0:00

Today

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on Clear Your Clutter Inside and

0:03

Out, we're talking about tips

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for moving. Are

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you moving or planning to move soon

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and it feels like chaos? Does

0:15

the thought of moving make your blood pressure go

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up? What

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are some red flags for moving companies? Learn

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moving tips as we continue our month

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focusing on downsizing. Does

0:29

your clutter own you? On

0:32

Clear Your Clutter Inside and Out, we'll

0:34

teach you how to become aware of your clutter

0:37

along with action steps to declutter

0:39

and create the life you desire. Come

0:42

on, let's get started.

0:43

Today's

0:47

episode was inspired because we're

0:49

downsizing. I

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am organized. We

0:55

for the most part don't

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have clutter. We

1:00

have stuff and doing the downsizing

1:02

has forced us to release

1:04

even more, but boy, is it

1:06

stressful. I have not moved

1:10

into a house. I haven't sold a house for over 12 years.

1:12

I sold a condo when I lived in Los Angeles. I

1:15

had forgotten how stressful this process

1:18

is. Especially if you're not organized,

1:20

it's going to be really important to have some

1:23

moving initiative. I wanted

1:25

to share some statistics. I'm a stat girl

1:28

and I think it's been a long time since I've shared

1:31

statistics or at least as many on a

1:34

episode. So moving is one of the most

1:36

stressful events. Nearly one in

1:38

four people rate it as the most

1:40

stressful life event. I

1:42

have not felt this anxious

1:45

and stressed out and again, I'm on top of everything

1:47

in a really long time. I

1:49

got this information from the infographics.blogspot.com,

1:54

stress of moving. The

1:56

pressure associated with moving makes

1:58

people look and feel too. years older and

2:01

suffer age-related symptoms. I

2:04

tell you guys I'd have to agree with that one. 19% of

2:08

people suffer symptoms of anxiety. I'd

2:10

say it's a lot more than that. 14% of

2:13

people suffer short-term memory loss.

2:16

Gratefully, that has not

2:18

been me. 10% of

2:20

people living in house suffer hair loss. I

2:24

am very fortunate to have a nice good thick set

2:26

of hair and have not experienced that.

2:29

Now this is what I thought was

2:31

the most interesting of all these statistics.

2:34

The common things people forget to

2:36

take or do while moving. Keys

2:39

and valuables, the

2:41

garage door remote. I can actually get

2:44

that one. The keys not so much. Address

2:47

change notification and

2:50

turning off services such as water. The

2:54

biggest thing I can tell you is to again

2:56

focus on the present moment because

2:59

there are things no matter how we plan,

3:03

things are gonna happen. I had a handyman cancel

3:05

on me. Now this is prior to getting

3:07

the house on the market and he's

3:10

like it's too cold. Now he had come

3:12

to the house, he was recommended by a friend, came

3:15

the day before and said I'll be here tomorrow and

3:18

knew the weather forecast. You know what I mean?

3:20

It's not like it was a secret. We

3:22

had a gardener here that day. Oh he was awesome.

3:24

He hustled. We ended up paying him

3:27

much more because I thought you have been working

3:29

like a maniac for the entire day.

3:31

The gardener was out there. It wasn't too cold

3:33

for the gardener to work. And so

3:36

I was like thanks we'll find other help. And

3:39

I had no control over him canceling and

3:42

the thing that was great and this is what I want you to

3:44

remember and trust. Can you trust

3:46

that things are gonna work out? Because

3:49

we thought he was too high. I thought hmm

3:52

and just some of these things he's quoting

3:54

like hmm doesn't feel good. So we

3:56

had someone come in and do one thing again. This

3:58

guy really stunk and overcharged

4:02

us because Tony can do a lot, but we have so much going

4:04

on. We had to get help. And

4:06

he stood around and

4:09

didn't do anything. And he didn't have

4:11

a cock. He didn't

4:13

have a cock. Okay, I'm sorry. He's a handyman.

4:15

I had the paint. We had

4:17

the paint to match. That's on me. Unless I say,

4:19

hey, can you go buy it in recent first year and charge

4:22

me for your time. Didn't have a cock.

4:24

And I thought, mm-mm. So I

4:27

canceled. Luckily, there's rain. Again, I feel like

4:29

the universe was looking

4:31

out for us. So anyway, then someone reached out to me and said,

4:33

oh, I saw, and I'd posted this like a week ago. Husband

4:36

came. He was great. He is a contractor.

4:39

He was a contractor and now

4:41

has a nine to five job, but does handyman

4:44

stuff to relax. It was great.

