Moving to a new home? This is always an exciting time for the family as it is the start of a new chapter, and it will be a house where you all make happy memories together. Moving home can also be stressful especially with kids, and this is particularly true if you are moving to an entirely new area. It is important that you all settle quickly and start to feel at home, but this is not something that happens overnight. There are a few tips which will help you to settle sooner rather than later so that you can start making new memories with your family.
Unpack As Soon As Possible
After a big move, many people end up living out of boxes for a few weeks, but this will only make it harder to settle. You should unpack as soon as possible and try to recreate some of your old home in the new house, such as having a similar furniture layout in the lounge. Additionally, unpacking items like family photographs and familiar decorative items will help you and the kids to settle quickly.
Meet The Neighbors
You should also introduce yourself to the neighbors as soon as possible. It is always helpful to have a familiar face around, and you might find that they give you a few tips on living in the area. Try to develop a friendly relationship with your direct neighbors and others on your street, and it will soon start to feel like home. You could even invite a few over for drinks one evening to show your hospitality.
Spend Time In The House
A new house can feel strange and unfamiliar at first. This will start to fade when you spend quality time in the house so try to have a few quiet nights in when you first move – movie nights, family dinners and even games like hide and seek can help the kids to familiarize with their new setting.
Explore The Area
Although it is helpful to spend time in the house, you also need to get out and explore the local area so that you can get your bearings and find out where places like the nearest shop and grocery store are (your neighbors are likely to help you out with this too). Exploring the area also allows you to soak up the atmosphere, meet people from the area and generally get used to living in the area.
Get A Quality Maintenance Team
Hopefully the new home will not need any repairs or work, but problems can occur at any moment. You will not want to waste time searching for the best maintenance providers in an emergency, which is why you should get numbers for the best maintenance companies in the area as soon as you move in. You should search for “plumbers in my area” online or speak to a neighbor to get their recommendation and also find numbers for an electrician and general handyman.
Get Involved With The Local Community
Leading on from this, it is easy to feel like an outsider when you move to a new area, which makes it much harder to settle. You can quickly get over this hurdle by getting involved with the local community and by making new friends. Getting involved at the school is the easiest way to do this, but you should also look out for events happening in the area so that you are getting out and about and meeting new people.
Test Run Work &School
New journeys are always stressful, and you never know how long they will take until you actually make the trip. Therefore, doing a test run for both work and school is a smart idea so that you can avoid stress on the first day while also making sure that everyone arrives on time.
Stick To A Routine
Moving home can be disruptive, and children thrive on routine. It means that you need to create and stick to a routine as soon as possible and ideally this will be similar to the routine that they had in the old house. This will include aspects like getting up at the same time, having breakfast together, leaving for school at the same time and having the same bedtime.
Moving home is always exciting, but it can also be disruptive, stressful and emotional. Hopefully these tips will help you and your family to settle into your new house quickly so that you are able to enjoy this new chapter.