Here you are at the end of your journey - moving into your new home, where you need to focus on preserving the organization you put in place before this whole relocation process started.

Here Kathi offers her final suggestions on unpacking in your new home so you can maintain that organization.

I hope you have found this series of articles on getting organized useful and will implement some of these suggestions, even if you are not moving yet. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

A Few More Unpacking Tips

 
1. As you unpack, spread drop clothes under boxes and in high traffic areas to catch dust and foot debris.

 2. To help your kids get used to their new space, create an agreed upon ‘home’ for each possession. The ‘home’ is the place where the item will get stored when not in use.

 With this method, when it comes time to clean up, you should say, take that toy home, not put it away. There is a BIG difference between putting away, i.e. under the bed or pillow and taking it home to a pre-determined and unmistakable holding zone until further use.

 
3. After moving, resell or recycle your boxes. Pack and ship faculties will gladly recycle your bubbles. Peanuts have a half-life of 500 years so think twice before you toss them into the trash.

Enjoy creating your new life and lifestyle. You worked hard to find your dream home and you deserve a break. If possible, schedule time off after your move so you can recover from the move and fully settle into your new home with ease.

Kathi Burns, founder of addSpace To Your Life!™,
a Professional Organizing and Image Consulting Agency

Email Kathi for 10 Quick Tips to Organize Your Bathroom. Mention bathroom in the subject line.

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To read other articles about moving and organizing visit AddSpace to Your Life!

One of the things that buyers often forget about when they buy a new Carlsbad home (not new construction) are the keys.

It is pretty common, as I'm sure you know as a homeowner, to share house keys with other people: a neighbor to check on your house when you travel, a housecleaner, and perhaps other vendors, friends or family. Do you get all those keys back when you move? Probably not.

As a new homeowner, keep this likelihood in mind when you move into you new home. It would be wise to quickly arrange for new locks to be installed, or you can install new door knobs and lock systems yourself.

You just don't know who might have keys to your new home and shouldn't.

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If you have bought a home in your new city and will be moving right in after driving (or flying) across the country, you will need to do some planning for your utilities. We drove cross country and went right to our new home - the furniture was arriving the next day, but with some advance planning we were in good shape to spend the night.

1. Find out who the utility providers are in the new area (you can find this on-line or ask your agent) for gas, electric, or oil (if you have an oil-fired furnace) several weeks in advance.

2. Contact each utility company to make sure they provide service in your area (there may be two different gas providers, for example), then set up a new account in your name.

3. Schedule the service to be turned on as of the date of closing (the sellers will take care of turning off their account). That way you can avoid an interruption of service and it will be less expensive, or perhaps no charge for a new account. Even if you don't move in right away, the cost of running the utilities will probably less than having to pay for turning on new service (this can cost $25 -$50 or more if the service has been interrupted).

4. Call the telephone company in advance as well, as it can sometimes take 2 weeks for service to be set up. You will also need to change your cell phone provider service so you have a local number. You might not want this to be done until you actually arrive to keep the costs down.

5. Call the cable company (again, check on line to see who the provider is - here in Southern California where I live we now have Time Warner - it was Adelphia - but other areas have SBCGlobal) to schedule time to come by your house and set up the service. You probably cannot do this before you move in but that may depend on the provider.

6. Contact the water department to change over the billing on your water and sewer.

7. Check on trash service (your agent can get you the number) and arrange for any changes that they require. Ask about pick up days, the local dump, and how they handle recycling. The previous owners may have trash barrels they are leaving, or the recycling containers.

If you are moving into a new house or condo in your new city, and there are things you would like to have done with respect to remodeling, you might consider taking advantage of the home being vacant (before you move) and getting the work done if there is time. This probably won't work for large and time-consuming projects unless your move is going to be delayed, but for some things it makes sense - having rooms painted, carpet or hardwood flooring installation, getting new appliances. Of course, if you want to live with your new house before deciding how you want to remodel, that may be the best solution for your situation.

After we bought our home in Carlsbad (we were still in Boston) we wanted to replace all the carpet in the living, room, dining room and hallway. Since we had a couple of weeks before closing on our old home and our trip west, we decided to get all new bamboo flooring installed before we moved in so we wouldn't have to deal with all the mess. We found a great flooring store, Regal Flooring in Carlsbad, checked references, and coordinated the entire process with the installer (our agent was a great help and was there to let the floor company in to do the estimate and then to do the work). When we arrived the day before the furniture, the floors and baseboard painting were all done and looked beautiful. We only had to hire someone to come in to clean the house that day and we were ready for the furniture.

If you do decide to make changes before your move, if you can't be there, make sure there are others you feel you can trust (perhaps your agent) to help coordinate with keys, etc. When selecting vendors to do the work you will need to be particularly careful in checking references, etc. since you will not be there physically to meet the vendor and handle the details personally. Some people won't feel comfortable enough to do it this way...but it worked great for us!