Bryce Hansen Team Blog

Moving can be a huge task to tackle if you’re foregoing the route of hiring a professional moving company. An independent move delegates all of the responsibility from packing, purging and delivering to you and your dedicated team of friends and family. Even when movers are involved, there’s still some parts of the process the pros are not able to do. These five tips will help make your upcoming move easier on your little ones – and yourself!

Prepare a Plan for Moving Week
To have things run as smoothly as possible, get a plan of action ready ahead of time. Create a timeline for the whole week before your move-in date, so you know what to expect and you have some strategies in place. Consider which rooms to pack on what days, the logistics for getting everyone from point A to point B, and everything in between – right down to how you’ll be feeding your family without access to many of your kitchen items. What better time to indulge in a delivered meal from your favourite Courtenay restaurant? No detail is too small to plan ahead; you’ll be grateful you did!

Involve the Kids
Moving will be a lot more fun for your children if they’re included in the process. Have a conversation about which items or rooms they’ll be responsible for packing up. Turn it into an entertaining competition with small rewards along the way. Check in with them to hear how they’re feeling with all the changes going on. Talk about the great features of your new neighbourhood, so they’re excited to explore it and ready for new adventures!

The Perfect Time to Purge
“Review your real estate” when you’re packing up your items, reflect on whether you actually need to bring everything to your new home. If it hasn’t been used within the last 12 months, it’s likely safe to let it go. This goes for everything from clothing, to toys, to the accessories in each room. The usual culprits to especially comb through are the kitchen cupboards, bathroom storage spaces, and bedroom closets.

Create Bins to Keep, Donate, or Toss
Branching off the tip above, have your children help sort through their bedrooms and play areas to help downsize what makes the move. Have bins for them to decide what they want to keep and bring with them, donate to a local charity so another family can enjoy, and what has seen better days and just needs to be tossed. Gamification is a great way to make this fun for kids; for example, for every item they donate, they earn 5 minutes of screen time. 

Include Time to be Child-Free
As you’re approaching crunch time, your kids may be feeling overwhelmed – and you’ll likely want to have them out of the way so the heavy lifting and last minute management can be easier. To help everyone relax a bit throughout the tail end of the process, opt to have them spend a night or two with family or friends to free up your time to solely focus on the move. 

Give us a call today if you’re ready to make a move. From helping you find your perfect Comox Valley home, to discussing what to expect on closing day, we work together with you throughout the whole journey!