Tips for a smooth move with teens: Century 21 Smooth Moves

Getting Ready: Moving Tips for Teens

Journal: How are you feeling? Excited, curious, sad at leaving good friends? Tell it to a "move journal." Any notebook will do. Your journal can become your personal memory book chronicling this big moment in your life—the move from your old home to the new. Add entries all through the weeks and months to come. Attach pictures of friends and places in your current neighborhood, and leave room to add pictures of new friends and places to come.

	Questions: Wondering about your new home—like how big is your bedroom? Make a list of questions. If your parent is still looking for the new home, make a wishlist of what you'd like your new house or apartment to have. (Just don't expect to get everything you ask for!)

	New Room: When you get the word on your new bedroom, get out your drawing tools. You've got a whole new space to plan! Figure out where the furniture should go and what colors you may want. Get creative – the chance to "start over" and make your bedroom better than the one you have now is part of the fun of moving.

	New Community: Wondering about your new community? Get the scoop online. Do a Web search for local pro-sports teams, activities you can join, job possibilities, stores, restaurants, places to visit—whatever you're wondering about.

	New School: While you're surfing, look up your new school. Chances are it has a Web site. Get the lowdown on teams, clubs, teachers, courses, and the school-year schedule.

	Address Book: Sure you're moving, but you're not going to Mars! You can still IM your friends. Now is a good time to start collecting phone numbers, addresses, birthdays—anything to help you stay in touch with the friends you want to keep.

	Farewells: How do you want to say good-bye to your best friends? With a party? With gifts you make, or things of yours that you give to special pals as keepsakes? Think of other ideas and talk to your best friends about it too. Run your ideas by your parent(s), especially if a party is the number-one choice.

Packing Up and Moving Day

	Helping Out: Now is a great time to show your parent(s) how mature you are and that you can handle responsibility. Packing is a lot of work and your parent(s) can use your help. You may have younger siblings who are anxious about moving and could use your big brother/big sister advice. Think of things you can do, including spending more time with your siblings and taking charge of them on Move Day. Volunteer your ideas and help your parent(s) develop a packing and moving plan.

	What Else?: What else can you do to help with all the sorting and packing that needs to be done? Ask your parent. Then put a checkmark here for each job you finish. The more you have, the more proud you should be! • Things you want to take with you to the new home. • Things you don't want and could be given away to other kids. • Things to toss out.

	Your Stuff: Design your own personal "seal" for marking your boxes as PROPERTY OF YOU! As your belongings are packed, draw your seal on the outside of each box.

	Packing: Make a plan for packing up your own stuff. What can you do without for the longest? Pack that stuff first. What can you part with for only a short while? Pack that last! (For your must-haves, see below.) Label your boxes carefully so you know what's where when it's time to unpack.

	First Night: You don't want to have to unpack the minute you arrive, so you'll need things for your first night and morning, or even a few days, in the new home. Pack up your must-haves to take with you—favorite clothing, shoes, CDs, photos of friends. Include (within reason) anything you can't live without!

	Entertainment: If your family is driving or flying a distance to the new home, pack a "survival kit" to get you from here to there: magazines, video games, CDs and CD player, snacks—whatever you need to survive hours in the car or in the air.

After You Move: Getting Settled

	New Room: You've arrived! New home—new bedroom! Pull out that fantastic drawing you made earlier and transform those four walls into your dream room. When it's done, congratulate yourself on your artistic genius—then get unpacking!

	Map It: Remember Web surfing your new community? Time to check out the real thing. Map out a tour of the new community for your family including stores and restaurants to visit, and activities you can do together.

	Say Hello: Find a fantastic discovery about your new community to tell your old friends, by phone or e-mail.

	Start Discovering: Check out what's hot and what's not in your new community. (Those may be your first discoveries to share!)

	New Chapter: You've gone from "there" (old home) to "here" (new home) in your move journal. Now add some "getting settled" entries on your new home, school, community, teachers and, most of all, new friends! Hold onto your journal, to save for years to come. It's an important chapter in the story of YOU!

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