How To Keep Yourself Organized While Unpacking

1. Planning Your Packing
2. Unpack One Room At A Time
3. Your Own Plan
4. Keep An Inventory List

You have successfully moved. Congratulations. Hopefully, throughout this experience, you have kept everything organized and relatively neat and clean. Despite all of this the final stage of your moving adventure, unpacking, has the potential to destroy all of that carefully engineered organization. Here are some tips to keep unpacking from becoming chaotic and driving everyone in the home crazy.

Planning Your Packing

Strange as it may sound, how you have packed initially will determine how easy your unpacking process will be. Keep the following tips in mind:

• Keep like items together
• Label all boxes as to items contained and/or room
• Take all boxes to their appropriate rooms once they are unloaded from the truck

This will keep you from having to run all over the house, taking assorted items in one box to another room. It also allows you to finish up one room at a time and then move on to the next, in a very methodical and organized way.

Unpack One Room At A Time

When you first arrive at your new house, you should immediately unpack the essential items. These should have been kept with you in the car, so they are readily available. Beyond this, you want to focus on one room at a time. It makes no sense doing a little unpacking in the kitchen, then a bit in the bedroom and finally going to the living room; this is a sure way to create chaos and an unorganized mess.

Many experts would tell you to start with the bedroom since it is where you spend probably the most time. From there, the next room to unpack would be the kitchen, in order to be able to start cooking meals, cleaning dishes and all of the fun stuff of normal daily life. Then the bathrooms, and from there, the family room, dining room, and basement, etc...

Your Own Plan

Of course, your own unpacking plan or schedule may be different. Do whatever works for you and your particular situation. The main thing is to just have a plan. Even drawing out a very quick and simple layout of the new home beforehand can give you an idea of how you want things to look. You'd be surprised at how much such a vision can help you stick to your plan. Just be sure that all of your furniture and other items are exactly where you want them before you start unpacking boxes.

Keep An Inventory List

Another great way to stay organized while you unpack is to keep an inventory list of everything you have packed. Take this with you as you unpack each box and check off the items as the come out and are put in their proper place. This is also a great double check on the moving company; if anything is damaged that was not noted on the bill of lading, you may need to contact the FMCSA for help.