The art of unpacking

Unpacking day has arrived. The thought of having to unpack your life from a collection of cardboard boxes is daunting, but take the opportunity to re-look at your belongings, remember some good times and purge what you no longer need.  Music is often a great motivator – so think about creating a playlist for un-packing day. Choose your favourite tracks that will get you twerking while you’re working, then you will speed through the process with a smile on your face.  Here’s our step-by-step guide to unpacking without the stress.

1. First things first. Check your inventories. Do you have all the boxes you started with? Yes? Good! (and if no– get on the phone to the removals people)
2. Next up. Put the right boxes in the right room.
3. Now, before you unpack, walk through each room. Have a vision of how you want each one to work. Even make a sketch of how you want to layout some of the larger items of furniture as this will stop the frustration later when you need to drag a cupboard from room to room because it just doesn’t fit.
4. Hopefully your new home will have been left in a good condition by the previous residents but it would be prudent to have a quick wipe down of the shelves and sweep the floors. Everything will then be in a good state ready to start the unpacking.
5. Our suggestion is to start with the bedroom. Unpacking is exhausting so you’ll need somewhere to rest your weary self after a long day. So, build the bed, unpack the linens and set up your sleeping zone.
6. Next job. Move onto the kitchen. You’ll probably need some fuel (or at least a cup of tea!) to keep you going. So unpack all your kitchen equipment. Have a think about where you want everything to go. It’s important to start with a place for everything – so have a dedicated location for your mugs, cups, plates and cutlery.
7. Word of advice? Wait to set up the TV! As soon as you set it up you’ll be more likely to get distracted and you’ll never finish the job.
8. Why not take the opportunity to purge when you are unpacking? You have been away from your stuff for a little while so you have a new perspective on what needs to be kept. Dedicate a few boxes to stuff you can either give away, or if you do not want to get rid of them forever, move them into a storage unit so they remain yours but don’t clutter up the new home. Shurgard has a range of different size storage rooms at affordable prices so it’s a no-brainer for keeping your new home clutter free.  Start with a positive attitude!