5 Must Have Items for Your New Home (before the movers show up)

Disclosure: “5 Must Have Items for Your New Home (before the movers show up)” is sponsored by Acorn Influence in partnership with Proctor & Gamble. Although I was supplied products and/or compensated for writing this post, all thoughts and opinions are my own. I only recommend products or services I believe in and use myself.

The movers (or you) have packed up all of your belongings and loaded the truck. You turned in the keys to your old home and are headed off to the new place. Whether it’s across town or across the country, moving into a new home is exciting, expensive, and stressful. Especially when kids are involved.

There are a few things you can do with your kids to help the moving process go more smoothly.

• No one likes to go into a situation blind. Help your kids learn about your new community by searching the web for information on the area. My girls were especially excited to research their new schools.
• Pick up a map of your town, post it on a wall and look for areas to explore. We discovered a beautiful park not far from our new home. It has a lake, greenway trail, nature center, and a dock where you can go fishing for free–you can even borrow a fishing pole and tackle! We already have a list of things the girls want to do this summer before school starts.
• If you are moving more than a couple of hours away, have your kids pack (or help you if they are too young to do it themselves) a small bag with a few of their favorite books and toys to bring in the car. This will help keep them occupied on the drive to your new place and give them something to have at the new house before your belongings are delivered. Make a little care package to have in the car, as well. Fill it with favorite snacks, drinks, cds/dvds, car bingo, Mad Libs, National Geographic Kids Ultimate U.S. Road Trip Atlas, even a travel guide for your new town. Believe me, 8 or 10 hours in car with kids is a very. long. time.
• Leave a little surprise for your child to find in their bedroom. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy–a new board game or stuffed animal. Just a fun little welcome home gift. Everyone loves surprise gifts and it will give your child a positive first memory of their new room.

After you arrive at your new home, and the kids have explored every nook and cranny, it’s time to get to work! There is a bit of prep work needed to get your home ready before the movers deliver your stuff. But it doesn’t have to be overwhelming. With a few of the great products from the New Home Clean Collection from Walmart and some free child labor, you can get your home ready in no time, nearly stress-free and without spending a ton of money.

Under ordinary circumstances my kids hate to clean, but when moving into the new house they were all about helping out, especially because I put them in charge of different areas. My 17 and 11 yo grabbed the window cleaner and some Bounty ® Select-a-Size and tackled the disgusting windows. They looked like they were having so much fun that my 8 yo had to get in on the act.

Bounty ® Select-a-Size is two times more absorbent* (*Vs. the Custom-Size-It® brand in the U.S.) and made easy work of those grimy windows. Because they are so absorbent you can use fewer sheets with each mess, making your roll last longer! I love that you can select the size of sheet so you don’t use more than you need.

We had some very efficient movers who packed everything for us… so efficient that they packed up all our paper goods before we realized it. One thing you really don’t want to be without in your new home is toilet paper! Thankfully we had Charmin® Ultra Strong 24 Double Roll Bonus Pack! Because of it’s washcloth-like texture, you end up using up to four times less** (**vs. the leading bargain brand) and the 2-ply toilet paper is four times stronger*** (***when wet vs. the leading bargain brand).

Like most people, I prefer my home to have a nice, fresh scent. I love the new Unstopables™ Air Refresher Fresh Scent spray. It’s not overpowering at all. With just one instant burst, Unstopables™ spray infuses the air in your home with a boutique-worthy fragrance that can last up to 6 hours. My 8 yo had fun running around spraying all the rooms that were a little stale from being closed up when the house was unoccupied.

Moving is never really fun, especially for your kids. Quick tip: give your kids simple tasks to help #clean your new home. This will take some of the stress off of you and make them feel included. My 8 yo likes to use #Unstopables Febreze spray to make the house smell nice. Buy your cleaning supplies at @walmart to find lots of #CleanHomeSavings. #ad bit.ly/29gXuQf

A video posted by Kate, My Mommy Brain (@mym0mmybrain) on Jun 27, 2016 at 10:37am PDT

My 8 yo and 11 yo were happy to tackle assembling the Swiffer® WetJet Mop together. It was super simple to do and in no time they were fighting over who got to mop the floor first. If only it was like that everyday!

I don’t know about you but I get pretty grossed out walking around the floors barefoot in a new place. The Swiffer® WetJet Mop all-in-one mopping system traps and locks dirt so it doesn’t get pushed around and it’s designed to break up and dissolve tough messes to give your floors a powerful clean. I was pretty surprised how dirty the floors were, especially since our real estate agent said he had just had the house cleaned a few days before.

After all of that cleaning, nothing is better than a hot shower with freshly washed towels. I put my 15 and 13 yos in charge of laundry duty. We all had crisp, clean sheets, towels and clothes thanks to Tide® PODS® Laundry Detergent.

Tide® PODS® is a 3-in-1 laundry solution — detergent, stain remover and brightener, all in one! Just throw one pod into your wash and you are good to go. Tide® PODS® contains 90% cleaning ingredients, versus the 15% cleaning ingredients of the leading bargain detergent.  Tide® PODS® dissolves in any temperature and can be used in all types of washing machines.

Moving is a stressful event for everyone, but it can be especially hard for your kids. Help make the transition much smoother by including them in the preparations and getting them involved on move-in day.

What are your moving tips?

Disclosure: “5 Must Have Items for Your New Home (before the movers show up)” is a sponsored by Acorn Influence in partnership with Proctor & Gamble. Although I was supplied products and/or compensated for writing this post, all thoughts and opinions are my own. I only recommend products or services I believe in and use myself.