What Should You Bring When You Move to Your New Place? (A Comprehensive Overview)
There are so many emotions and logistics involved with moving, it can feel overwhelming. When you feel bogged down, it’s important to remember that moving can also be a chance to celebrate new opportunities: new home, new friends, and new “stuff.” Bringing along too many items will increase the cost of moving and also immediately clutter up your new home. If you’ve been collecting belongings over the years, moving to a new place is a great time to declutter and leave behind everything you don’t really want or need, taking with you only the items that make you feel happy or that have a purpose in your new home. But how do you decide which items to bring when you move?
1. Items With Practical Purpose
You should of course bring with you items that serve a practical purpose – but make sure they really do serve that purpose. For example, you may have accumulated way too many mugs or vases, or even clothing. Yes, they are practical, and you may even use all of them at one point or another, but do you really need them all? Can you cut down your collection by any percentage to save space in your luggage as well as space in your new home? Only take with you items you actually need. Try to pair down collections that are unnecessary.
2. Items With Sentimental Value
Some items don’t serve an actual practical purpose, but they have a lot of sentimental value. Whether it’s a book, jewelry, a tea set, a serving dish, or something else that was either passed down to you or that you bought with your family or friends on a special vacation, you definitely want to bring those items along. The only exception is if you secretly wish you could get rid of it. A move is a great time to also move on from some items you no longer want.
3. Items With Monetary Value
You may have some items that are not necessarily sentimental but they do carry a lot of monetary value. These items can include jewelry, artwork, rare books, and musical instruments. Unless you particularly don’t want to keep something, these items are useful to bring along with you.
4. Important Documents
It goes without saying, but make sure you bring with you all your important documents, including your family’s passports, forms of ID, medical records, bank records, documents about your house, invoices, and whatever other important documents you keep.
5. Everything Else You Might Bring When You Move
You likely have many belongings that are not necessarily practical, sentimental, or monetarily valuable. Many of these items, you can likely leave behind. However, some you may wish to keep, such as games, books, decor items, and so on. It’s important to go through everything while packing and deciding what to keep and what to give away, sell, or toss. Now is a great time to have a yard sale for all of the items you don’t want to bring with you when you move.
At Big John’s Moving, our expert movers will help you with the packing process, and will make sure your belongings end up safely at your new home. No matter how much or how little you bring with you, you can trust that we will take excellent care of your things so you can get started setting up your new home.
