Part Five: Unpacking at your new home

Moving day has come and gone. You, your family and your belongings have survived the first night in your brand-new home. Now comes the final step.

For many, the process of unpacking — of dealing with all that stuff — can be overwhelming, especially after having endured decluttering, sorting and packing. In addition, there’s the rest of life to attend to, i.e., the kids’ school and activities, your own work and social life. Procrastination begins to seem attractive, a far friendlier option than tackling the chore of unpacking head-on. Nearly everyone knows someone who has moved only to find themselves living out of boxes weeks or even months later.

When it comes to unpacking, experts agree that breaking the task into actionable steps can help make the job less overwhelming. To prioritize the process, you’ll want to give some thought to the structure of your day-today life.

“You start with the room you’re going to utilize the most,” says Kim Falahati of Family Matters Moving and Organizing, a mobile service. “Whether it is the kitchen, the kids’ room” or other space.

As an example, she continues, “If you have younger kids, and you work from home, then you need the playroom done first because you need to keep the kids occupied while you are working.” What then?

“And then you go room by room,” she advises, “because otherwise the family or the individual becomes overwhelmed and so scattered that the (unboxing) project doesn’t end up getting completed.”