Moving Without Losing Your Mind

Moving day doesn’t have to feel like a full-contact sport. We’re breaking down the small decisions that make a huge difference when you’re packing, loading, and trying to feel settled fast, whether you’re moving across town or into your first home. If you’ve ever opened a random box on night one hunting for a phone charger, a shower curtain, or the one screwdriver you need, you’ll want this practical moving checklist.

We walk through simple, proven moving tips: pack your “need it immediately” items in clear plastic totes, hire a sitter for kids and even pets to cut stress, and use what you already own like clothes, towels, and yes, extra bed pillows as protection for breakables. We also share the underrated unpacking accelerators: label boxes by room, and photograph the back of your electronics so reconnecting cords doesn’t turn into a frustrating trial-and-error mess. Plus, we cover the plastic wrap trick that can save you from the nightmare of shampoo or detergent leaking all over your clothes.

Then we take a quick Legal Minute with attorney Jeff O’Brien on commercial tenant expansion rights, clarifying the difference between a right of first offer and a right of first refusal, and why the details matter in a lease. We wrap with decluttering strategies like selling bulky valuables early, bagging small parts, changing your address ahead of time, and scheduling charity donation pickups before calendars fill up.

If these tips help, subscribe, share the episode with a friend who’s moving, and leave a review so more people can find the show.

You can always find U. S. Home Talk and connect with the hosts and the community at their facebook page https://www.facebook.com/U.S.HomeTalk/ or at our website, USHomeTalk.com

Transcript

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Welcome And Moving Day Goal

Jason Walgrave 0:24

And welcome back, folks. This is U.S. Home Talk, and we are here Wednesday at noon, Central Standard Time. I'm your host, Jason Walgrave with Walgrave Real Estate Group and the Minnesota Real Estate Team at Remax. We've got the great money man mortgage Michael Overson. Market Walgrave with Hag Realtors out of Two Falls, South Dakota, uh real estate market. And then, of course, we've got our incredible, fantastic producer, Evan Little. Thank you, Evan, for making everything happen. Also, uh, he is our insurance guru with Paragon. All right, folks, got a big show planned today. Be sure to check out our website to connect with us anytime, ushometalk.com. We've got a real estate hotline number that you can text in questions or call us 24-7. That number is 612-234-7585. That is our real estate hotline number. Call or text anytime. Connect with Marcus, Mike, myself, Evan, and all of our fantastic U.S. Home Talk partners. All right, today's show, tips to making moving easier. Uh look, moving is stressful. I mean, it sucks. I I have yet to meet a single person that really enjoys it. Um, but the end result is is often uh pretty awesome, uh, either moving into your first house or your next house. Um uh but the moving part can be can be stressful. So today we're talking about uh tips to making moving easier.

Pack First Night Essentials

Jason Walgrave 1:53

Uh number one on our list, pack items that you'll need at the new home immediately. So the things you need right away at the new home, pack those into clear plastic tote uh or totes, right? So um easy to to identify what's in there. Uh keep those things and uh you're gonna want to pack those last because you're gonna need them right away at the new house.

Mike Ouverson 2:16

Some people be like, I need everything.

unknown 2:19

Yeah.

Mike Ouverson 2:20

My wife would be like, I need that, I need that, I need that, I need everything. All this, I need all this stuff.

Marcus Walgrave 2:25

What kind of stuff we talking about here? We're talking about screwdrivers, scissors, box cutters.

Jason Walgrave 2:30

I guess I I guess power drill.

Marcus Walgrave 2:32

Obviously, you don't need to put that on a in a uh bag that can just kind of come in the case, but yeah, you know, thing things that you're gonna need right away as soon as you get there. Yeah, uh maybe some kitchen, kitchen items, yeah. Some of these bathroom. If you got little ones, I you definitely gotta pack an extra pair. I I got a four-year-old, and you know, sometimes she just can't quite get to the bathroom in time. So I would have to pack an extra pair of undies for her.

Jason Walgrave 2:59

I have that problem. Sometimes I can't quite make it. So what?

