Finding a new home and relocating is never easy, but current world conditions have made the process a dangerous prospect.
If you’re moving across the country with a newborn, you need to be able to focus on your family and automate as much as possible.
Table of Contents
1.Reduce Before You Get on the Road
Take care to only move what you need and what you really love. This is the time to cull unneeded or unloved items.
Keep your high school trophies, but be ready to discard things that hold no emotional connection for you.
Additionally, make sure you remove duplications. Clothes that no longer fit can be sold or donated. Duplicate kitchen tools can be given to a family shelter or sold at a yard sale.
Think through your daily or weekly activities and get rid of objects that never come out of the drawer or closet.
2.Invest in Multi-Use Objects
If your nursery needs to be packed up, make sure that you have a pack and play or something similar so baby has a spot to sleep, play and be safe as you pack.
Consider also using a Finnish baby box inside the pack and play for sleeping and feeling cocooned and safe.
Eye contact and facial recognition are critical for newborns, so if you have a seat where baby can be tipped up to view the world when they’re awake, use it inside the pack and play.
A playpen can be a sturdy barrier to keep your little one from getting bumped, especially with movers in the space or even friends helping you pack.
3.Use Backpacks
Skip the over the shoulder diaper bags and use a backpack for baby gear. If you keep baby in a tummy pack so they’re close to your heart, using a backpack for
- diapers
- bottles
- a changing mat
and other gear will keep your hands free when you’re out and about.
Also, take care to use your suitcases at this time. Everyone in the household will need a suitcase of their own.
In this case, make sure you all have a change of clothes, bedding, a pillow, toiletries, and a towel.
When you get to your new home, you can have a bath and sleep on clean sheets at the end of a very long day.
4.Use Available Help
Friends will offer to help you move, so let them. Ask someone to take the baby for the day while your belongings are loaded onto the truck, especially if the temperatures are extreme.
Keeping the baby comfortable and giving you some space of mind is a great gift that a friend can offer.
If at all possible, the budget for professional help. This may mean hiring a service capable of shipping a car across the country or loading and strapping down your heaviest furniture.
If you’ve got a newborn, your body has been through a lot and lifting may be a challenge, so get some help.
5.Organize and Clean
Invest in colored dots and some packing tape. Every box that leaves your house needs a dot, securely stuck with the tape.
When you get to your destination, mark every door in the new home with the appropriate color so boxes can be set in the right room.
Will you need to open all these boxes and put things away? Yes. Will you need to lug boxes from room to room? Hopefully not.
Talk with your realtor about hiring a cleaning service to go through the new house from top to thoroughly clean it before you get there.
Your realtor will likely know a small business owner who specializes in rental cleanouts and can make your new home sparkle.
Get the carpets cleaned and the locks changed before you arrive. Your move-in day should be all about getting settled, not about cleaning up after someone else.
Moving is a great time to literally clear your life of clutter. If you’re moving with an infant, you’ll have to organize and pack in small bursts of time. Visit Military Movers for more details.
Do what it takes to make the relocation as simple and organized as possible, and get professional or volunteer help to assist you in settling in quickly for the sake of your family and your sanity.
