The holiday season is a common time to move and for us in the interstate removalists business, it’s our busiest time of year. For families moving interstate, the Christmas holidays are the perfect time to move, to avoid a mid-year school change.
The downside of moving in during Christmas holidays is that it’s combining two stressful events into one relatively short period of time. The good news, is that with a quality removalist on your side and a clear plan of action, your interstate move should go off without a hitch.
Confirm your planned move as far ahead as possible.
Although we can sometimes get an empty moving container out to you in as little as 48 hours, the more notice you can give us, the better. With the Christmas holiday period being our busiest time, it will reduce your stress levels to know your move is all booked in and confirmed.
Start packing early!
Everyone is always busy once December arrives. With the end of the school year, work functions and Christmas shopping to do, you’ll want to get a head start on packing.
Although you can’t realistically pack everything ahead of time, you can certainly be one step ahead and pack things like spare room items, garage and garden shed items, winter clothing and linen, seldom used kitchen equipment. Anything you can get packed up and stacked away ready for loading into your moving container be big a big help once you get closer to Christmas and are running short on time.
Make lists and plan your tasks
Unless you get organised, you may find that you become overwhelmed with the sheer scale of tasks to do. Putting down on paper, all the tasks that need to be accomplished and by which date, will make it all seem less daunting. A moving checklist is a great idea to make sure you’ve got all the moving house tasks sorted.
A Christmas holiday shopping list covering presents, food purchases and incidentals such as teacher gifts and Christmas card lists, will make you feel more in control of the festive preparations.
Have a clear plan for Christmas day and adjust your expectations accordingly
While no-one would desire a Christmas day spent unpacking moving boxes, the reality of a Christmas holiday home move is that you may not experience your traditional Christmas day as you know it. Nonetheless, plan where you will be having Christmas and how you are going to achieve the day you want. If you have young children, be sure to prepare them for any differences to your normal Christmas day celebrations.
Stay on top of the ‘moving house admin’
By moving house admin, we meant things like contacting your utilities companies to tell them you’re moving; disconnecting and reconnecting your utilities may take longer over the holiday period when these companies can be working with reduced staff.
The same applies for changing your address and redirecting your mail, as the post office is notoriously busy during December, the last thing you want to do is to be waiting in line for an hour to hand in a change of address form. If you can tick these items off the list as early on as possible, it takes some of the pressure off closer to moving day.
Do you Christmas shopping online
If you’re short on time, the last place you want to be is in the shops come December. By shopping online for your Christmas gifts you can stick to your list and accomplish it much more quickly and easily. If you feel like you’re missing out on some of the Christmas spirit by not shopping at the mall, check out one of your local Christmas markets – they are plentiful in the holiday season and are a great way to support local businesses and to soak up some of the Christmas spirit.
Pack smartly
Make sure you pack a few boxes of ‘essential’ items last of all in your moving container so they are easily found and unpacked at the other end as they will be the first out. If your move is prior to Christmas day, it might be some Christmas decorations or presents you want handy. Otherwise it’s always a great idea to have things like one set of bedding for everyone, a towel for everyone, swimwear, a few changes of summer clothing and maybe your beach essentials handy if you live close to the ocean.
Recruit some holiday helpers
The great thing about moving during the Christmas break is that your family and friends are most likely available to help you with the packing – sweeten the deal by turning a packing day into a festive party, that way you get to catch up for the holidays as well as get some help with the heavy lifting!