Moving into a new home comes with a handful of hassles. From moving your stuff to dealing with utility bills, making your move easier will help you settle in and move forward with life in your new home.

Organize Your Utility Bills

With each new home and apartment comes a whole slew of new utility bills, and leaving your old home means closing out your old accounts. Staying organized will help make the transition as smooth as possible.

Call your utility companies for your old home ahead of time and give them your last day living in the property to get the accounts closed automatically when you move out.

For your new utilities, make sure you have everything lined up for move in ahead of time if possible. Common utilities include water, electricity, natural gas, and garbage services.

Organize and Label Moving Boxes

When you are packing up your old home, make sure to organize moving boxes by room and label them. Having a truckload of unlabeled boxes show up at your new home makes unpacking a slow, tedious process.

To take it a step further, color code packing tape so you know which boxes are most important to unpack first and which can wait a little longer.

Do as Much Packing as Possible Before Your Truck Arrives

Don’t wait until the last minute to pack, get as much done as possible ahead of time so your move day goes smoothly.

In some cases movers will help you pack, but if you can pack ahead of time, it will save you money and speed up the process of getting out of the house. If you can take care of packing up the boxes, the movers will take care of the heavy lifting.

If You Have Housing Overlap, Take Carloads Early

Sometimes you get a week or two of overlap where you have access to both your old home and your new home. If you are moving in the same city, take advantage of the overlap and take over a few carloads ahead of time.

Moving hanging clothing that you won’t need until after the move, small bathroom items, and fragile items like computers and small electronics which are best moved ahead of time to avoid damage.

If you are moving a long distance, still pull out those fragile and valuable items so they don’t go on the truck.

Bonus tip, brings kids and pets over to get acquainted with their new home ahead of time to avoid moving day shock.

Setup One Room at a Time

Trying to conquer the entire home in one day may be biting off more than you can chew. Instead, focus on one room at a time so you can get little victories along the way.

As the truck is unloaded, boxes should be moved to the right part of the home thanks to your labeling in #2 above. Pick the most important and quickest rooms first, like the bedrooms, before moving on to more complex parts of the home like a home office or the kitchen.

Pack Your Toothbrush, Toiletries, and Bedding Separately

It would be no fun at all to show up to your new home and not have your toothbrush and pajamas available. Just as bad is having your bed but no sheets or pillows. Pack the most important essentials for day one in their own box or bag. Consider taking that with you in the car rather than putting it on a moving truck where it could get lost with your other boxes.

Anything vital to your first day should be pulled aside including medications, toiletries, sheets, blankets, and pillows.

Order in for Dinner

You have enough to worry about on moving day without wasting mental space on what’s for dinner. Plan to order in for your first night in your new home so you don’t have to find the pots and pans and dishes and silverware and something to cook.

Pizza is a great first dinner at home, as is Chinese, or anything that delivers to your new front door.

Make Moving Connections with a Great Agent

Moving is overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be terrible or without help. If you have a helpful real estate agent, moving into your new home is much easier. A great agent can connect you with moving companies, utility companies, and might even know the best pizza joint in your new neighborhood.

If you are buying or selling a house and are looking to hire a successful real estate agent to help you through the process, take a look at AgentHarvest's list of top-ranking local Realtors in your area. We found these agents by examining their sales track records, awards, rankings, client testimonials and by conducting personal interviews.