The Ultimate Guide to Moving in NYC with ADHD

No one said moving was easy, but it’s especially hard if you suffer from ADHD. Not only is it stressful, it can be especially overwhelming because it can strain your executive functioning – mental skills that help with planning, problem-solving, starting tasks. Managing time is already difficult and it can be even worse with moving as you might not feel any urgency until there’s a looming deadline. This can amplify your stress, leading to increased risk of emotional dysregulation and action paralysis.

While you might not be able to remove all of the stress of moving, there are a few strategies you can employ to manage your ADHD during your NYC move. 

Hire Professional NYC Movers

Knowing is half the battle when it comes to setting appropriate deadlines for yourself. If you can put your move on the calendar, it also means you can cross off a huge item on your list immediately. Hiring professional NYC movers means you don’t need to worry about looking for a moving truck, asking friends or family to help, or even getting moving supplies like dollies, hand carts, or moving blankets. 

And that’s just for the basic moves. You can add on other services like packing, storage, and even purchase boxes from the NYC moving company you hire. All of this can help reduce the amount of planning you need to do, which can help free up your mental energy preparing for other aspects of the move.

Work Backwards

Once you know what day the movers will arrive, mark that on your calendar. From there divide out an equal amount of time to complete moving related tasks and start as soon as possible and make sure to add reminders on your calendar to complete these tasks. If you know you have a hard time with certain tasks, make sure to put those on the calendar ASAP so you don’t wait until the last minute to get it done. 

You don’t have to perfectly schedule everything, of course and certain tasks can overlap. However, there is an order to the tasks. For example, before you pack your belongings you will need to buy packing supplies like boxes, tape, packing paper, etc. And, of course, before you move you will need to pack your items. Below are a few steps you need to take prior to your move:

• Purchase moving supplies
• Contact utilities provider to transfer utilities to your new NYC apartment
• Declutter and sell and/or donate items you no longer need
• Go through your perishables
• Pack your belongings
• Disassemble your furniture
• Find a pet or baby sitter for your pets and/or kids
• Contact your child(ren)’s school and schedule a school transfer if necessary
• Set up a mail forwarding with USPS
• Change your address for all your bills, online shopping, etc. and make sure your friends and family know your new address
• Deep clean your old apartment

And so on. What you put on the list depends on a lot of things including how many people are moving, how far you’re moving, and if you have pets. The less stuff and people you have, the easier the move will be.

Have an Accountability Buddy

Everyone procrastinates, even people who don’t have ADHD. In order to stay on top of your tasks, reach out to a friend or family member who you know will keep you on track. Their reminders might be annoying at the moment, but it will help you get things done. Don’t bring on anyone who will bring negativity to the table. You want someone who can motivate you, not bring you down.

Once you’ve found a good buddy or two, how they help keep you on task is up to you. Maybe you need someone to remind you of your tasks you said you would complete that week. Or perhaps you just need to take a picture and text it to your friend of what you’ve completed. Ultimately, you need to find a system that works for the both of you. Heck, even having someone to chat to while you’re completing a task can be a huge help as it helps keep your mind from overanalyzing. 

If you don’t have anyone willing to be your accountability partner, you’ll need to come up with your own system to keep yourself accountable. In general, you should aim to do at least one thing on your list each day. Try to break down the tasks as much as possible so you’re not left with something huge and daunting like packing your entire apartment. Instead, break it down into more focused elements like packing your mugs, scrubbing the tub, decluttering one drawer, and so on. That way, you’ll still make progress but you won’t be as overwhelmed. 

On top of that, add elements of fun like listening to music or a podcast or even having your favorite snack and/or beverage on hand. You can even set up a fun event at the end of each week to celebrate like ordering from your favorite restaurant, going to the movies, or hanging out with a friend.

Utilize Clutter Boxes

Do you have a box where you just throw all the random knick knacks and whatchamacallits? You’ve probably had plenty of times where you find some object while cleaning and just put them in this box. While these boxes can be pretty stressful to look at normally, use this process to your advantage. The first thing you’ll need are more boxes or plastic bins. Put them in every major area of your apartment. If you need to, split up areas. So if you have a combo kitchen/living room/office, put a box next to the respective landmarks for these areas.

From there, use these boxes as your clutter box. Sure, it won’t be pretty, but the idea is that as you clean and organize these spaces, instead of trying to find a place to put them immediately, just throw them in the box and focus on organizing and cleaning the main parts of your home. The key is to set these up as early as possible as otherwise you could just physically pack these items.

Once you’re packing up, you will need to go through your clutter box to see if you actually need or want any of the items inside. This should be part of the decluttering process so take some time to look over everything. You might want to set aside a day for each box separate from when you declutter your rooms.

Declutter

Speaking of clutter, your goal when moving is to get rid of as much as you can. First, make an assessment of everything you own. Then separate each item into what you need and what you don’t. If you’re a visual person, use colored sticky notes to organize. Ideally, you would have three different colors, but you will need at least two. From there, make a color key for each sticky based on the following:

• Keep
• Sell
• Throw away

If you only have two colors you can do:

• Keep
• Get rid of

As you go through your belongings, start putting sticky notes on absolutely everything. While it might look disorganized to others, this can be a great visual cue telling you exactly what in your apartment you intend to keep or not. That will make it much easier for you when you start packing. 

Of course, you’ll still need to go through your entire apartment to decide what you want to keep or get rid of. However, with this method you can spread this process over the course of a week or more. Just make sure you don’t run out of sticky notes! 

Pack in Phases

Packing is the most tedious, but most important part of the moving process. You want to make sure you have ample time to pack everything properly, especially if you are moving a lot of fragile items. Most people, even those without ADHD, can’t pack everything well in just a few days. However, the issue is that if you spread the packing out over too many days, it’s all too easy to procrastinate. So, what can you do?

You’ll want to start packing a week or two before your actual move. This gives you plenty of time to prepare, but it’s also not too much time that you feel as though you can put it off for too long. When deciding where to start, just pick a room and start packing things you won’t need until you get to your new place. Your best bet is to start with things like books, decorations, extra pots and pans, and so on. Save the most important things like toiletries, bedding, etc. for last.

You can focus on packing one box per room or setting aside a certain amount of time to pack for each room. It depends on what works best for you. Once you have reached the goal, stop and move on to something else! Maybe that could be moving related or it could be something that’s more fun. The idea is to prevent yourself from getting bored and/or burnt out from the work.

Make sure you label all your boxes as well with the general items inside the boxes and what room they belong to!

Create a Strategy for Unpacking

Packing is tough, but remember you also have to unpack once you move into your new NYC apartment. The  movers can place your boxes in the appropriate room, but it’s up to you to put everything in its place. 

Your first order of business is to make an essentials pack that will keep you going for 2-3 days. Think about items you would need to bring if you are traveling and staying at a hotel and pack these in a backpack or suitcase. Don’t forget things like medication, toiletries, and so on. You might also want to have a separate box for your bedding, bathroom supplies like toilet paper and towels, and some paper plates and plasticware. 

Once you’re settled, it’s time to start unpacking. You can take the same strategy you used for packing, but reverse it. So unpack the most important boxes first and then work your way backwards to the least important things.

Make Your NYC Move Easy

Most of the strategies for moving with ADHD can be summarized by saying to plan ahead! While that’s easy enough to say, if you find that you are struggling, you can always call up NYC movers and ask for help with packing. Many, like us, offer partial and full service packing and unpacking. So you can truly relax and focus on the smaller tasks.

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