What To Do After Moving Into Your New Home

Mar 6, 2018

So you spent months learning how to pack everything, packed everything little by little, put them in a truck and brought everything to your beautiful new home. Congratulations!

But it’s not over. The hardest part is yet to come. Arriving to a place with a truck and living there are two different things. Add to that a disheveled house, boxes all over the place, new streets and schedules to get used to, and We.Have.a.Situation.

You could be nervous about setting everything up in the new house, anxious about your new neighbors or worried how the move could affect your child. To ease you into the whole “moving-to-a-new-home” experience (read –chaos), Busy Bee Texas Movers presents a comprehensive guide of Things to Do After Moving into Your New Home.

Unpacking

Packing can be overwhelming for most people. And unpacking, even more so. With the umpteen numbers of boxes to open up and the zillion things they hold, unpacking can be quite daunting. Here is our attempt to make unpacking easier for you.

Hopefully, you have put some thought into packing your belongings properly so that you do not get lost while unpacking. Make sure you have a copy of the list of inventory that you made or one that your movers provided.
We suggest that you unpack your “essentials box” first. These are the items that you use on a daily basis and sometimes more than once a day. This box will also be the one you packed last.
Your kitchen comes next. At this point, it is wise to only unpack the utensils that you absolutely need for a couple of days. Take out a few pots and pans for now. The delicate China set that you packed so carefully can wait until later. Plug in the big appliances (refrigerator, microwave) and small essential appliances like the toaster and the coffee maker (because you need coffee!)
Now, assemble the beds and bring out the linens for each room. Make the beds and you are done with the bedroom for now.
Then, it’s your bathroom’s turn. Again, only unpack things that are absolutely necessary. Your “essentials box” will provide most of the items. Also unpack some towels and the shower curtain.
If you were proactive enough to make layout plans for your home before you moved in, arranging furniture will be easy. If you have not, you can start by arranging the large furniture first. Do this one room at a time and only start assembling the large furniture once you have decided where you want them so that you do not have to move them once it has been set up.
Each member of the family can then proceed to unpacking their own bedrooms.
Garage is one of the last rooms to be unpacked. Then, you can take your own sweet time to set up your patio.

It should be understood that unpacking all the boxes you brought along will take more than a few days – weeks or even months. Have patience, but don’t be lazy. As you make your new house/apartment your “home”, you will develop a better picture in your mind about how you want everything to be set and placed.

After the Move – Some More Things to Take Care Of

Unpacking is only one part of what you need to do after moving to a new house. Here are some of the things you need to pay attention to after your big move.

Make sure that all documents and receipts related to your new house are kept safely somewhere.
Hopefully, you have informed all your mail to be redirected to a relative’s or a friend’s house. When you have settled down for some time in your new home, it is time to get your mail at your own house, don’t you think? Stop by your old post office (if you haven’t already) and tell them about what needs to be done.
Contact utility companies for electricity, gas, water, telephone, internet, cable, garbage and sewer. If yours is a per-owned home, contacting the previous owners is a good idea.
Find out where the main circuit breaker is and label it. Do the same with the main water shut-off line.
Identify emergency exits and inform all members of the family. Also create an emergency list of all local information and make sure your family knows about it.
Check the smoke detectors. Repair, replace or add smoke detectors based on your findings.
Get your locks changed.
Find a good school and enroll your kids.
If you moved to another state or another country, register your car, get new plates and driver’s license. Also, don’t forget to register to vote.
Find your family a doctor, dentist and vet.

New to the neighborhood – Socializing

Moving to a new neighborhood can be hard on you emotionally. Saying goodbye to familiar faces to live somewhere new can make you uncomfortable and it is only natural. But if you are going to live somewhere, you are going to have to make new friends and socialize. After all, we are social beings and need human contact to grow.

Logistically speaking too, having friends in your immediate surrounding can be beneficial to you. Everyone likes the feeling of being a part of a community and not feeling like a stranger in their own neighborhood.

If you are wondering about how to make friends in your neighborhood, here is a list of things that you can do to make new friends.

Take A Walk: A lot of times, we forget the simple joys of taking a walk. You are not going to be socializing by staying home. Take the dog out for a walk or go by yourself. Even if you don’t make a friend, you will get to know your way around the neighborhood.

Join A Club – Or Start Your Own!: Nothing is more essential than having the same interests when it comes to making new friends. Join a book club, morning walkers’ group or a movie club – your options are limitless! If you don’t find something to join in, go ahead and be the one to start a club.

Eat Together: I believe that you don’t really know someone until you have shared a meal together. Invite your new friends over for lunch, dinner, tea party – anything that fancies you. You can even go beyond that and host an outdoor BBQ, a potluck or a tailgate party.

Be Responsible: Take initiatives for bringing in new ideas or making things better in your community. Active participation in activities like neighborhood watch or community cleaning campaigns will bring you to engage with other members of the society.

Go online: Websites like Next door.com are great for meeting with people from your area. It can be used for a lot of things from organizing a community Christmas party to alerting neighbors about any crisis.