10 steps to an easy move

Charlie Page: Planning Ahead
In the last 10 years, Charlie Page has lived in England, New Zealand and three cities in Canada. "Moving doesn't have to be stressful if it's organized right," says Charlie, 36. Her most recent move was from St-Lambert, Que., to Toronto in July 2007 with her husband, Louis Martin, who was relocating for professional reasons, and their two daughters, Amélie, 4, and Samara, 21 months. Charlie and her family had four months to plan the move, with the help of a relocation agency supplied by Louis' company.

Here are three strategies that helped smooth the road to their new home.

• They put their house in St-Lambert up for sale right away but chose to move before the house sold (the average selling time in St-Lambert is six months, compared with nine days in Toronto). Since they didn't want to buy before they sold, Louis' company offered to put everyone up in an executive suite close to his new office, but Charlie requested that they stay in a rented house in the neighbourhood in which they wanted to buy a house, so they could get to know the area, and keep their belongings in storage supplied by the moving company until they were ready to move.

• While Samara was too young to be concerned with the move, Amélie had her own questions about the process, so Charlie explained it to her by pointing out For Sale signs, building up her new school and reassuring her. "Amélie kept saying she was excited about moving to Toronto, and that was because she was feeding off my excitement," says Charlie.

• "The minute I got here I found a babysitter, so I could start my life, too, not just the kids'," she says. A babysitter meant she could continue to run for exercise, she and Louis could go out for dinner and she had time to get all their papers in order, such as changing her driver's licence, applying for a new health card and finding a French school for Amélie. If they had both been working outside the home during this time, Charlie says she would have negotiated for two weeks off to get settled.

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