While finding a new home or a new city might be an exciting prospect, it is hard to find a homeowner who enjoys the moving process. Moving to a new home can be a challenging event, requiring plenty of planning. With some early strategizing and some professional help, preparing your home for sale, locating a new one and getting your belongings inside and unpacked can be a piece of cake—or at least not an overly stressful event.

The first step
Before getting ready to move, most homeowners need to put their old home on the market, and doing that entails more than just sticking a For Sale sign in the front yard. According to Beverly Harris, an accredited staging pro and partner of SmartMoves LLC, a home on the market should be as neutral as possible. “The way you sell a home and the way you live in a home are two completely different things,” she says. Just because your daughter loves her purple walls does not mean that a homebuyer will. And family heirlooms might not look as precious to strangers considering making your house their new home.

Creating a neutral environment involves what the experts call “decluttering.” This process can actually begin months in advance, with the process of sorting through your belongings. Decide what you need and what you don’t. If there is a box that has not been unpacked since your last move or things that have not been used in more than two years, chances are, they should go. Hold a garage sale to get the unwanted items out of your home. Keep in mind this tip from Sue Williams with An Eye for Order: “Don’t move something you don’t need.”

During the decluttering process, you also can start packing the items you don’t use regularly. This is a good time to complete a home inventory by creating a list of your belongings. Additionally, as you pack boxes, take two pictures of what’s inside —put one with the box, and keep the other for yourself. That way, in the event that something gets lost, you will have a record and picture of what is missing. And, of course, label the boxes clearly.

Safekeeping
During the selling process, extra furniture and boxes can be kept in storage to maintain a tidy setting. Storage units are available with either climate-controlled or non-climate-controlled environments. Mobile storage is another convenient option. With mobile storage, the company only has to load and unload your belongings once. “It works well for clients who need to declutter their home as they are getting ready to put it on the market for sale, as well as for clients who need to store their belongings for a short period of time and live in condominiums or apartment homes,” says Giancarlo Paggi with Truck & i Moving & Storage. Some storage units also cater specifically to valuables like art and antiques.

Whichever option you choose, make sure you can access your belongings easily and that the storage center is in a good area of town. Storage units generally are priced by the month, according to the size or weight of goods being stored.

Start packing
Once it is time to begin packing for the actual move, you will need to gather supplies. Storage companies are great places to find everything you’ll need: boxes, tape, paper, bubble wrap and pads. These supplies also can be ordered online, or the moving company you choose might provide the necessities. For example, Truck & i will either deliver the supplies to your door or have them ready for you to pick up. “After we move you into your new home, we will credit you for any unused packing supplies or boxes,” Paggi says.

You should start packing up to eight weeks in advance if you are planning to do the job yourself. Begin by working on one room at a time, starting with rooms that don’t get much use, like the dining room. Make sure that the size of each box relates to its contents. A box of books should be a small one if you hope to lift it. For fragile items, “you can’t use too much paper,” Williams says, and make sure to use plenty of tape on the bottom of a cardboard box. It’s up to you to guarantee the safety of your belongings if you are doing the packing. Moving companies will only insure what they have packed unless the box shows signs of mishandling. If you have something special or particularly valuable, you might want to move it yourself. “That way you will have the peace of mind that it’s gotten to your new home safely,” says Bootsie Johnson, an organizer with InPlace Unpacking & Organizing.

However, there are ways to get around doing your own packing. One option is to hire the movers to do the packing before they move your belongings. This way, they will be responsible for all of the items. A second alternative is to enlist a turnkey moving-services company like SmartMoves, whose team can pack everything in an organized manner, making it easier to unpack. This type of company will then work with the mover to make sure everything arrives safely. Hiring someone to pack for you also requires less lead-time—the team can usually finish the job in a couple days.

Of course, all boxes must be labeled, and since your new home will have a different setup, labels should reflect these new rooms. What belonged in the living room at the old home might be intended for the family room at the new place. Boxes with breakables should be clearly marked “fragile.” It’s also a good idea to label some boxes “unpack first” and fill them with whatever items are most important to you, whether it is the coffee maker, the iron or your favorite book.

Finding a mover
When choosing between large and small moving companies, the decision usually stems from the distance of the move. “Generally, large moving companies do interstate moves, like corporate relocations nationwide,” Paggi says. “Smaller companies, on the other hand, do local and some long distance moves.” It’s best to get at least three estimates for your move, along with references from each company. Check these companies with the American Moving and Storage Association and the Better Business Bureau. Keep in mind that if you are moving a long distance, your belongings might share a truck with someone else’s belongings, which makes your home inventory even more important. For faraway moves, the company will charge by weight and distance, while in-town moves are priced by the hour. For Truck & i, the local hourly rate with two men begins at about $75 to $95 per hour. Larger crews with multiple trucks can run up to $200 to $300 per hour.