Pre-Move: Keep it in Mind – What Needs To Be Unpacked First?

1. Items for Storage

This might seem like surprising advice, but unpack those items that get tucked away in closets and in the basement first. It doesn’t take a lot of time to flop extra linens onto a shelf in a closet or slide a box of rarely used china dishes into a corner in the basement, and as soon as you can start getting boxes out of the way, the better you will feel. This will also ensure that you aren’t tempted to just throw random odds and ends into a closet and shut the door whilst unpacking.

2. Necessities

Next, move on to setting up your bed for the night by unpacking sheets and pillows. Moving house is hard work, and at the end of the day you’ll be ready to pass out and you won’t want to go hunting for your bedding. For the same reason, unpack towels, shower curtains and toiletries as soon as you can. Being able to rinse off and brush your teeth at the end of the day is much more important than alphabetising your books.

3. Kitchen Basics

Now, let’s get ready to fix dinner. No, we don’t expect you to cook a full meal, but you’ll at least want plates for your pizza. Unpack your plates, cups, utensils and other kitchen basics. For most of us here at Two Men and a Truck, that includes the coffee maker! You don’t want to take time at this point to organise your spice rack, but getting enough kitchen basics unpacked to get you through a take-away meal and prepare your morning coffee or tea — that’s essential!

4. Convenient Electronics

It’s may be sad, but it’s true: we’re living in a plugged-in world. Unpack and set up your computer before the end of your first day. You will definitely be needing it, especially if you are moving long-distance and you don’t have a tablet for researching local businesses. Many of our interstate removalists have seen families set up their computer before their child’s crib!

In addition to the computer, unpack all of the chargers for your cell phones and tablets. Especially if you have little ones that you need to keep occupied and out of the way while you settle in, unpack and set up a TV at this point, too. Nothing calms cranky kids quite like the Disney channel, right?

Now that the items above have been unpacked, you can move on to your clothes and knick knacks. It can take weeks before you finally empty out all those boxes, (take a look at ’Doing Your Own Packing? Tips For Choosing Box Sizes’ to make sure you aren’t moving any that are half-empty), but stay positive. You’ll no doubt have years to fully organise your new home, and you’ve already made a great start.