(A big “thank you” to our friends at A & A Moving Co. for sponsoring this post!)

Moving to a new home is a tiring process. There is a lot that goes into it, not to mention that you have to do it all around your already busy life. And, if you’re like me, it’s easy to get stressed out trying to figure out how to make everything happen the way it should.

With that in mind, here is a simple checklist of things you need to do when moving into a new home. Hopefully it will make your next move a little less stressful.

Step 1: Find a Good Mover

The first thing you’ll want to do is find a good quality moving company. The pros at A & A Moving Co. know how much is involved in the process, “Packing items in homes, spending days or even weeks loading items in moving trucks and delivering them to new locations is not only time consuming and stressful, but items are not always packed with care. Boxes are sometimes hurriedly packed, not marked, or with special items broken. Unpacking trucks can also be a grueling process, especially after a long drive.”

Unless you don’t have a lot of things, have plenty of time on your hands, and have plenty of people to help you out, you’re probably going to want a mover.

But the quality of the team you hire makes all the difference. A good moving crew can make life so much easier, and a bad one can make your experience even worse.

When looking for a mover, there are three things to consider. First, make sure that the company is fully insured. If something happens to one or more items in transit, you’ll want to have the damage covered. Second, make sure the mover has received good reviews. There are plenty of sites online that review local businesses, so be sure to check them out for any mover you are considering. Finally, compare their rates. Pick a mover that not only has received positive feedback, but that doesn’t charge more than the others.

Step 2: Make a Detailed Itinerary

Now that you have a mover lined up, you can begin getting your home in order. Before you dive in, create an itinerary for yourself. This will be a running list of everything you need to do and everything you have already done. By jotting it down you get it out of your head and down on paper. That way you can feel confident you won’t forget anything.

Step 3: Stay Organized Throughout the Packing Process

If you are packing some of the boxes yourself, it’s important that to stay organized. If you just throw things into boxes without thought, you’ll find that your moving day is more complicated, and that unpacking will be a real headache. Instead, make sure you are labeling each box as you pack it up. Try to keep similar items grouped together, and don’t overload any of the boxes (for instance, don’t fill a big box with books). It might take you a little longer to pack up, but you’ll reap the benefits when you get to your new home.

Step 4: Make Sure Your New Home is Ready

With your old home ready to go, now it’s time to check on your new home. Make sure you have the date secured, so that there isn’t anyone still living in the home when you get there. You’ll also want to talk to the utilities companies so that everything is still running when you move in. The last thing you want to do is move into your new home and find that the electricity isn’t turning on, or that you won’t have Internet for a week.

Step 5: Take Your Time Unpacking

After you move everything in, you’ll likely be exhausted. However, you’ll also be anxious to get everything unpacked so that you can be completely done. During the unpacking phase, try not to rush. You have plenty of time to unpack everything. You can’t get it all done in a day. Rushing just leads to exhaustion and exhaustion could lead to breaking things—or at least making a huge mess! Take a few days if need by and get the packing done a little bit at a time.

Step 6: Make Your New Home Livable

Finally, it’s time to make your new home a place you can live in. Start decorating the way you like, organizing things like your bookshelves and cabinets, and starting cleaning things like the windows and floors. There will likely be dust and dirt tracked in during the move, so take the time to really scrub everything down. Once you’re finished not only will you have a place that is set up like you want, but it’ll be clean enough to live in as well.

And that’s it! When broken down into the steps above, the moving process doesn’t sound too bad. Just take everything one step at a time, remember to relax, and you should have no trouble reducing the stress that comes with moving.