of time and resource and most importantly your comfort
level.
Clean your rooms
Now that you have finally moved to your new home, I am sure
you want to start unpacking without delay. But hold on, just before you start
unpacking, it’s absolutely necessary to clean your home. Ideally, you should
hire a cleaner to get your house properly deep cleaned even before unloading.
But if you didn’t get a chance to get your house properly
cleaned then now is the time to clean all your rooms. Calling a cleaning
company may delay the process for a day or two, so you may like to do the basic
dusting and cleaning on your own. Or if you don’t feel like cleaning on your
own, then may be check with a local cleaning company and see if they are available
and if they can get it done for you.
Whatever is the case, cleaning your home before you start
unpacking is really important.
Inspect and get the utilities right
There is a very thin chance that there’ll be issues with the
essential utilities like electricity and water supply in your new home. Usually
in flats and apartments that are locked for long, you have may have issues with
the utility connections. Some time it’s intentionally disconnected and hence it’s
important to check.
So, check if the water and electricity is up and running. If
there are any issues, then check with the required authority or the facility
manager in case you have moved to a housing society.
And if the electrician or plumber is coming to your house to
fix utility issues, then ask them to check all the switches and water points to
ensure everything is up and running.
Locate switches
If you have moved to your owned house, then you may be aware
of all the important switches and points like the switch for the submersible
water pump, main switch, fuse box and so on. But if you are moving to a rented
apartment, then it’s important to locate and identify these switches.
Apart from locating the switches outside, you should also
take a note of switches and boards in your rooms. For instance, you will need
to locate the socket and switch to connect your fridge and similarly other switches.
Start unpacking the essentials
Now that basic things are well addressed, it’s time to start
unpacking. You may have plan to unpack all of the boxes in one go, but that’s not
the best way to do it. It’s not easy to unpack and arrange all of the goods in
one go, that may be very tiring and may take a toll on your health.
So, start unpacking the essentials. If you are planning to
start cooking immediately, then you may have to settle your kitchen, bedroom
and of course the bathroom.
These are the rooms that you will be accessing immediately
and hence unpack boxes where items related to these rooms are packed.
You have to do the bed, unpack cooking oven, microwave,
utensils, rockeries, buckets etc. Next in the list should be the curtain for
your bedroom, bed linens, pillow and pillow cases, night dress, towel etc. The
idea is to unpack slowly, so that you can do it comfortably and without having
to spend plenty of time in unpacking and then ending up tired.
Re-arrange your goods
Keeping your home properly arranged and organized will make
it look good and it can help you save plenty of space. So, as you start
unpacking the boxes slowly, you should also get organized and arrange your
goods at its designated places.
So the best ways to unpack your goods after moving your house
is to do it an order. So pick one room and unpack cartons that contains items
specific to that room. This way, you will have total control over unpacking and
re-arranging that eventually helps in getting settled down easily.
If you have brought any storage unit from your previous
home, then may be unpack and place it at its designated place.
So if you are unpacking items that will go to the kitchen,
then arrange them correctly in the kitchen to avoid repeat work.
As you unpack bedroom cartons, you should arrange those
clothes, bed sheets, towel, dresses etc in the wardrobes.
Unpack and connect home appliances
Next is to unpack and connect all the home appliances like
TV, fridge, Washing machine, dryer, dish washer, music system etc. Out of all
the appliances that you might have brought from your previous house, the fridge
is probably the heaviest one.
So take extra precaution when lifting and moving fridge to
its designated place. It’s always better to ask the moving crew to place such
heavy items at its designated place. But if you forgot to do so then make sure
that you are not trying to lift such heavy weight appliances all alone.
Ask your family members for help in moving these heavy
weight items inside your home.
Continue unpacking and arranging
Needless to say, unpacking the full move of a 3 room house is not going to be easy and it’s going to take a lot of efforts and time. But as I said, it’s always better to unpack slowly.
So, you can continue unpacking other carton and boxes and at the same time continue arranging your house.
Replace locks
By this time, you might have nearly completed the unpacking and re-arranging. And if your kitchen is not setup as of now, then you may have to go out and bring foods or order online. So, this is the right time to go out and take a look at the neighborhood. But before you go out, make sure to secure our house by replacing or using additional locks.