4:46

He did some stuff and he was fixing

4:48

something and he forgets that he had a

4:51

water bottle with a bleach to

4:53

do any touch ups to make sure

4:55

I'm assuming mold or something. I

4:58

don't know why you'd use the bleach bottle, but I

5:00

felt he did a good job at a fair price. These

5:02

other two just jacked up the rate. And

5:04

I think they knew because we were trying to

5:06

get the house ready on the market. Trust

5:09

that the universe will

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have your back and know that you can't control everything.

5:13

So that's when you become present, what can you do? I became

5:16

present and when I took action, all

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the stuff came to me. Be

5:22

aware you're going to, it's the moving can bring up

5:24

a lot of feelings. So that's something you might have to face. In

5:26

another episode, I'm going to talk about that a little more. Your

5:30

good chance of anxiety. Again, guys,

5:32

I do the meditation. I'm on top of stuff.

5:34

I am anxious.

5:37

And I, today's, I feel like a hot mess because

5:39

there's so much to do and

5:41

selling your house is a, is a for some

5:44

people, an emotional process.

5:46

One of the things that's very

5:48

important is you're going to want to get a good moving company.

5:52

Now you need to research rules about interstate.

5:55

So take the time to understand if you're going out

5:57

of state,

5:58

it's going to usually be. on weight

6:00

and distance.

6:02

Make sure you show, have an

6:05

estimate. I always, my dad always taught me get

6:07

three bids and that really I think generally gives

6:09

you a good idea. He would say good

6:12

job at a fair price. When they come

6:14

to do an estimate and if they don't want to come do an estimate,

6:17

that's a red flag. Show them everything,

6:19

the backyard, you have things, your

6:21

closet.

6:22

In our office we have eaves, so we

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have a nice walk-in closet

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for storage with eaves and I have a

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couple boxes there. Made sure we opened

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up and showed those because if you

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all of a sudden have all this extra

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stuff, then that can challenge

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your original estimate. Check

6:40

out the company's full name and

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doing business as, their

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address, their phone numbers, email,

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website. Check out the USDOT

6:51

and MC license number and insurance

6:53

at SaferSys.org, so that's

6:57

S-A-F-E-R-S-Y-S dot

6:59

org. You should be able to check out

7:02

all of that information. Now

7:04

here are some red flags. A much

7:06

lower estimate than the others. They

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don't do an in-home survey. I mentioned that

7:12

a while ago. Oh yeah, we'll move you. No in-home

7:14

survey. Mm-mm. No

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written estimate and that's required by law. They

7:20

ask you to sign blank or incomplete documents.

7:22

Now I'm just gonna tell you right now, that's a red

7:25

flag for anything. Never, ever

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sign a blank document. You don't know what someone would do

7:29

with that. If

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they require cash up front

7:34

or substantial deposit.

7:35

I have read that a couple hundred,

7:37

a hundred bucks, that's okay, like a minimal

7:40

thing and you know what, I can maybe understand

7:42

that between Memorial

7:44

Day and Labor Day. I believe that's the time

7:47

when the bulk of people move, but

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otherwise mm-mm. The

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more organized you are, the easier the move is going

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to be. So I suggest you get a binder.

7:58

You can keep all your documents. I'm going

8:01

to show you mine. Now, if you're on the podcast,

8:04

you'd have to go to YouTube. But I have, I don't know if these technically

8:06

have a name, but it's a portable

8:09

file folder. So there are several

8:11

different slots you can label. I haven't

8:14

bothered to label. I just know where everything

8:16

is. Kind of, there's a time sequence. For

8:18

instance, the moving, the storage was the first

8:20

thing we had to do. That's my Sage and the pink there,

8:22

my Sage that we're going to Sage

8:24

the house and start doing the feng shui stuff.

8:27

But what I love about that little gig container that

8:30

I have, I can take it on the go. We

8:33

had to run to the storage unit, boom, everything up front, the

8:36

code, little extra key, all of it's right there.

8:40

And you have to run around, you

8:42

have to sign paperwork,

8:44

you have to get inspection, blah, blah, blah. Everything

8:47

I need is in one container. A

8:49

binder might be a better option for you. Or

8:52

I would just suggest something that can contain everything.

8:55

If you have a bunch of loose files, then that would make me nervous about

8:57

losing. So come

8:59

up with some system to keep all your documents for the closing.

9:05

Although I have to tell

9:08

you, so far on the house we're purchasing, everything has

9:10

been done electronically. So I have a little folder

9:12

where I'm keeping all that, but I

9:14

have yet to have any paperwork.