Marcus Walgrave 3:03

All right, Papa.

Jason Walgrave 3:06

All right, tips of making uh moving easier next on our list.

Sitters For Kids And Pets

Jason Walgrave 3:10

This one I think is is super valuable, right? Hire a sitter. Uh and and this goes both for your kids. Um, obviously if your kids are older, they they can help. But sometimes when you have younger kids, uh it's just better to to hire a sitter. Uh that also goes for pets. So, you know, uh moving is hard on pets. Uh, I think I think it is it can be super stressful. All this thing, you know, they're dogs are going, what's going on here? Why why are you moving all this stuff out of the house? You know, and um so maybe hire a sitter uh for the kids or the pets. It's probably gonna make it less stressful, make it easier on you.

Mike Ouverson 3:49

100% agreed. Get them out of there. It's good for you, it's good for them. You're gonna there's gonna be yes, less yelling going on. Yes, just the whole the whole thing. It's good for both parties.

Jason Walgrave 4:01

Yeah, hire hire center. Uh folks talking about tips to making moving easier.

Protect Breakables With Clothes

Jason Walgrave 4:07

Next on our list. Uh, pack breakable items, pack breakable items with clothes. Um, so obviously you can get all the packing and bubble wrap and all that, and all those things, but oftentimes um you you can use your clothes to to pack those breakable items, uh, and that can that can help on um the moving and and make it easier and protect your items.

Marcus Walgrave 4:28

Um with that one, Jason. Uh, I think too, something to kind of keep in mind when you are packing things, if it is something that is breakable, usually we're talking maybe some glass, um, those items are heavy, anyways. I mean, if you have a box, you can't fill that cardboard box full of heavy items because you're just gonna blow out the bottom. Yeah, you know, so you can utilize the full uh uh space of the box, put something soft down, like some shirts or a blanket, put some breakables in, top it off with some more shirts and blankets and clothes, and and you're gonna be able to use that whole box, you know, and and and pack up both things.

Jason Walgrave 5:06

So yeah, that's a great point. You're not gonna want to fill a box completely full of dishes and plates, and it won't work. Yeah, I mean, Mike's got pretty big muscles, so he could probably handle it, but you know the box can't handle it. The box can't handle it.

Mike Ouverson 5:21

Dude, if if you're married out there, I guarantee you got plenty of soft stuff because your bed is covered right now with like 87 pillows. So you can use those pillows that your wife needed to cover your bed that you have to take on and off every single day. Right? Needed, sorry, needed. Needed. You got to take on and off your bed every single day and use those as your cushioning system in those boxes there.

Jason Walgrave 5:45

Man, getting creative. I mean, that that's what we're all about here. Uh, folks talking about tips to make you moving easier. Of course, this is US Home Talk. Um, myself, Jason, Mike, Marcus, and Evan. Uh, check out our website to connect with us anytime, ushometalk.com. We've got our real estate hotline number you can send in questions during the show or anytime. It's a 24-hour real estate hotline number, 612-234-7585. We're gonna do a couple more and then we'll jump into our legal minute with Jeff O'Brien. Next on our list, uh, this one's super important.

Map Cords And Label Boxes

Jason Walgrave 6:16

Photograph the back of the electronics. Photograph the back of the electronics. Um, I I have done this for years. It is so important. I have no idea where things plug into. So um take a photo or a quick little video of what it looks like. Way easier to set things back up in your new house uh if you've got a little instruction map, uh uh uh photograph or a video. Or start going wireless.

Marcus Walgrave 6:46

Yeah, wireless. I don't have too much. I I don't have a receiver and like a sound system. Okay, you know, I I think i if your home has those nice receivers and sound systems, then yeah, you you're talking about some serious chords, you know, and and you gotta figure that out. But I mean, you know, in in in in my house, there just isn't a lot to have to do that. So I could probably get by, you know, with with just spending the extra couple minutes and trial and error. Is this one? Nope, that one's not it. Is this you'll get that foundest?

