How to Make Your New Home Feel Like Home

Stepping through the door of a new home can be unsettling, but there are ways to make it feel like yours. With these easy changes, you'll soon have an inviting space!

Settling in is an essential step when moving, especially with children. Involving your kids in unpacking will help them quickly adjust to their new home and routine.

Top Ways to Make Your New Home Feel More Like Home

1. Take a Tour

The ideal way to become familiar with your new space is by taking a tour. Get an understanding of how everything fits together and which areas of the house can be utilized for specific tasks. This will give you valuable insight into how everything functions together as one cohesive unit.

2. Add Your Personal Touch

Personalizing your new home with some of your favorite items can go a long way toward making it feel more like home. This could include displaying family photos or choosing some new pieces of artwork.

3. Get Organized

Organizing your home is one of the most essential steps you can take to make it feel like yours. While this task requires effort and focus, success can be achieved with some discipline.

Begin your organizing journey by creating a list of rooms and closets that need attention, then allot some time for each one.

Once you create a system, it becomes much easier to stay motivated. Once organized, decluttering and reorganizing becomes second nature.

Stay organized throughout the process, and soon enough your new place will feel like home. What a great way to start off your year! Whether you just moved in or have lived there for years, these tips will help ease you into your new environment.

4. Fill It with Your Favorite Things

One of the great benefits of owning a new home is having complete freedom to design its interior. That way, you won't be stuck with whatever your neighbors use and can quickly and easily add your personal flair if desired.

Make sure your family enjoys spending time in the space you've invested in by selecting appropriate decor choices and including quirky gimmicks and whimsies wherever possible. You may even feel free to go all out on some indulgences!

5. Hang Out on the Front Porch

A front porch of a new home can be an inviting spot to unwind and socialize with neighbors. Not only that, but the porch also serves as an introduction point between you and the people living next door.

Though you might think your front porch is nothing but an empty space, there are a few easy steps you can take to make it feel more like a cozy hangout spot.

Porch furniture provides an inviting area to sit and chat with neighbors. Chairs, swings and benches can all be purchased easily for this purpose.

Add some greenery to your front porch by including plants. Select hardy varieties that will thrive in your climate and stand up to exposure to weather and sunlight.

6. Make Some New Friends

Moving can be a lonely endeavor. Even if you have family and friends to spend time with, it can still be challenging to feel connected to your new community.

However, it's possible to build a social network in a new city - and you don't have to do it alone! Here's how!

Joining groups, classes and team sports are great opportunities to connect with like-minded individuals. Additionally, with easy-to-use apps such as Nextdoor, you can access an ever-expanding network of potential friends.

How to Start Planning Your Summer Move Now

Summer time is the most common time of year to move to a new home and you’ll find that everyone else is doing the same thing. The only downside to this time of year is you’re going to be dealing with that summer heat while you’re carrying heavy boxes and trying to navigate to the new place.

On the flip side, the crummy winter weather is behind us and the April showers have brought those May flowers. Fall is a busy time of year to try to move with school in session, sports, and the holidays approaching, so summertime is a great time to stop what you’re doing and get into your dream home. Take a look at these tips that will make your summer move a great one.

Plan ahead

The best way to have a great move any time of year is to plan ahead. When it comes to your summer move, you’ll want to make sure you start planning the winter before so that you can start implementing the tasks in the spring up until the move.

Three months in advance you’ll want to choose your moving date, look ahead at the weather for that date, get your moving quotes, and start de-cluttering your space. You’ll also want to make sure you’ve found your new home.

A month before the move, you’re going to want to order your moving supplies, donated or sold items you are going to purge before the move, start packing and requested time off work for the move. You’ll also want to use this time to start switching over utilities and updating your payment records and addresses on everything from credit cards to services you use.

Two weeks out is when you’ll hire a cleaning crew or clan yourself. You’ll need to update your insurance to make sure you are covered during a move and you’ll want to make sure the new place will allow truck parking for the day.

The week before is the time to empty the fridge, clean the oven, pack your bags, snap photos of your stuff, and double check the weather. That way the day before you are just confirming arrival times, grabbing cash from the ATM for anything you need, preparing for the heat with sunscreen and bottled water, and packing for your pets.

Stay cool

It’s going to be really important to stay cool on moving day. Consider children and pets’ heat safety as well. Stock up on cold water and ice for everyone to stay hydrated. Also, be sure to have a personal mist fan available and cooling towels to keep your body temperature lower.

