Moving home can be a long process, but there’s nothing like the feeling of settling into your new home with all of your belongings around you. Before you can enjoy your new home though, you’ll need to unpack. This can feel like quite an overwhelming task, but with the right organisation, unpacking can be a breeze.
As one of the leading moving companies in the UK, Britannia Movers International has put together this guide to help you efficiently unpack after your move, so you can enjoy your new home with minimal stress.
For more expert advice and tips, read our guides on how to pack for a move and how to label moving boxes.
Walkthrough with your removal company
The first thing you should do once all your belongings are in your new home is to have a quick walkthrough with the removal company team leader. You should check all your furniture is in the right room and make sure nothing is left in the van.
At Britannia Movers International, we offer a dismantle and reassemble service for your furniture, where we can take apart items like bed frames and wardrobes and put them back together in your new home. This can save you a lot of time and stress, meaning you can focus on unpacking your belongings with everything already set up.
Check you have all your boxes
Your next step will be to check all your boxes have arrived. If you have an inventory list, you should check off all your boxes against the list. If anything looks to be missing, you should contact your removal company so they can rectify the problem.
Clean the rooms
If you haven’t already had the chance, your next step should be to give the rooms a quick clean, before you start properly unpacking. Ideally, you will have packed your necessary cleaning items into one box, so you know where to find everything you need.
The rooms will usually just need dusting and vacuuming, to spruce them up and ensure they’re fresh and ready for your items.
Put each box in the right room
Once the rooms are clean, you can organise your boxes. Your boxes should be clearly labelled with the room that they belong in, so you can easily put them into the relevant room. This should clear some space and make the job easier to tackle.
Find your essentials box
Hopefully, you will have packed an essentials box, that has everything you might need for the first few hours in your new home, for example, toilet paper, snacks, some basic kitchenware, hand towel, soap, scissors, etc. If you have moved late in the day, you should also make sure your bedding and toiletries like toothbrush and toothpaste are easily accessible, as it may make more sense to tackle the bulk of the unpacking the next day.
Unpack room by room
Once you start the unpacking proper, you should go room by room. This will make it a much more manageable job. If you have other people helping, it might make sense to have a few people unpacking separate rooms. For example, teenage children might prefer to unpack their own bedrooms and even young children might prefer to organise their own rooms to a degree. This has the added benefit of helping them to feel more comfortable in their new space.
Generally, it can work best to unpack your rooms in the following order:
- Bathroom
- Kitchen
- Bedrooms
- Living room
- Utility and storage areas – garage, loft etc.
Your least crucial items should be left until last in each room. If you need to hang artwork on the walls, this can be left until everything else in the home is unpacked. Remember, your main aim when unpacking is to get the home into a condition where it’s liveable – making it look good can wait until later. Even so, make sure you don’t leave it too long to hang artwork and photos, as this will help to make your new house feel like your home.
Dispose of packing material as you go
Your boxes and packing materials can really start to pile up when you’re unpacking. Staying on top of it can help to stay organised. Once you empty a box, flatten it and put it to one side.
If you have packing materials that will be going back to the removal company to be recycled, make sure this all stays together. If you have rubbish that you need to dispose of, put everything that can’t be recycled into a bin bag as you go, and maybe keep a box built to keep everything that can go into general recycling.
Don’t rush
The important thing to remember when you unpack is not to rush. Of course, you’ll want to get your home set up how you want it as quickly as possible, but putting a deadline on yourself can make for a stressful experience.
If you unpack in a systematic way, staying with the essentials so you can eat, drink, wash and sleep, and moving on to the less urgent things, you’ll still be able to enjoy your new home in good time. It won’t be the end of the world if you have a box or two of books or artwork that stays unpacked for a few days until you have everything else sorted.
Moving home?
Let Britannia Movers International take the stress out of your move. We provide first-class removals and storage services across the UK and can also manage international moves. We’ll tailor our services to your specific needs, to ensure your moving day is a success.
Find your nearest Britannia office or get a removals quote today.
