This is a scary time to be moving from place to place, but it’s almost impossible to avoid as a travel nurse. It is possible to move safely, though. Here are some tips for settling into your new temporary home.
Choose your moving company carefully
If you’re moving from one state to the other, which you likely will be, your moving company options might be a bit limited. But you can go to Move.org and find out what options you have. Then it’s important to call and ask detailed questions to each moving company about their COVID-19 policies. How often are they monitoring the health of their crew members? What kind of supplies, including face masks, gloves, and hand sanitizers, are being made available to movers on a daily basis?
Also ask them about paperwork. If you’ve ever moved before, you know there are a myriad of things you need to sign before you get going. But in the time of Coronavirus, it can be risky to sign all the documents you need in person. Ask your moving company if it’s possible to switch all your transactions to virtual, including virtual quotes.
Buy all the supplies you need ahead of time
Your moving supply checklist has gotten a little longer during the pandemic. Make one big trip to the store a week before you move to make sure you have everything you need. This should include lots of cleaning supplies. You can also order boxes and tape online now at a number of retailers and Amazon. You can use this neat packing calculator to figure out how many boxes you need based on what you’re moving.
Clean as you pack and pack ahead
Packing is a hellish experience where you realize you have way too much stuff and you also realize you haven’t cleaned half of that stuff since you moved the last time. Now it’s even more important to clean and disinfect everything. So as you’ve gathered all your things into one place, what better time to wipe all of them down and make sure they’re clean? You also shouldn’t procrastinate with packing if you want to be extra cautious while moving. Coronavirus can live on cardboard boxes for up to 24 hours. So to be courteous to your movers, make sure you have everything packed and untouched for at least a day before your movers arrive.
Put everything in boxes or plastic
Although you’ll probably want to be extra careful and sanitize all of your belongings again when you move into your new home, you’ll still make it a whole lot easier on yourself if everything you own has a barrier between it and the stranger picking it up. Put everything you can in boxes, and if you have furniture or larger items that won’t fit in boxes, at least wrap it in plastic you can throw away afterward.
Also, be sure not to use recycled or borrowed boxes. It might be environmentally friendly, but as we said earlier, coronavirus can live on cardboard for a long time.
Plan for unpacking on your own
While before, your moving company would usually unpack your belongings for you, now that seems like a risky move. That means you’re on your own in the unpacking process. And since you’ll likely be moving to a new placement where you don’t know anyone, it’s time to mentally prepare yourself for unpacking alone. This doesn’t have to be a painful process if you 1) give yourself the proper amount of time off work to make it happen 2) make it fun! Install your TV and your speakers first so you can have some entertainment while you’re working. Have a pizza and a bottle of wine delivered to your new digs and give yourself the treats that you usually promise to friends in exchange for their moving help. It’s all on you which means all the pizza is YOURS.
You got this. The key is disinfecting everything, keeping the talking and in-person interacting to a minimum, and finding enjoyment in being self-sufficient.
Ready to pack and move to your next placement? Check out all the cities you can go under Stability’s website here.
