Moving Into a New Home: Unpacking Strategies

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Moving Into a New Home: Unpacking Strategies

Ramona Branson · Aug 22, 2017

Unpacking

The movers are gone, and now all you’re left with is a bunch of boxes in complete disarray. Moving can be stressful, but unpacking is the best part. You not only get to become more acquainted with your new home, but you also get a chance to reorganize your things and create a better living space for yourself.

There’s not really a right or a wrong way to unpack your home, but there are some strategies that will help you get the job done quickly and enjoy your new place in no time. Here are the best unpacking strategies to use when you move into a new apartment.

Get Your Bed Ready for a Good Night’s Rest

As we all know, moving can be flat-out exhausting. That’s why you need to be able to lay your head down on a pillow and fall asleep just as soon as humanly possible. After you make a pathway between all the boxes, be sure to clear a space for your bed in your designated sleeping area (whether that be a bedroom or just a corner if you’re in a studio). Once you’ve put the frame together and gotten the box springs and mattress situated, you’ll want to make your bed up and get it all set for when you’re ready to collapse after such an exhausting day.

Next, Unpack Your Bathroom Essentials

There’s nothing like a hot shower in your new bathroom after a long day of moving. After you get your bed ready for a good night’s sleep, it’s a good idea to get your bathroom prepped for that shower. Locate your shower curtain and rings (or buy some if need be), and unpack a few towels and toiletry items to get you set for the first couple of nights. Things like the medicine cabinet, makeup, and hair tools can stay boxed for another couple of days as you get the rest of your things unpacked.

Continue with the KitchenUnpacking - Kitchen

The kitchen is where many of us spend a lot of our time. Whether it’s making coffee, heating up a Lean Cuisine, or preparing a gourmet meal for all of our friends and family, the kitchen is the heart of every home, and unpacking yours early on will make your new place feel more like a home. If you’ve labeled your moving boxes, then go for the ones that say “kitchen” before unpacking anything else. Examine your space and determine where your appliances, plates, silverware drawer, pantry, and everything else should be. Organize your cabinets by putting your least-used items in the back — think one-use appliances like a quesadilla maker — and then work your way forward to your most-used items, like a coffee pot or rice cooker. Your goal should be to have your kitchen unpacked and ready for a meal within the first couple of days. Takeout can get old, after all!

Move On to the Living Room

Your living space is your entertainment zone. Your television, books, magazines, and video games will all likely be stored here, and you’ll no doubt feel more at home once those things are unpacked. Start unpacking the living room by configuring your furniture the way you’d like it to be set up. You want to make your living space work for the kind of living room you need. For example, do you spend a lot of your living room time binge-watching Netflix? Then you probably want to point your furniture toward the entertainment center. If you’re more into hosting dinner parties and reading books in your living room, you may want to angle your furniture in a more conversational way.

After your furniture is arranged, you’ll want to hook your electronics up, so locate your Roku, Xbox, etc. and get them all connected. Of course, a lot of these things can’t be utilized until your internet has been switched on, but you can still get it prepared in the meantime. If you own a lot of books, you’ll also want to scope out a good location for bookshelves and start unpacking all of your favorite reads so that you can enjoy them as soon as possible.

Finally, Odds and Ends

We don’t realize just how much stuff we actually own until we move. When we unpack, we’ll inevitably find tons of random odds and ends that need to be stored so that we don’t just have a pile of things in the middle of the floor. Nonetheless, you should resist the temptation to shove these things in inconspicuous places just because you want to be done with unpacking. Be thoughtful in how you put your remaining belongings away, whether it’s all of the love notes you received in middle school or a CD collection that you just can’t seem to throw or give away. If you’re finding that you simply don’t have enough room for your stuff, think about purchasing some hanging shelves, storage ottomans, or under-the-bed storage drawers.

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