Moving out of your parent’s house is a defining moment, where you go from being a kid to someone at least trying to be an adult.
It could be that you’re trying to figure out how to move out your parents house for college, or it could just be time and you have a job or you’re going to move away to a new city.
It can be daunting to figure out how to move out of your parent’s house, as, of course, even though it’s called “your parent’s” house, it was still very much your house too for the past however many years.
This can be incredibly difficult for some people, both practically and emotionally.
Here are some of the things you need to think about when moving out of your childhood home and a less stressful way to go about it.
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1. Plan Your Timeline
Before you think about moving, you’ll want to plan your timeline for the actual move and for getting everything accompished and stick to that plan.
Sometimes, this is already built-in for you if you’re moving away for college or a job that starts on a certain date.
Other times, this involves you setting your own timeline, ie, I want to move out in 6 month’s time.
This will help you work backwards and choose dates for starting other parts of the process, including decluttering and packing.
Because that’s truly what it is – a process.
This isn’t just somewhere you crashed on the couch for a few days.
You have your whole life there, and figuring out how to transition it elsewhere involves a bit of work and planning time to go through your things and pack up.
2. Speak to Your Parents to Let Them Know if Not Obvious
If you’re on good terms with your parents and aren’t moving out for negative reasons, you’ll want to speak to your parents to let them know your plans if it’s not already obvious based on your future plans.
I’m a huge advocate of moving out of your parent’s house as soon as you can once you reach adulthood to start your own life, but there is still an emotional element to it that everyone will need to adjust to.
You don’t want the moving truck pulling up out of nowhere and your mom coming downstairs to find you carting your bed out the door.
3. Identify Where You’ll Move To and Secure Housing
Before moving out of your parent’s house, you want to make sure you have somewhere to move into.
Identify the housing you’ll move into and make sure it’s secure before choosing a moving date.
With some life moves, this could be a bit easier to deal with as it may be a college dorm, but if it’s a private apartment or house in a new city, you don’t want to end up there and find you have nowhere to sleep.
In fact, finding housing should be one of the very first things on your life before even choosing a date, as this will dictate your timeline in many cases.
4. Have a Massive Declutter Session
As painful as it can be for some people, going through your childhood bedroom is a big part of moving out of your parent’s house as you’ll want to be able to really assess what you have and what you’re taking with you.
This could mean going through childhood toys, memories, and making the decision to donate a lot of things that you no longer need or don’t want to take with you to your new place.
It also means going through a lifetime of paperwork or, quite frankly, clutter, that you’ve built up over the years.
This process can take quite a long time and dedicated days, so make sure to plan this in plenty of time for the move.
5. Ask About Storage at Your Parent’s House
Sometimes, moving out of your parent’s house means that you and all your belongings need to go.
Maybe they’re moving too, or maybe your siblings were sharing a room and now one of them is going to get yours.
Other times, you can leave your childhood bedroom how you want for now, or they have room for you to store things that you can’t or don’t want to take with you.
If you’re moving into a temporary situation like college housing, you won’t want to literally move your whole room – there won’t be physical space, and you’ll be moving again anyways, so having a home base for it is really nice.
Talk to your parents about the expectations for what you can and can’t keep in their house and where.
If you can keep belongings there, then you can move more gradually over time.
If you need to get everything moved out, you might think of putting things for sale on eBay or Facebook Marketplace if you want to purchase new furniture when you get to your new house or apartment.
And don’t use storage at your parent’s house as an excuse to just keep everything that you don’t want to declutter there.
It’s still important to use this moment in your life to take stock of what you have and declutter, for your own mental health and sanity if nothing else.
6. Pack Up What’s Coming With You
One of the most essential steps in moving out of your parent’s house is actually packing your stuff up!
Once you’ve decluttered and deciding what’s coming with you, you’ll need to get going on packing up boxes or other carriers to transport things in, depending on if you’re moving by car, by plane, or just around the corner.
Also keep in mind things like – are you moving into an apartment with no elevator?
You’re going to want to pack more, lighter boxes rather than a couple of heavy ones.
Make sure to use bubble wrap and other packing aids to make sure nothing gets broken, and pack up as much as possible in advance.
One packing tip that I always used is to create a box for things you’ll want right away when you move.
So that’s things like your toothbrush, a cup, a plate, a fork, any medication, etc.
You don’t want to be digging through tons of boxes on your first night in your new place, and by having it all in one box preprepared, you’ll have a much easier transition.
7. Plan the Day of the Move and Removal Vans or Moving Help
On the actual day of the move, you want to make sure you’ve planned it all out.
Will you need a removal van?
Who is going to help you move?
What time will you start putting the boxes in the car?
This is a great opportunity to let everyone who has agreed to help you know what their roles are and when you’re hoping they can help from – don’t make people wait around watching you finish off some things.
I always prefer to start the moves earlier in the day, or you may be in a situation where the move involves a few day road trip or something similar.
Planning will not only help you figure out how to move out of your parent’s house smoothly, but it will also give you something to be distracted from what’s next.
8. Take a Moment and Address the Emotional Aspect
There is an emotional element to moving out of your parent’s house, and it ranges from a sense of excitement to be starting your own life, a sense of sadness to be moving away from your childhood home, or even a sense of relief if you didn’t have a good relationship with your parents.
While you might not get much done if you spend all of your time bawling while you’re trying to pack, give yourself those moments to really reflect and literally look at your life and your childhood room before it gets packed up.
If you’re finding it hard to move away from home, make sure to have the next visit with your parents already planned before you move, and know that while your relationship might change and your life definitely will, it’s all for the better.