Jason Walgrave 7:16

It works. I think that's a great point. Obviously, wireless stuff is way easier. Um, I I've got a couple of the old school receivers, and there's a lot of there's a lot of different cords. There's cords. It's like 20 sometimes in the world.

Marcus Walgrave 7:32

And if one is in one wrong spot, none of it works. Nothing works.

Jason Walgrave 7:36

Yes, nothing works.

Mike Ouverson 7:37

It's like old school, it's old school Christmas lights. The when one bulb goes off, they all go out. And you're like, which one is it? Take this one out, put that one in. Not that one. Take this, not that one.

Jason Walgrave 7:49

It was a great invention when they when they fixed that, so you could have a couple burned ones out and they still work, right? Yeah, folks talking about tips to make you moving easier. Uh, next on our list, uh label the boxes. I mean, I feel like this is obvious, but um, but it if you don't have the boxes labeled, your unpacking is going to take a lot longer. Um, if you label them, um a lot of times what our clients do is they'll label the box uh for the room that it belongs in, right? And so if it's you know, if it's primary uh or master bath or master bedroom, they're gonna put that on there. If it's a great room, they're gonna put that on their kitchen, so on and so forth. So just simply labeling those boxes can really make it easier and speed up the the um the moving uh process or unpacking process. And certainly if you've got you know, if you're utilizing moving company or some movers to help you, uh they don't know where anything goes, right? So if you label those boxes, it can make that uh make their job easier as well. Uh we'll do one more and then we'll jump into our Jeff O'Brien legal minute. Uh next on the list, use plastic wrap for open containers. Um this is great, right? I mean, I we got a lot of open containers. Um, I think that you know half of the containers that we have do not have lids, although they probably came with a lid, so I have no idea where the lids went. Um, but there's no lids. Um plastic wrap. Wrap them up, you know, it keeps everything in there tight and secure.

Marcus Walgrave 9:13

Um also, I don't I don't know if this is on there as well, but like, you know, there's certain things that you just don't want to break open. And and you can take a little of that that plastic wrap, take the cap off, put it on there, and then put the cap back on, and it'll seal kind of like a plumber's tape. Yep. And that can be great for your shampoos

Wrap Containers To Prevent Leaks

Marcus Walgrave 9:34

or your uh dish detergent, and those things you don't want breaking open and getting everywhere because it's gonna be a nut. Well, again, trying to make something stressful, not as stressful. Last thing you want to do is you can move it in and look, okay, now we have to wash everything because our soap, soap, and you can't put like saturated uh clothes that's soap detergent in the washer, you know, because you're gonna ruin the washer. So it's like you you have to um you know, those some good tips there.

Jason Walgrave 10:00

Yeah, that that works for traveling. We we we use that technique, Marcus, for traveling a lot of times with shampoo specifically, and or conditioners, and you know, seal it up and because that'll that that'll be a damper on your vacation if you got shampoo all over your clothes, right? Uh folks talking about making moving easier. We're gonna do our legal minute next, and then we'll finish up with uh with our list.

Legal Minute On Expansion Rights

Jeff O'Brien 10:23

This is Jeff O'Brien, attorney with Hush Blackwell with the U.S. Home Talk Legal Minute. When it comes to a commercial tenant's rights of expansion, what is the difference between rights of first offer and rights of first refusal? Rights of first offer are generally preferred by landlords, mainly due to the fact that they need not put another deal on hold to present the third party's terms to the existing tenant. That said, both rights have advantages for the parties. A right of first offer creates an element of certainty for both parties in that the tenant will know the terms of any expansion and can plan accordingly, and the landlord can predict how much revenue the space will generate. Rights of first refusal, on the other hand, let the value of the expansion premises fluctuate with market terms and conditions, which are far less predictable. Premises subject to a right of first offer can be leased for fair market value, which could be determined at the time of exercise in accordance with the definition in the lease. Some tenants will exercise the right of first refusal where the economic terms match those in their existing lease rather than any third-party offer, or where the tenant is entitled to expand based on the lower of the two rents. Due to the creative nature in which these rights have been negotiated in various leases and the fact that these terms are often used interchangeably or misused, it is important to describe in detail both what triggers the rights and the economic terms of the expansion should the rights be exercised. This is Jeff O'Brien, attorney with Hush Blackwell with a U.S. Home Talk Legal Med.

