It seems most of the tips on moving focus on what you need to do before you move – hire movers, make checklists, pack your things and load up everything. But what happens after the moving van drives away? You’re left with all your things and your new home. This time can be confusing, as it seems like you have a mountain of things to unpack (and you thought packing was hard!) and you don’t know exactly where to start or how to settle into your house. The best thing really is to start. Here are some tips to get you going:

• Relax – you’ve probably been planning this move for months, so just give yourself some time to breathe, even for just a few hours. Go outside and take a walk, play catch with your kids, or say hello to the neighbors. This will allow you to recharge before you get to the task of unpacking.
• Have all your utilities connected – hopefully you’ve made some arrangement to do this beforehand, but for most cases, doing this is as easy as making a phone call.
• Get something to eat – no doubt you haven’t had time to set up the kitchen, so take this opportunity to take a break and try a local restaurant of take-out/pizza place.
• Clean house – hopefully, when you arrive at the new house, the previous owners have cleaned up well or you’ve hired some professionals to take care of everything for you. However, if it’s been empty for a while, you may want to give everything a once over. Go room by room and see what needs to be done – wipe down surfaces before you place anything on them, clean the washbasins and sinks, remove all the dust and/or cobwebs, mop the floors, vacuum carpets, clean out the oven, etc.
• Unpack – ok, so unpacking may not be as simple as just taking everything out of the boxes. Organize everything and unpack room-by-room. Unpack all of your essentials first. Make sure you clean up completely, and don’t leave anything in their boxes.
• Everyone should pitch in – at the very least, each member of family should help and unpack their own rooms.
• Explore your new neighborhood – check out all the new places to go, like parks, malls, restaurants, as well as essential services like the post office, emergency room, police and fire stations.
• Have your medical records transferred – after you’ve done some initial research and have chosen the right doctor for you and your family, contact your old doctor to have all your medical history sent to the new doctor
• Update your address – as we discussed in a previous article, handing in a change of address form at the post office isn’t enough. You must contact everyone you do business with and update your new address with each of them
• Get back into your routine – after all the chaos of moving, you’ll want to get back to a normal life as soon as possible. This will insure that you can put all of that moving behind you and enjoy your new home.