12 Great Moving Tips for Newlyweds

Yaa Mansa got married to Kofi Atta one month ago. She lives and works in Kumasi whilst her husband lives and works in Accra. To make sure she can be close to her husband so that she can bond better with him, she has asked for, and been granted, a transfer to Accra. “This is the first time I am doing this. I would appreciate it if I could get some moving tips for newlyweds so that the experience will be a smooth one and not a stressful, frustrating one after all the stress we went through preparing for the wedding,” she says.

I am sure there are other newlyweds who may be facing the same challenge, who may be anxious about the situation and hungry for advice on how to go about moving.

So, whether it is the woman who is moving into the man’s home to live with him in the same town, or both of you are already living together but have to move to another part of your country soon after getting married, here are some tips that will help to make your transition a smooth one.

• Discuss with your spouse whether you will move everything out by yourselves or whether you will seek the help of helpful and reliable relatives and friends.
• If you are moving a short distance and you have a pick- up truck, you may choose to use it to transport belongings which may not suffer any serious damage, such as books, CDs, and suitcases.
• If you will use professional services, make arrangements with the truck renting, shipping, or moving company well ahead of the day on which you will move so that others do not hire them and cause you inconvenience.

• Start discussing when and how you will move in together as soon as the wedding is over. In addition, set a date for moving items, whilst you enjoy your honeymoon. This will help to reduce the stress you will experience when you are moving.
• On the other hand, planning late may make you rush things in the last hour, give you a lot more stress. Moreover, it may cause you to leave important items behind.
• Make sure all your valuable documents are stored safely in a secure box. move these to your husband’s house earlier.
• If the woman will be leaving her house to live with the man, she may choose to set aside an earlier day to move belongings that are easier to transport, such as clothes, jewelry, books and so on. You may choose to move these items the week you come home from your honeymoon.
• Plan to move heavier belongings or possessions which require careful handling, such as glassware and china or breakable dishes, at a later date.

If you work in an office where you can get printer-paper boxes, bring some of them home. These boxes are strong and can be used to transport most of the items you will move from your house. Furthermore, these boxes will save you the money you would pay to moving companies for boxes.

You may ask relatives and friends to also get some of these boxes from their offices as well so that you will have enough to help you transport your belongings.

If you are first time movers, take an inventory of all the things you own. You can decide that the husband will take the inventory for the bathroom, bedroom, junkroom, sitting room, and guestroom whilst the wife takes an inventory of the items in the kitchen, storeroom, drawers, and dressers.

After you have both finished with your tasks, reverse the roles so that the husband will check the possessions in the rooms where the wife took her inventory, and the wife will also do a re-check of the belongings in the rooms the husband went through earlier.

Then, compare your lists to see if they tally. This checking and re-checking will help you to do a thorough job so that you will not leave any of your belongings behind.

On one sheet of paper, write down the items you feel you will need in your new home. Title that list “Will Be Needed.” So, for example, your wedding photos, useful clothes, new shoes, important documents, working laptop and so on will be listed here.

On another sheet of paper, write down the things you don’t need anymore. Title that sheet of paper “Items We Don’t Need.” So, for example, if you have two laptops or three standing fans, those items will come under this category i.e. duplicate items or items you have in excess.

On a third piece of paper, write down things you feel are not relevant to your move. Title that list “No Longer Relevant.” Items such as gifts you have received from friends, damaged items, and old furnishings, books you are no longer interested in reading, and DVDs you feel you will never watch again can be listed here.

Then, discuss how you will leave the items listed as “Items We Don’t Need” and “No Longer Relevant” behind so that they do not make you incur unnecessary costs.

Here are a few things you can do to ensure you pack properly so that you do not put your valuable belongings at risk of getting damaged:

• Put heavy items in small boxes because if you put heavy possessions in large boxes, it will make the boxes heavy to carry.
• Use cellotape or packing tape to strengthen the bottom and corners of the boxes you will use to transport your belongings. This will give the boxes strength so that they can withstand the strain that your possessions will put on them.
• Line the bottom of the boxes with an unused or old towel. It will cushion your items so that they will not suffer damage, especially on rough roads.
• Wrap each item individually with a towel or a piece of bedsheet.
• Make sure each box is filled before you seal it. This will ensure that it will not get damaged when you are loading or unloading it.
• Place pieces of foam in between items in a box, in the spaces, to give the items extra-cushioning and also to ensure that your belongings do not shift unnecessarily during the journey.

Items such as drugs you are taking, credit cards, your identification papers and the clothes you will wear on the day you arrive, or a few days after, should all go into one box. Label the box “Will Need These Immediately.” It will make it easier to locate them immediately you arrive at your new location.

You might consider using coffee filters to transport items that may be damaged, instead of using clothes, towels, bed sheets and so on. It has advantages the traditional things used for packing do not have. Moreover, it can help you to save some money, in the long run.

• If you identify belongings that you will not need in your new home, choose to give them away to relatives who may need them.
• So, you may choose to give your gas cylinder to your sister or an extra microwave to your auntie. You may give the clothes you have not worn in a while to street children in your community, or donate them to an orphanage in your town or city.
• If you have a lot of stored food in the house in the days leading up to the day on which you will move, choose to give the perishable food items away to children or orphans in your church.
• Giving away what you don’t need will make you receive blessing from God which will help your marriage to succeed, and you will also get valuable help to make your marriage work, for Jesus said in Luke 6v38 of the Bible that, “…give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back.” Therefore, use this opportunity to attract blessings from God and from man.

Do your best to co-operate. Discuss all issues pertaining to the movement so that you and your spouse can make useful inputs. This will make you feel that you are in this together and it will promote your bonding a s a couple.

Learn to make compromises so that you can maintain the harmony in your relationship. For example, if you decide that you want to sell your shoes and your wife thinks you should give it to charity, do not let this develop into a quarrel. Agree with her so that you can move on.

Each spouse should try to put his ego aside and make sacrifices because you will continue to need that co-operation, spirit of compromise, and spirit of sacrifice, if you want your marriage to last till death parts you.

Pray

There are many things that can go wrong when you are travelling. Some people get involved in accidents, some are attacked physically by unscrupulous people along the way, and some fall sick when moving.

To forestall all these occurrences, and to ensure that your journey goes smoothly, commit the journey into the hands of the All-Powerful Protecting Jehovah so that He can protect you from any harm on the way and grant you a safe journey.

Therefore, both of you should pray a prayer such as, “Dear God, we thank you that you have helped us thus far. We thank you for helping us to find each other and also for helping us to marry. Lord, we are about to move. We know there are perils along the way. Please protect us and take us safely to our destination. Help us so that we will not suffer any tragedy which will affect us negatively and make us sad during this happy time. Let everything go smoothly and we will give you the glory when we arrive safely in our new home. Amen.”

• If you live in the United States and you are moving from one part of the country to another, do due diligence so that you can identify credible moving professionals who will ensure your belongings arrive safely without any damage.
• To find out the cost of moving, you need to contact a credible organization so that you can fill out the moving quote. They will then do a FREE in-house survey for you to determine your belongings. Generally, it costs about $4500 to do a cross- country move to a 3-bedroom home.
• Visit a consumer protection site such as ProtectYourMove.gov and check out the reputation and quality of the mover you want to hire.

If you use these moving tips for newlyweds when you are relocating, it will help you to avoid a great deal of stress. And then when you build trust, communicate properly, and solve conflicts in a peaceful manner, you will have a great marriage.

I wish you a happy married life!