Depending on whether you have moved to a pre-owned house or
a rented apartment, you should take a call on replacing the locks. If this is
your own house, then you may not have to change locks because only you may have
the keys. But the point is to be aware and act safe.
Get rid of used boxes
As you finish unpacking all of the boxes successfully after moving in to your new house, getting rid of unused moving boxes is next important thing to do. So, do you have any idea about how to get rid of used moving boxes?
The best way to get rid of unused moving boxes would be to recycle these boxes, because that way it will be re-used and it won’t hurt the environment.
But there are many ways to get rid of the used moving boxes including such as:
Recycling
Giving it to a charity that may need such boxes
for packing and parcel
Giving it to your neighbor who is planning to relocate
Or just selling it off and make some buck
But, whatever you decide to do, you have to get rid of those boxes because it’s going to occupy the space and who want to keep those used boxes anyways?
Clean your house post unpacking
Once you have got rid of the packing boxes and you are done with arranging your home, its time to do through cleaning of all the rooms. Now that you are slowly moving towards settling down in your new house, it’s better to hire house cleaning service to get your house properly cleaned.
Or you may like to clean your house on your own. Do what works well for you, but a cleaning is required after unpacking.
And while we are at it, if you find any sign of pests infestation, then you should ideally do pest control in your house toe ensure that your house will remain free from generic pests and bugs for long.
Know about emergency needs
Since you have moved to a new locality (may be within same
city or a different city or state), it’s important to know about the emergency
services. If you already have those information then you may just skip this
point, but otherwise, you should know where to reach out in case of an
emergency.
Ideally you should know about the:
Nearest pharmacy
Nearest health point and hospitals
Water and electricity emergency contact numbers
Local grocery delivery
And you can expand this list as per your needs, lifestyle
and knowledge about the locality you have move in to.
Collect information about schools
This may not be applicable for all, but if you have kids and
you have moved to a place where they need to be admitted in a new school, you
got to collect information about these schools.
Admitting your kids to a school should be of highest
priority, so do proper research about the best possible schools and institution
in your area, know about the admission procedure and how to go about it.
Talking to your neighbors and doing some research online will be of great help.
Transfer vehicle registration
If you have moved to another state with your vehicles then
you have to get your vehicle registered in the new state. Process of
registration transfer is a little complicated because you have to deal with government
agencies, so you can do it on your own or hire a consultant to look after the required
documentation and registration transfer.
The process is straight forward in India. If you have moved
permanently or intend to stay in the new state for more than 11 months, then vehicle
registration is a must.
You have to obtain an NOC letter from the RTO and then apply for registration in the new city. I have already published a detailed and extensive post about how toobtain NOC and transfer vehicle registration numberto another state in India that you may like to refer for guidance.
Decorate your home
Now that most of it is done, you can start decorating your home to make it look stunning. Decorating as in, hanging the paintings, placing the mats, installing pendant lights, bringing house plants and so on.
A little bit of home decoration will make the space look
good and you will enjoy the ambience and comfort of your new home.
Whether you wanted to a buy a special piece of furniture to
your new home, you wanted to replace a painting, or setting up a garden in
balcony, whatever decorative improvements you want to try, you can try now.
Socialize with your neighbors
And now that your house is fully ready to welcome guests, you should start socializing with your neighbors. Meeting new people and making friends will certainly make your life better in anew and unknown place.
Its not easy to deal with the emotional stress of moving to a new place, in a new city or state. But By making friends and maintaining good relationship with your neighbors, you will be able to enjoy your stay in your new home.
So go, knock the doors of your immediate neighbors and say
hi to them. Invite them for tea and coffee at your place. Meeting new people can
be really exciting, no?
Over to you
As you know, moving a house can be exciting and
overwhelming. And to make it safe and hassle free, we often make checklist of
things to do when moving a house and follow those moving checklist minutely to
get everything right.
But what is often ignore is the post move tasks, we never
really plan on how to get the post move activities right.
But planning post move activities is equally important and I
have shared the checklist of essential things to do after moving in to a new
house. Some of the most essential things to do include:
Counting the boxes
Inspecting items
Unpacking essentials
Fixing utilities
Connecting the appliances
Getting rid of used moving boxes
Cleaning your house
Transferring vehicle registration etc
Have you relocated recently and did you have any post move
checklist of essential things to do after relocating? What do you think one
should essentially do after relocating to a new house?
Feel free to share your list of things to do by commenting below.
