Packing/Moving?

[Melissa in St Louis]

What are your best tips for packing/moving quickly and efficiently?

 

TIA!

 

Melissa in St Louis

[KatieJ]

Hire someone to do the packing!

 

Ok, that might not be an option.

 

When ever I move, I start with the wall..pictures, knick knack, bookshelves etc.

Then I start move on to storage closets, off season items..etc.

 

You will need someplace for all those boxes, so find a corner of the basement or garage to move them to.

 

Kitchen items you don't need everyday, and sometimes that gets done to a plate, bowl, glass and silverware for each familly member..pack the rest.

 

Will you be moving directly ( as in the same day) to your new house or is travel involved?

If no travel involved, clothes can be left in dressers. You can buy at moving places, large rolls of siran wrap kind of stuff and wrap your dressers with the clothes in the drawers and the drawers won't fall out.

 

Try to stop buying groceries and use up what you have on hand. Makes for some interesting meals!

 

Use bath towels for packing material.s Don't move your suitcases empty...pack things in them.

 

The last time I moved, I was living in a long term stay hotel until we found a house, so I put all my dry goods into Rubber maid containers and then the movers packed them into cardboard boxes.

 

HTH a tad.

[Veritaserum]

When we moved last time I followed some Fly Lady moving tips:

 

 

• I gave each area of the house a number and labeled all the boxes with that number. For example, the kitchen was zone 1. The first kitchen box I packed up was box 1-1. The second one was 1-2, etc.
  
• I kept a notebook with content info on all the boxes. For example, box 1-1 had vases, fancy serving dishes, etc.
  
• When unpacking, I unpacked the highest number in each zone first, since those were the boxes I packed last and had the items we used most frequently. For example, box 1-12 might have our every day dishes and silverware.
  

 

This method of packing helped SO much. We lived with my parents for 4 months in between moving out of our old house and moving into our new house. I gave birth to baby #4 about a week before we moved in and I am so glad I knew exactly which boxes (due to my notebook) had the baby things and other needed items without having to look at each box or dig through them.

 

Aside from the above, the most important things are to start early and get rid of stuff you don't love. :) It makes no sense to pack up and haul junk, trash, or things you don't need or like.

[fivetails]

What are your best tips for packing/moving quickly and efficiently?

 

 

 

 

Don't let your basement dweller wander off 5000km away for his vacation right during moving time. You''ll be stuck moving his stuff for him. :willy_nilly:

 

Okay so you prolly don't have one of those. It's still good advice though, trust *me. ;)

 

 

* the girl staring at the ATV's in the garage, wondering how hard they'd be to drive across town. :001_huh:

[WTMCassandra]

I always draw up how the new rooms are going to be arranged and post them in the new house on moving day. Also, I assign each new room a colored dot (stickers from Wal-Mart) and put the same colored dot on all boxes going in to that room, as they are packed.

 

I label according to where the box is going, not where it came from. I put a colored dot, the room number, and list some major items in the box on the top of the box, the side of the box, and one end. I try to pack things extra carefully and just ASSUME that they will be roughly handled. A well-packed box will not rattle or be easy to push down on the top.

 

I get rid of lots of things when I am getting ready to move. Last time was easy with our cross-country move. I just asked each item, "Do I love you enough to move you 3000 miles?!?!?" Somehow that question made things really clear ; ). Then, I start packing WAY early and do it in layers. The very first things to go into boxes are decorative things. Then I start with off-season things. I work my way down through layers based on how often we use things.

 

Now, this last time, we used a professional mover for the first time, so I wasn't doing my own packing (it was hard to give up that control!). So what I did before packing day was to go through every single shelf, cupboard, drawer, you name it, and weed out things I didn't want, just *as if* I was going to pack it. Then, during the packing process, I was very, very kind to the packers but very, very present. I tried to be everywhere at once, putting on colored dots, adding extra notes about what was in each box, etc. I made it clear that I was involved and informed. I also made sure to provide lots of yummy sodas and drinks for the packers and movers. All of this seemed to work well, and none of my belongings disappeared ; ).