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10:06

Start

10:06

a master inventory list of

10:08

everything you have. And this is really gonna be important, especially

10:10

if you are moving.

10:14

Like when I left Los Angeles, I was with

10:16

a bunch of other people because I didn't have that much stuff. And

10:19

so

10:20

if you have an inventory, then you can check it when you

10:22

get there to make sure that you have all your

10:24

belongings.

10:27

But just so you know, especially on an interstate, that

10:29

you have gotten everything that you have.

10:33

Now here are some tips. Prepare

10:35

a first aid kit for

10:37

your pets. I have one, I have a little

10:39

first aid kit in my car. So if we need something,

10:41

it's right there. Update your

10:43

pets tags. You're

10:46

going to want to separate your valuables.

10:48

Jewelry, important files

10:51

you might need in transport. Make sure that

10:53

you have put all those aside and that you are going

10:55

to take. With

10:57

all the hectivity going on, you might want

10:59

to refill your prescriptions, have an extra

11:02

month. So you don't

11:04

have, that's one less thing that you have to worry about that.

11:06

And remember, don't forget your pet's prescriptions.

11:11

Going to suggest packing a couple suitcases. You're

11:13

going to want

11:15

enough clothes for a week or two.

11:17

Kids, you're gonna want to make sure stuffed animals, games,

11:20

personal care products, get all

11:22

that together. And plan for

11:24

a week or 10 days.

11:27

Make your last grocery trip.

11:29

You're probably gonna want to eat out. The

11:31

last couple of days we were taking our fridge, so I know we

11:34

have to defrost that. Those

11:36

are things you want to keep in mind. You're

11:39

also going to want to have stuff to

11:41

prepare the new home. So it might be

11:44

a

11:44

box of cleaners, toilet paper.

11:47

What if they don't leave you any toilet paper? Something

11:49

that you can

11:50

unpack right away. And you

11:53

are going to want a new home box for

11:57

your pets. Food,

11:59

water. are meds, bed, litter box,

12:01

their favorite toys, because

12:04

they're going to be stressed out. So don't

12:06

forget them.

12:09

When you are getting stuff together, like we

12:12

will put

12:13

all the stuff we're taking in the master bedroom,

12:15

you're going to have that in our closet, anything

12:17

that we are hauling. So keep that in a little area

12:19

so they accidentally don't take that, especially

12:22

if it is, you have

12:24

your valuables there. Confirm

12:27

electricity, water, gas, garbage, all

12:29

that stuff, phone shut off, internet. Consider

12:33

a full day in between for surprise.

12:36

Be present when all your stuff is being loaded.

12:38

I'd

12:39

be checking stuff off. I'd be making sure

12:41

we're on the same page here.

12:43

You want a written copy of the movers inventory

12:46

list. Again, that can, you have your

12:48

list and you have the movers list. Before

12:51

they leave, make sure you sign a bill of lading,

12:53

an inventory list, and that you get that copy.

12:58

Now, what am I going to do? One of my other suggestions is have

13:01

a backup plan. When I get married, I tease my

13:03

father about this, but we got married in my

13:05

parents' backyard. And

13:07

my dad said, okay,

13:09

if it rains, we'll either get

13:11

married on the screen in porch where most

13:13

of the families should be able to be and everyone else can be

13:15

in the living room, or we'll get married

13:18

under the tent because we had dinner

13:21

at my wedding and we can fit

13:24

everyone under there, too. And

13:27

my dad said, okay, if there is a, he didn't

13:29

call it a sandstorm, or if there's a wind or

13:31

a tornado. Mrs. Squibb, our awesome

13:33

next door neighbor, and who was my seventh grade

13:35

English teacher, said, I've reserved.

