20 Useful Articles to Help You with the Challenges of Moving

There are so many challenges of moving.

These articles offer tips on some of the most glaring challenges that you may face in your move: house hunting, planning all the moving pieces, staging your house to sell, dealing with moving stress and depression and more.

It can be a logistical nightmare.

And we all have different parts of the process that will present more problems for us. For one move, you may find the perfect new house right away. But for us last year, finding a new home was the absolute HARDEST part of the whole moving process.

Because we have been a military family for over twenty years, we have moved around thirteen times, post-college.

And those were rarely even in-town moves. They were usually several states away, with three cross-country moves thrown in there.

We have experienced first hand SO MANY of the things that can go wrong with a move.

One time, Alan even switched jobs twice in the middle of the move. We bought a house in Texas, thinking he would start a job there. But on his way to meet us there, he accepted a whole different assignment in Alabama. Soooo we never got to live in that Texas house. We had to flip it right away and find a rental house in Alabama.

Phew! We have been through some stuff, and I have blogged about maybe half of it. In total, I have written around eighty articles about moving, between this site and other websites that I wrote for in the past.

So today I’m compiling this resource list, of just the best ones, for anyone going through a move.

Here are some tips on handling the challenges you might be facing with your move, by category. I hope this helps!

Challenge #1. Selling Your Home

I have not mentioned this in an article, so let me add this important tip. If you do not already have a realtor you want to use, there are realtor referral services who will pay you to use one of their agents. Once you close on your home, they send you a check in the mail. Veterans United Realty is one of these. You can check them out here.

Last time we moved, we used a realtor in Maryland who wanted to help us, so she signed us up with one of these services too. If you are moving in Northern Maryland, I highly recommend Rose Ann Spalt, Coldwell Banker broker and realtor.

So much work goes into getting your house ready for the market. Here are a few articles I have written about that part.

Check Out Our Full House Declutter Reveal

This shows you how much difference staging makes. We stashed all the junk and took down all our family photos. Rest assured, we do not live this tidy.

Basement Clean Out: Before & Afters

I have this philosophy about starting a whole house declutter with the storage room. If an item is in storage, it is already a prime candidate for being repurposed or given away. Even the storage areas need to look tidy when you are trying to sell your house.

Master Bedroom Update: Getting the House Ready to Sell

…So if staging is your challenge, I definitely have you covered.

#2. Planning the Move

How to Have a Successful Monthly Planning Session

The post above is all about how I planned out the specific details of our move. We were moving that very month, so it was crunch time. This process can be replicated for anything, but it is especially necessary during a move. So much to do!!!

2 Months Out Moving Checklist

This is a checklist of all the things you can do at this point, 2 months out. I also included several moving tips on there.

The 16 Steps of the Moving Process

This post outlines the moving process and provides extra tips for things you can do to prepare.

#3. House Shopping

How to Find a House When No Houses Are Available: Military Family Moving Tips

I poured all the knowledge I have into this one. The house hunting part has always been hard, but the challenge level was turned up to high ever since 2020.

#4. Packing & Unpacking & Setting Up House

Step 1 of the Moving Process: Declutter, Reorganize, & Clean

Before you pack, you really must declutter. Otherwise, you end up moving trash and old junk you do not even want.

How We Unpacked Our Whole House in a Week

We unpacked faster than ever with our last move. Now I do not mean every single solitary box. That is unrealistic. Do not put unrealistic expectations on yourself.

I am talking about the main boxes in all of the main rooms. We got each living space set up in that first week. That is no small accomplishment. This is how we did it.

#5. The Actual Logistics of Traveling and Living Between Houses. Sometimes there is a homeless phase.

Moving in 5 Days (Kid Blogger’s Account of the Moving Process)

In this one my son, JD, gives you a peek behind the curtain of our move. He talks about what we are actually doing on a daily basis and what balls are getting dropped. (ahem! Healthy well balanced meals..)

Bad news from the summer that just keeps on giving

That was one of the times that our entire moving-in timeline was moved because the people in the house we were moving into did not move out in time. So we spent that whole summer living in grandparents’ houses. This article is about how we coped with that.

#6. Handling Moving Stress

How Long Does It Take To Get Past Moving Depression And Feel Happy In A New Place?

Moving can leave you feeling down for as long as a year. Some moves are harder than others, but they all involve a lot of emotions. This is about moving depression and how we get through it. I wrote this one months AFTER the move. For perspective on emotions BEFORE the move. Read the next one below.

The Whole Truth About Moving Stress & Anxiety

Same theme, but this one was written before the move. So it addresses more of the stress surrounding preparing for the move and all the logistics. Phew! I am so thankful I do not have to move this year.

How do you think positively 2 weeks after moving?

When you are going through hard times, your self talk and thought patterns are important. This article talks about flipping those thoughts around to feel more positive during the storm.

#7. Culture Shock

California livin’: Redwoods, Wetsuits, & Culture Shock

Yes, you will get culture shock if you move across the country in either direction. We had culture whiplash for about six years as we moved back and forth.

#8. Making Friends

The 10 Friends You Need at Each Duty Station

Ok, this one is really just for fun. If you enjoy a funny, relatable post, you will like this one.

12 Tips on How to Make Friends When You Move

I brought out every helpful hint I know about finding friends in a new place. Most of the places we have lived, we arrive knowing exactly zero people.

#9. Helping the Kids Adjust and “Settled in”

Still “Settling in” 7 Months After Moving

Here I discuss the extra challenges military kids face with all this moving in addition to our own progress in “settling in.” People always want to know, “Are you settled yet?” Ha! Well….

Where to Next? The Trust of a Military Child

Military kids move way more than the average child. It is a unique experience.

5 Months Since the Move: How I Handle the Transition

This one has some good practical tips for the challenge of moving a big family.

I could actually go on and on, but those are my most useful articles. The rest are mostly just stories. You can visit my original blog for more moving stories.

Will things go wrong when you move? Absolutely. But try to roll with it as best you can because one way or another, you will get through this move. Then it will be over before you know it.

Give your burdens to the LORD, and he will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall.

Psalm 55:22

Other resources I used in writing this post:

1. https://arcrelocation.com/moving-to-a-new-state/. Challenges You Face Moving to a New State