Photos And AI For Layout

Jason Walgrave 11:31

Alright. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Um list here. Uh tips to make you moving easier. Next on our list. Uh, take pictures of your living space. Uh, and and and folks, look, if you've got your house listed with a top agent or team, um, just you can ask them for the photos, um, the photos that they took your house. I I think that's you know that can work out really well. Taking pictures of your living space, you know, how you had it set up in your old home uh can be helpful. I don't really need to do this. My my wife is is exceptionally talented at um interior design and and um she's gonna put everything where where it's gonna look best anyway, but this can really help. I I can't, I mean, if someone said, Hey, what's in your great room right now? I don't know, I might get 70% of it right if I just had to go off memory, even though I'm in there every day. So um pictures can really help that.

Mike Ouverson 12:25

You don't remember it because your wife's gonna tell you where that stuff goes in the new house, whether you want it to go there or not. So you don't have to pay attention to that. That's why you don't know it. I wouldn't know either. That's go ahead, honey. That's your department.

Marcus Walgrave 12:39

Agreed. There's some cool AI tools out there too. Yeah, that augmented reality, and where you can just start taking some pictures of your furniture and or or again to your point, like pull it from a uh a pre-existing photo and say, hey, here's my new space. Put my furniture in there and give me three options. And I think that's awesome.

Jason Walgrave 12:58

Yeah, there's some

Sell Big Items Early

Jason Walgrave 12:59

cool AI stuff. Folks, be sure to check out our website, ushometalk.com. Uh our 24-hour real estate hotline number, call or text anytime is 612-234-7585. Got a few more to go here. Um, sell valuable items well in advance. We we see this a lot with our with uh listings, right? We're working with sellers. Um, I I've got one uh that I'm thinking of right now. They've got a pretty big two-story. Um uh the kids are all uh moved on, they're empty nesters, and and they got a lot of stuff in the house, they got a lot of nice stuff. They they have been selling that stuff um pretty consistently for the last month. Um, and and that that'll really help. Don't don't wait until you know the last minute to do that, because uh sometimes those things take time for people to come pick them up. Um but if you sell those val valuable items, do it well in advance. Um and it just it it makes the process easier.

Marcus Walgrave 13:55

I think of that big, nice pool table. Yeah, the pool table. You know, and it seems like it's a flip of the quarter whether that buyer's gonna want it or not. And if they say nope, get it out, and it's like you don't want to get okay, we got two weeks. You start calling around who moves gun safes, you know, they because they usually have the equipment to do it, and and they're like, nah, we're like a month out, you know, we're slammed here and like you're really pressing to to get things done.

Jason Walgrave 14:21

So yep, that's a great point. Exercise equipment. Um, I was just just met with uh a new seller this morning and went into one of the rooms and there's a treadmill in there, and and um uh somebody said, Well, are you gonna sell that? And and she's like, sell it. She's like, I just want to get rid of it. You want it? Oh, yeah, yeah. So I said, Well, no, I I have one, but I appreciate the offer. So the things like that, you know, I mean, not really people really don't want exercise equipment. Um the fact is people don't really use it, home exercise equipment.

Mike Ouverson 14:53

They just want to exercise, period.

Jason Walgrave 14:54

They just yeah, well, right.

Marcus Walgrave 14:55

Well, they even feel guilty if it's sitting there and like looking at them all day long.