13:38

She works at a private

13:40

school in Wheeling. And she said,

13:42

I've reserved the auditorium. So

13:45

winter, or winter not snow. If there's

13:47

wind and there's hail and we can't

13:50

do it under the tent, we have

13:53

country days backup. So

13:55

I of course was teasing my father

13:57

about this. We ended up having a great, gorgeous day. grateful

14:00

for that. And so my dad said

14:02

to me, I believe if I prepare,

14:04

then it's more likely not to

14:06

happen. And I think that's good advice. So what

14:09

happens if you have something

14:11

happen in the last minute? I talked at the beginning of

14:13

this episode, Handyman cancels day

14:16

of, doesn't text me until 10 30 that he's

14:18

not coming. I have zero control over

14:20

that. So first breathe, just

14:23

take a moment, center yourself, take

14:25

a deep breath. Now's

14:27

the time to let the little stuff go. The neighbors

14:30

have trash in the yard. There's the

14:32

new person's problem. Let that stuff go. I would

14:36

have a list of friends who you can call, especially

14:39

ones with college age kids who might be

14:41

looking to make some extra cash. You

14:45

could rent a truck if the movers

14:47

don't show up. And it's kind of crazy some of the stories

14:49

I've heard. So as a backup plan,

14:52

see if there's someone you can hire that day. Now

14:54

again, I see

14:55

these ads on Craigslist that make me go, hmm,

14:57

I don't know if I would trust someone

14:59

from Craigslist. Rent

15:01

a truck. Again, if you've put

15:03

the time and the energy into making

15:05

sure you have legit movers and you get on the calendar,

15:08

it's going to be a non-issue.

15:11

If you can't secure a truck,

15:13

it's interesting to see all

15:15

the size trucks you can get. How can you think

15:17

outside the box? You could rent a van, a smaller

15:20

truck, or have multiple pickups. Keep

15:23

your options open. Don't freeze and

15:25

say, oh, I couldn't get the 17 or the 24 foot

15:28

truck. What am I going to do? You can come

15:30

up with solutions. So

15:31

I suggest in your little case

15:35

of information, have a list of rental companies

15:37

for vans or smaller trucks, storage unit,

15:40

have an on-call of college kids that may be

15:42

able to help you out. And you know, ask.

15:46

My mom told me something interesting that sometimes people

15:48

ask to store things early in a garage, which I

15:50

was like, oh, I never thought of that. See

15:52

if that is a possibility.

15:56

Here are some fun tips that I thought I'd share.

16:00

Cut down on boxes and guys I have been preparing

16:03

I knew we were gonna move it not what I expected

16:05

right? So I've been collecting boxes

16:07

for a while so I'm pretty good with that. I've

16:10

had to buy a couple things but probably

16:12

spent maybe a hundred bucks which I'm telling you if

16:14

you're moving and buying boxes you

16:17

know that's nothing. So use

16:19

baskets, clothes baskets, hampers,

16:22

suitcases, use some of the things

16:24

you already have so you don't have to buy

16:27

a box. Pick

16:29

a color for each room and label the rooms

16:31

boxes accordingly and so what I do say you

16:33

had purple for the master bath

16:36

so then you put a little purple whatever

16:38

if you have you can just take a purple marker

16:40

and make a square and again if you don't

16:42

have the colored labels then you

16:44

can do that and put a piece of tape

16:47

you know bathroom with purple so they know. You can

16:50

fill nail holes with the bar of soap, I'm

16:53

never a guest not.

16:55

If you are moving like in the same city

16:57

or

16:57

same area somewhat

16:59

consider hiring a sitter

17:02

for your kids and pets.

17:03

Worth it to me to take a couple of

17:05

trips in Minerva so I don't want to pack lamps

17:08

but I can take off the top

17:11

of the lamp, the lamp shade, put that all

17:13

together and carry

17:16

all the lamps in one trip that is worth it

17:18

to me. So that might be something for

17:20

you to consider but with the pets

17:23

what we're gonna do then is make a couple trips and then

17:25

I will take the pets first thing

17:27

why the movers are loading

17:30

and get them in

17:32

the master bath that's where they're gonna see why

17:34

we get everything happening and

17:36

I'll get them set up with litter boxes and everything.

17:39

It just is easier to do this and have

17:41

a pet sitter. If they were dogs I would definitely

17:43

hire a pet sitter. Don't

17:46

forget to repurpose plastic containers like

17:48

that your bedding come in we have a couple those

17:51

pillows whatever and you can put bed linens

17:54

and label it you know okay I've

17:56

got mom and dads I've got Susie's

17:58

I've got John's. and then you

18:00

get there dust free, take them

18:02

out and put sheets on the bed that night. Take

18:07

actions from today's podcast. Be

18:10

as present as possible. Research

18:16

and choose a reputable moving

18:18

company. Be

18:21

prepared for unexpected stuff

18:23

to happen. Have

18:26

a system to keep all your paperwork

18:29

together. Make

18:32

a list of everything that needs to get

18:34

done. Create

18:37

a backup plan for your move. Breathe.

18:44

Go out, clear your clutter

18:46

to create the life you choose, deserve

18:49

and desire. Clearing

18:52

your clutter allows you to share your gifts

18:54

with the world. Get your free

18:56

self-assessment to discover your

18:59

clutter priority at reawakenyourbrilliance.com.

19:03

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