While many fear moving in the winter for too cold of temperatures, moving during hot temps can be just as dangerous. Be sure to wear breathable closing, keep air-conditioning ready and available, wear protective footwear, and have sunglasses and a hat ready to go for that bright sun.

Hire a great crew

Of course, hiring a great moving crew is going to make the move all that better. A reputable Chicago moving company will be able to keep you and your household goods safe during a hot summer move and will help you to avoid any heat-related disasters. Make sure to book well in advance because this is a popular time of year to move and the moving companies are more popular than ever.

Be careful of extreme temps

Speaking of extreme temperatures be careful with your belongings in these temperatures. While it may not seem that bad when you first step outside, you’ll quickly find that that sun beating down on you is not ideal. That means that you have to take some extra precautions to protect your things from the heat.

If anything needs climate control, be sure to pack that last to allow it to stay in the air conditioning longer and consider it going in your vehicle to ensure it has room to breathe and stay cool, such as your plants or valuables.  Heat-sensitive items should be packed carefully, such as electronics that could be damaged from extreme temperatures. Consider purging some things and holding a yard sale to sell some of the things you won’t need in the new house in order to have less stuff to move on moving day.

Watch your budget

Finally, watch your budget during your upcoming move. It may be tempting to go out for a cold drink after your move or eat out at restaurants all week during your move, but you will incur a lot of expenses doing so.

Summer is already such a popular time to move that you may have spent more on the home than you planned and now you’ll be spending on things like outdoor patio chairs and swimming supplies for your new home. Be careful about working out a great deal with your moving crew, choosing reusable moving supplies, and try to keep your routine as much as possible to decrease extra costs during the move.

It’s time to start planning for your summer move now. Use these tips to stay cool, be prepared, and start getting to work just a few months ahead of the move!

Moving Day Etiquette: What you should and shouldn’t do for your movers

When moving day arrives, you want to be properly prepared. Moving day etiquette is important you should know what you should and shouldn't do for your movers.

Some of the things you may or may not do for your movers also depend on what you hired them to do for you. For example, if you hired your movers to pack for you, it's not necessary to finish packing before they arrive. However, if you didn't hire your movers to do your packing, you should be done packing before they arrive.

Here are a few other things you should know about moving day etiquette before your big day arrives.

Label Your Boxes Properly

Labeling your boxes with the room they belong to will make it easier on your movers. You can even color-code the labeling for each room to make it even easier for your movers to know where everything needs to go once it arrives at your new home.

In addition, make sure you label any fragile items clearly. Put the word "fragile" on all sides of the box and make it obvious.

Don't Make Boxes Too Heavy

It's better to make your boxes smaller and lighter than larger and heavier. Make sure you pack in a way that allows every box to easily be picked up and moved. Even the strongest movers may struggle to lift large, heavy, and awkward boxes on the day of your move.

Get Out of Their Way

While you should remain present on the day of your move, you don't want to be in the way. Make sure you give your movers access to easily move your things and make sure you let them do the job you hired them to do.

Reserve an Elevator

If you live in a high-rise building, make sure you reserve an elevator, if possible, for the day of your move. It's not a good idea to expect movers to carry your items down several flights of stairs because you didn't book the elevator for the time of your move.

Provide Hydrating Beverages

Your movers will appreciate a bottle of water or a sports drink during the process, especially on hot days. Even in the winter, providing a beverage (maybe a hot cup of coffee in the morning) can be a nice way to welcome your movers to your home.

Remove Pets and Small Children, if Possible

If you can, send your spouse with the children and pets ahead of time. Even if they just go to the local dog park, keeping them out of the way of the movers is best for all parties involved.

You don't want your children getting hurt because they got in the way and the same goes for your pets. Plus, this can be a very stressful thing for small children and pets. It's best to keep them out of the way on moving day by removing them from your home while the packing is underway.

Make Sure You Are Present

If one of the movers has a question, you should be present to answer the question. They will also need to double-check things as they pack and sign the paperwork. Make sure you're easily accessible on moving day or at least make sure they know where to find you, if necessary.

Moving day is a big day for most people. After you've hired the right moving company for your residential move in Chicago, make sure you follow the tips above. You'll have better moving day etiquette simply by following this advice and your movers will appreciate it.