The most important thing you should be doing is staying calm. Moving is unavoidably stressful but there are strategies you can use to make it easier on yourself. Allow plenty of time, get the bulk of packing done in advance, and leave the coffee-making supplies til last. When it all gets too much, take a few minutes, have a coffee, and remind yourself that before long you and all your things will be safely installed in a new home. The thousand and one tiny problems associated with moving house are only temporary.

Give yourself time to say goodbye to your old home. If you’ve lived there a long time it will have played host to many happy occasions. You may want to take one last photograph out front before leaving.

It’s important to keep the kids away from the movers while boxes are being carried around. Even well-meaning children who try to help will almost certainly get underfoot. Assign them tasks like checking every cupboard for anything that’s been left behind or give them a picnic lunch in the yard to keep them busy.

Boxes with important documents, jewellery, passports, and other valuables should stay with you. Make it clear to the moving company that they don’t need to deal with these and label them as such. Writing ‘Extremely expensive things’ on a box is never a good idea, so call them ‘Items wanted on the journey’. If you’re flying on the way to your new home, keep valuables in your hand luggage rather than letting them go in the cargo hold. Suitcases do get lost and most airlines only offer very limited compensation for missing luggage.

Having all boxes labelled in advance will help at the other end of the journey. Movers will be able to place each box in the right room quickly and simply. Sticky labels or paper tags should be attached to every piece of furniture for the same reason. You’ll all be tired when you get to your new home and being able to find what you need easily will make a big difference.

Put together a box with all the things you’ll need on the first night and on the first morning- a change of clothes for each member of the family, soap and towels, blankets and pillows, toothbrushes, and a favorite toy for each of the kids. That way you’ll only have to open one box on the first evening.

When the packing process is finished, double check all the necessary details with the movers- new address, cell phone numbers, when they’re expected to arrive and when you expect to get there yourself. Get a contact number so you can call them if necessary.

There are other phone numbers you’ll need in your new home too. The first things to find are the number for local police in your new area and the location of the nearest hospital, just in case of emergencies. Thanks to the internet you can collect these and note them down before leaving your old home.

Download a few takeout menus from restaurants that deliver to your new place too. The first day will probably be taken up with unpacking, arranging and rearranging furniture to suit the new rooms, and generally settling in. Having the phone number of someone who’ll bring you a good lunch will make the day much easier.

It’s a vicious circle. The more we recycle the more waste we seem to create. Certainly the moving populations of the US add to the cycle of waste with all of our moving boxes and supplies being used once, maybe twice, before heading off to the nearest landfill. How can we get a head of our waste by truly recycling it?

The out-dated chart provided by Biocycle, shows the waste per person hovers around 1 ton. One ton, that is 2240 lbs. To put it into context, I believe the classic VW Bug weighed about 2,600 lbs. Imagine if China and India produced the same amount per person. With the US population nearing 305 MM consumers we are the mere fraction of China’s total head count of 1.3 BN with India close behind at 1.1 BN. The world is 6.6 BN. The two largest countries contain 36% of the people and scores of these folks are just getting the opportunity to live like the developed west which means highly developed waste – yikes.

At one ton of trash per person in the US, it’s a wonder we can (safely?) dispose of our waste fast enough, and out of sight.

“Necessity is the mother of all invention”

Recently launched, the guys at EarthFriendlyMoving.com haven’t come up with an invention but a process for what I think is the most revolutionary process of recycling moving supplies. I am sure their methods will inspire other industries to take a second look at what they are tossing each day. BoxQuest applauds EarthFriendlyMoving.com for truly recycling our trash. We can all learn from these guys! Listen in…