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When you‘re finally moved into your new space, all you want to do is sit back and put your feet up and sip a nice cocktail by the fireside. Any rest is hard-earned after the stress of moving, but first, you’ll have to be able to find a chair in the labyrinth of boxes that is your new place. 

It can be tempting to look around at the overwhelming apocalyptic landscape of your new living space and procrastinate unpacking as you go back to your busy routine. Unfortunately, all that does is keep you living in the middle of packing boxes for way too long. 

On the bright side, you can take as much time packing as you want as you aren’t on a schedule anymore! We know better than most that unpacking can prove just as tiresome and tedious as packing for a move. The thing is, it doesn’t have to be. 

Unpacking is important because you’re going to need your things for daily life of course, but it’ll also help you feel at home right away. The thing is, your unpacking doesn’t need to be the nightmare  you expect it to be. 

With the help of our expert unpacking tips, your move and unpacking will be a piece cake.

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What You Need to Know About Unpacking

How long does it take to unpack from moving?

So exactly, how long does it take to unpack after a move? According to Realtor, it takes Americans an average of 182 days to unpack their boxes — but the average doesn’t need to be the rule. 

How long it will take to unpack after your move depends on a lot of factors; the volume of items you’ve packed, if you are keeping anything or moving anything in storage, the size of your new place, if you are downsizing or upsizing — there are a lot of factors to consider.

For example, how long it will take to unpack a house will be different from how long it will take to unpack an apartment. You will want to plan and pace yourself accordingly. 

The Importance Of Planning Ahead

One of the most important steps of unpacking happens before you even move — and that’s planning ahead. There are different things you can do in the packing stage that can help make unpacking a whole lot easier for your future self:

 

  • Pack Cautiously: It might seem obvious, but you want to pack your belongings in a way that makes sense. Classify them according to what they’re used for, who they belong to, or what room they go to.

 

  • Consider Professional Packing Services:  The reality is that you may just not have time to pack all of your things strategically. You may not have sick days, be working long hours on an important project, occupied with young children, or just be caught up with all of the responsibilities that come with being an adult.

    Metropolitan Movers offers professional packing services to help people save some time by alleviating some of their responsibilities so that they can focus on their day to day leading up to the big move. 

 

  • Label Your Boxes: Don’t forget to label all your boxes. Otherwise, when the time to move comes, you or your movers won’t know where to put them. If everything is clearly labeled, all the boxes can go to the right room straight away. This strategy will save you tons of time on unpacking. 
  • Make a List: You might also want to create an inventory list to help you keep track of all your stuff in case anything gets lost or broken during the move. In addition, an inventory list will be useful to you as you unpack. This list is a great visual aid to sum up your belongings. Use it to help you prioritize what you want to unpack.

Why is unpacking so hard?

People have been packing and unpacking their belongings for decades, yet unpacking remains hard and frustrating for most. 

 

But why is unpacking so hard? You’d think it’s because people just have so many things, but that’s only part of it. What makes unpacking hard is when you don’t have the right attitude. Even if you skip a couple of steps and don’t exactly pack right, there are plenty of things you can do to make your unpacking efforts a lot easier on you. Consider using our unpacking tips to make your unpacking efforts a lot easier and less stressful. 

How do I start unpacking?

If you don’t know where to start unpacking, have peace of mind knowing that there really isn’t any wrong place to start — you just have to start somewhere. That said, we have some helpful unpacking tips that will help you maintain an organized, and efficient unpacking process so that you can enjoy your new digs and kick your feet up.

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Our Unpacking Tips: How to Unpack After Moving

It’s common to move in all your boxes and not know where to even start unpacking. After all, you just packed everything up not too long ago! Here are the steps you will want to take when unpacking after moving:

Unpack What You Need First

Hopefully, you have some boxes with your essentials. They are the basic things you need to get set up and organized right away in your new home. These necessities will generally consist of basic food and cooking items, toiletries, important paperwork or information needed right away, and medications.

During your move, boxes with these essentials should be placed so that they’re easy to find and access. In other words, avoid hiding these boxes in a dark corner of the garage under 10 other boxes.

If you’ve organized your boxes differently, don’t panic. Retrieve the boxes that contain what you’re going to need immediately. Then, unpack enough to manage things for the first couple nights at least.

Move On to the Kitchen

Next, it’s time to unpack your kitchen boxes and put everything in order. If you’re in a hurry, you should simply unpack the basics of what you need for cooking first. Take a couple of pots and pans out, and plug in your main appliances. Of course, don’t forget the coffee machine.


If you have time, feel free to fill the cupboards and get things organized. It’ll make your life easier and you can savor a nice meal as you enjoy the novelty of your new place. 


if you don’t, that’s also okay. Getting the most important appliances out will at least sustain you to start with. You can always take the time to properly put everything away in the kitchen later.

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Time to Unpack the Bedrooms

You’ll need a place to sleep after all that hard work and what’s better reward than getting a good night’s sleep on fresh linens? If you’re well prepared, you’ll have put aside a clean set of linens for every bed in the house to facilitate your moving in. If not, simply retrieve the linens you need and fix the beds. 

Before unpacking your personal boxes, start thinking about how you’re going to organize your room, and especially your closets and furniture. Having a clear idea of what you want in mind always makes things easier. Otherwise, you’re going to unpack and then have to reorganize things when you realize it’s not what you wanted. You’ll spend twice the effort for the same result.

Unpack the Bathrooms

Hopefully, the water’s turned on in your new place and all the fixtures already work fine. Again, depending on how much of a rush you’re in, you might want to start by unpacking the basics first. In that case, start with towels, shower items, toiletries, and anything that you can’t go without.

You’ll probably want to arrange your bathrooms with all your items soon enough anyway, so it’s best to get this done right away if you can.

Set Up the Furniture

If you’re already quite familiar with the layout of your new place and you know where you want everything, then you shouldn’t have too much trouble arranging your furniture.

In case you need to move furniture around, make sure you plan ahead. You don’t want to have to carry heavy furniture back and forth until you find the right spot. Metropolitan Movers offers furniture removal and installation services to make this process easier on you.

As for the pieces of furniture that need assembling, you should only start putting them together once you know where they’ll be in the house. Again, you want to work smarter, not harder. That means limiting how much you’ll have to carry, and anticipating any difficulties such as fitting big furniture through door frames.

Take Care of the Rest

Once you got everything needed taken care of, you can deal with less pressing areas such as the basement and garage. Since the boxes going there tend to be less essential, you can take your time to think about how you’re going to get organized before unpacking. Make sure to keep any tools that you might need for the house at hand of course.

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Unpacking Made Easy

The process of moving, packing, and packing is mostly a matter of getting organized and knowing what to prioritize 

 

Metropolitan Movers is committed to helping you facilitate a seamless and stress-free move. We are your source for professional moving services and moving resources like unpacking tips and more.

 

Be sure to contact us for all your moving needs. There’s no need to go it alone! We’re here to help.