Moving into a new house is the start of a new life. Maybe it’s a house you built, or a bigger apartment, or a smaller one if your kids are gone. But precisely, who says new life, says new benchmarks to build. Arriving in a new place is not so simple. What method should be followed to settle well in a new home? How to feel at home there as quickly as possible?
To have a good first night in your new home, follow my 5 tips and move in with peace of mind!
1) Prepare yourself psychologically for the chaos of the first days
Whether you are manic or have a tendency to disorder, one thing is certain: the first days of settling in a new home are not very comfortable. There are boxes everywhere, cluttering up the space. It’s a total mess: you can’t find your things because you don’t know where you put them. And to make matters worse, we argue because we are tired of the long weeks of preparation for the move.
In short, in summary, we can not really settling into a new home escape it, the first days are chaotic. So, prepare yourself psychologically, arm yourself with patience and take it with humor, you are camping for a few days. Don’t panic, it’s only temporary, it will work out!
A tip that all regulars of removals know well: prepare a suitcase as if you were going on vacation with, precisely, everything you need for the first few days. Breakfast bowls, toothbrushes, and the youngest’s favorite toy, to name just 3 “basic necessities”!
2) Appropriate your new space
The right method to settle into your new place of life: from the largest volumes to the smallest. Start by finding the place for large pieces, such as large appliances, or large furniture. These are the elements which, once placed in the rooms, will determine the circulation in the space: do not neglect this step, it is key to feeling good at home.
My advice: to find “the” good place with imposing furniture, rely on the path of light. Stand at the entrance to the room and watch how the walls are illuminated with natural light. This will allow you to immediately understand where to place your tallest elements.
At this time, it may happen that you realize that large pieces of furniture and household appliances, which however went perfectly in your old place of life, do not integrate well into your new interior. This can happen even if the new housing is larger than the old one. It completely depends on the layout of the rooms and the location of the openings (windows and doors). Experiment and, if necessary, start thinking about new organizational solutions that are better suited to your new space. Don’t let a big wardrobe cut off all the light in the living room, no matter how beautiful this wardrobe is!
3) Think of a logical place for everything
Once you’ve placed the larger pieces of furniture, you’ll have an idea of how much storage you have in each room. This storage volume is therefore made up of built-in storage (cupboards and dressing rooms) and your own storage units.
The exercise then consists in thinking “theoretically” about a logical place for each thing. In general, you will reproduce the storage you had in the old home. It’s actually the easiest way to find your way around at the beginning.
Take advantage of it anyway to correct the “abnormalities” if there were any in your old house or your old apartment. For example, if you didn’t like the place where the bed linen was stored, change its place!
I draw your attention to open or closed storage. In your new organization, rely on your intuition to put the things that make you happy more in open storage, and those that you don’t like to see, in closed storage. Take the example of administrative papers. If they need to be stored in your bedroom for lack of space, arrange for them to be put behind a closet door. Invoice files do not make it easier to fall asleep!
Now is the time to make the right choices. Get off to a good start in your new home and learn 3 steps to keeping your home organized for the long haul.
4) Store room by room
If you have packed your boxes correctly, they are normally organized by room in your living space. Start by tidying up the rooms that are most useful for family logistics: bathroom, kitchen, laundry room. Likewise, if you have children, they will quickly need to find their school things. It is also a priority card to undo.
Completely empty each box before starting a new one. This avoids having a field of half-empty boxes cluttering your living space.
This step is decisive for the organization of your storage spaces. Everything fits without problem? Bravo, go to paragraph 6.
Are you starting to force everything to fit in the cupboards? Ouch, it’s a sign that we’ll have to sort a little, go to paragraph 5!
5) Declutter and Sort
If you are reading this paragraph, it is either that your new home is smaller than before, or that you did not have time to finish sorting before the move. Or both combined!
But don’t worry, I’ll even reassure you. You are surely in the best configuration that can exist to do a good sorting. For what ? First, because you arrive in a place that is empty.