Jason Walgrave 14:59

It but it's true though, there's this psychological thing that that most people have, whether it's the home exercise equipment, they think, well, if I'm gonna buy it, they feel less guilty about not working out, right? Or or folks that I'm getting a gym membership and they go like once a month, but I have a gym membership, you know. So um, but those items um sell them well in advance it, and it definitely will make the process

Bag Small Parts And Prep Utilities

Jason Walgrave 15:22

easier. Uh, next on the list, use sandwich bags. Uh, so your nails, screws, small items. Um, I do that anyway. I I'm constantly you know organizing things into plastic bags, whether it's you know, tools for a certain piece of furniture or equipment or whatever, um, or extra pieces. If I'm assembling something, um, which I don't usually because my wife does. She I think she likes doing it, and she's really good at it. I think she likes doing it. But but if I'm assembling it, there's extra pieces. So I'm you know, all right, and I had to make a bag. I don't know what these are for.

Marcus Walgrave 15:57

I mean, it looks like it's standing, but um, so you just get tapped in to give it those last couple cranks, you know.

Jason Walgrave 16:04

Wow, why are these extra pieces? Oh, they sent them just in case. That's why they always send extra, yes.

Marcus Walgrave 16:09

Yeah, they always send extra. Yes.

Jason Walgrave 16:11

All right, we got a couple more left. Tips to making moving easier. Uh, change your address a couple weeks before you move. Uh, it takes some time uh for your mail to catch up. So I think just getting prepared, right? So your utilities, uh letting the you know the water and the power company know, look, I'm moving on this date, uh, going down to the post office, getting that all set up, uh, the date on there when you're gonna move. Um, don't wait till the last minute. Uh, having these things done ahead of time will really make uh your move easier. And then uh last on our list, folks, tips uh to making moving easier.

Donation Pickups And Final Advice

Jason Walgrave 16:46

Um have charity organizations uh pick up your donations. And so you know you can go to drop off stuff to Goodmill, you goodwill, you can bring stuff to the donation centers. But we I think there's probably half a dozen here in the Twin Cities where Trust Vets is one that comes to mind. They'll just come to your house and so you pack it all up into bags, you label it, you put it at the end of the driveway, and they'll come pick up those clothes or items that you want to donate to charity. Uh and and again, um do it a couple weeks ahead of time because sometimes those those uh organizations they're booked out, you know, two, three, four weeks. Uh, but this can be a great way to to make a movie easier by donating those things and having those those folks come pick them up. Any last thoughts from you guys on making it easier?

Mike Ouverson 17:33

Well, my initial thought, right? My initial thought was don't move it. Sell your home fully furnished and you don't have to move it.

Jason Walgrave 17:39

That's well, and and Mike, that you bring up a good point. We are seeing um more and more folks that that are wanting that, at least in a in a partial way, right? And so we'll come, I'll walk through a seller's and look, um, we're leaving these items. And so you you gotta let the buyer know it's included in the house. A pool table, Marcus is a big one. Uh sometimes big furniture that was that was purchased for a specific space, maybe maybe theater chairs in in a theater room or a theater area. Um, you know, a lot of times when folks are downsizing, they've got a lot of outdoor furniture, you know, patio furniture or around the fire pit or on the deck. Um, those items uh you might not need them anymore because you're downsizing, you're moving into a smaller space. Um, so um I see more and more folks wanting to leave some and and sometimes a lot of items back with the house.

Marcus Walgrave 18:34

Yeah, I would say you know, one other thing to kind of keep in mind too, if you're not gonna hire that professional moving company um and you may need to reach out to some friends and family, hey, give them a heads up weeks in advance. Um, you know, let them know kind of what weekend that you're thinking about making it happen for them. Uh, and then make sure you provide a you know food and drink for them too. Yeah, you know, keep keep them keep them fellow, keep them uh hydrated, and um you know it's gonna go a lot smoother.

Jason Walgrave 19:02

So, folks, we do appreciate you tuning in again this week. This has been US Home Talk. We are talking about tips to making moving easier. Check out our website, ushometalk.com, for all of our past shows. Connect with all of our great partners. Uh, we'll see you next Wednesday, uh noon Central Standard Standard Time. Uh, last quick shout out. We got uh the holiday weekend coming up uh this weekend. So uh be safe, uh enjoy some time with your family and friends, and we'll see you next week.