2020 saw a surge in relocations across the United States. Driven by changes in income and socioeconomic status resulting from the pandemic, around 20% of respondents surveyed by move.org moved during 2020. 45% cited COVID-19 as the key motivation behind their moves, in many cases as the result of an eviction. As the U.S. opens up and families re-assess their financial and employment status, this trend is set to continue through the remainder of 2021.

Moving into a new house is always difficult. It can be stressful, expensive and time consuming, even if you don’t have other financial stresses on the side. If you have a family and are struggling to make ends meet, it can turn into a nightmare. In this article, I want to give some tips and tricks that have really helped me over the years, through several moves across the country. I hope it’s useful for you too!

Start Early

The most important piece of advice I can give is to start planning everything as early as you can. This will save you time, money, and above all, stress. Back when I was in freshman year, I moved out to live on my own. I was living in a tiny room in a house and I wanted to move to a better place. I didn’t want to spend much money on my moving process, so I decided to do everything myself. I rented a van, I packed all my stuff into boxes, and I moved the whole thing to my new apartment. The whole process took me two days, and I was so exhausted at the end of it. I didn’t have time to do anything else, and I felt like I had been run over by a truck. If I had started the whole process a month earlier, I could have made sure that I had time for the whole moving process, and I wouldn’t have been so exhausted by the end of it.

Start packing early to make sure that you will have time to do it all. Trust me, you’ll thank yourself for it later.

Don’t Stress About The Sale Price

A lot of people worry that they’ll lose out financially when they move. In my experience, this concern is usually overstated. Sure, there are a lot of costs involved – moving costs, new furniture and other purchases, and a brand new mortgage – but in a year or two you’ll forget about this as your financial situation becomes dominated by your new lifestyle, new job and so on. If you are in a hurry, find a trustworthy buyer and sell your home fast for cash. The peace of mind of not having to deal with real estate agents, extensive inspections and so forth can really be worth it for your mental health and wellbeing.

It’s Okay To Ask For Help

Moving into a new house is a stressful time. I’ve moved four times in the last five years, and I’ve found that there are some things that I can do by myself, and there are some things that I can’t do. If it’s something I can’t do, I hire people to help me. I’ve always found that I feel more relaxed and I don’t feel overwhelmed by the process when I have help. This is especially true when it comes to the packing of my belongings. When it comes to the actual moving, I don’t have problems finding people to help me out, but when it comes to the packing, I just feel so much better when I have a team of people helping me to pack everything.

Don’t be embarrassed about asking for help. If you don’t have any friends or family around to help you out, hire a professional moving company. The time and stress saved will be worth it.

Get To Know The New Area Quickly

After you move, it’s tempting to stay in your shell, talk to family and old friends and stick with what’s familiar. But make sure you explore your new surroundings as early as you can. You’ll meet new people, get better jobs, and have a better chance of finding happiness in your new home. Get to know your neighbors, get involved in the community and make new friends. Ask people to show you around. If you have kids, use that as an excuse to get to know other parents. Make the effort early, because it gets harder the longer you’ve been in a new place.

Hire A Professional

There are a couple of things that I found you can’t do by yourself when you move house – and this is true, even if you’re good at DIY. First of all, talk to a professional mover about help with packing and shipping. It’s a lot of work, and it’s not something I would recommend doing by yourself. Second, don’t try to sell your house yourself – it’s really not worth the hassle to save a small amount of money. Finally, when you arrive in your new place don’t feel like you have to do everything yourself when it comes to fixing up your new place. Hiring a painter, for example, can be the difference between a home that you love and one that you hate.

Enjoy It

Moving into a new house is a stressful process, and you shouldn’t expect it to be fun. However, it’s important to remember that it’s a one-time process, and it’s not going to happen again. Don’t think of it as something you’ll do again and again, and relax. Enjoy the process, enjoy your new home, and focus on the positive aspects of your new life rather than the negative ones.

I hope you enjoyed this article, and I wish you the best of luck in your future relocations!