The Most Important Thing You Should Do Before Unpacking Your Kitchen In Your New Place

Moving can be an incredibly exciting time in your life. A new home presents endless new opportunities for decoration, a fresh start in life, and a slew of new opportunities in your personal life. It can also be one of, if not the most, stressful times of your life. According to Study Finds, moving can be more stressful than other major life stressors, including divorce, getting married, having children, and switching careers.

Luckily, the internet is full of tips on how to make the moving process as seamless and stress-free as possible. This includes the moment you decide to move to the moment you start unpacking boxes in your new house. One of the tasks you'll be faced with upon moving into your new home is cleaning, which you'll be doing continuously throughout the whole process of unpacking and adjusting to life in your new home. One room you may feel like never gets fully clean when unpacking is your kitchen, but there's one simple thing you can do to make it a little easier and more seamless.

One of the most annoying parts of cleaning any room, but especially the kitchen, is constantly having to clean around things or move and replace them as you go. It can feel like you never truly get things clean when there's so much clutter in the way. This is why MolloyBros recommends giving your kitchen a thorough, deep clean before it's covered in packing peanuts and strewn-about newspaper. Plus, you run the risk of dirtying clean dishes by putting them in dusty or sticky cabinets you'll have to clean later anyways.

Most real estate agents or landlords offer a cleaning service prior to your arrival in your new space, but it still doesn't hurt to give your kitchen a once-over after moving in. They also likely only covered major spots like the floors, and may have neglected other hidden areas like cabinets (both inside and out), your refrigerator (again, both in and out), and the stove and burners, per Hire A Helper.

One of the most common pieces of unpacking advice is to start with the kitchen — no one wants to end their stressful day of unpacking by frantically searching for their utensils and dishes. This means you should start early with a deep kitchen clean, paying special attention to areas like the insides of cupboards, per Quick Transfer. Consider other areas prone to gathering dust as well, like window sills and the tops of ceiling fan blades, recommend MolloyBros.

Once your kitchen is nice and clean, it's time to start unpacking. There is a plethora of advice on how to most efficiently unpack, but it largely comes down to personal preference. In general, though, strategize a game plan. If you're planning on eating soon, break out your utensils, plates, and cups first. Set up your Brita filter, get a load of dishes going, and do other grunt work you won't want to deal with later. Next, plan out where you want things to go, so that every item has a designated space when it comes out of its box. Make sure to tidy as you go, too, so your sparkling clean kitchen doesn't become a mess too quickly — toss all packaging waste as you use it, and clean up any messes before they get out of control.