[keptwoman]

In addition to what others have said:

Buy yourself LOTS of cheap paper to wrap stuff in. They call it butchers paper here but I don't know what it's called there.

Get a proper tape dispenser, the one that tapes, cuts and rolls. It is SO much easier than fluffing around with scissors or a knife. Get lots of tape. You will use lots.

I used sticky dots to label what room things were going into this time. It saved lots of writing.

Make sure fragile items are clearly labelled. And heavy items such as books are put into smaller boxes that are well taped at the bottom.

 

We've moved 10 times in our 15 year relationship. I plan to stay in this house for a very long time. I hate packing!!

[FO4UR]

Pack a suitcase for everyone, like you are going on vacation. Everything that isn't in those suitcases gets packed in boxes. Live out of the suitcases for the last week or two of packing - and you have easy access to everything you NEED while unpacking in your new place.

 

Label everything.

 

Purge.

 

Transport important info in a safe with you in your personal vehicle - not on a moving van.

[Laura Corin]

And remember where you have put them.

 

Laura (who spent today finding our passports, which were put 'somewhere safe' when we moved in December)

[Karen sn]

Burn everything.

Replace only what you NEED.

[Parrothead]

Are you moving across town or across the state or further? I've found that when moving across town, it is great to move one room at a time. I pack up the bedroom, move it, unpack it then go get the next bedroom. Pack up the school room, move it, unpack it then go get the living room.

 

Moving across the state or country, start packing everything seasonal, wall hangings, and things you only use periodically as soon as you know you are going to move. Work toward packing everything else as moving day nears.

[Sharon H in IL]

Are you packing yourself? Moving yourself? Or using professionals? Putting things in storage? How far are you moving?

 

I have lots of packing/moving advice, but I don't want to type it all out if it won't apply, kwim?

[Punkinelly]

One of the best things I have done is to label the bedrooms 1, 2, and 3, and then put the number of the rooms on the boxes so the people helping us knew which boxes went into which room. I did that with the other rooms, too.

 

Just be sure the beds are in there and set up *before* they start putting boxes in the rooms. I did that backward once. Ugh.

 

Oh, and since we were moving within the same town, I took photos of the furniture, printed them out, and wrote the measurements on the back of each picture. Then I took a tape measure, tape, and the pics and figured out where the furniture in the living room and bedrooms would go and taped the pics to the walls right were I wanted the furniture. That saved us from having a huge mess. The helpers knew just where to put the furniture.

 

Mary

[WTMCassandra]

Burn everything.

Replace only what you NEED.

:lol::lol::lol:

[keptwoman]

Are you moving across town or across the state or further? I've found that when moving across town, it is great to move one room at a time. I pack up the bedroom, move it, unpack it then go get the next bedroom. Pack up the school room, move it, unpack it then go get the living room.

That's funny! I'm the total opposite. Even across town, in fact even down the street I have absolutely everything boxed so it all goes on the truck in one swoop. Otherwise I end up taking many more car trips back and forward than I ever thought I would (did that in 2 moves... never again!)

[Melissa in St Louis]

We are going across town and probably packing ourselves. I have never moved/packed before (it is a REALLLLLLLY long story how that is possible!), so I am kinda lost. The suggestions here are great, and I looked at the flylady suggestions, also.

 

Do I buy boxes or scrounge them?

 

Thinking of doing the cardfile/organized boxes thing...anyone done this? Seems like some extra work, but might be well worth it.

 

I have just been decluttering and tossing like crazy this week, so I see how much it is possible to get done (as long as no school is happening :tongue_smilie:).

 

TIA!

 

Melissa in St Louis

[Veritaserum]

We bought moving boxes from the hardware store. Yeah, it cost some money, but they were uniform sizes and we didn't have to wander around looking for box sources. There are smaller boxes for heavier items (like books) and larger boxes for lighter items.

[Melissa in St Louis]

It may cost a few $, but uniform boxes would be nice. Especially if I am labeling them and storing them too.

[KatieJ]

Professional moving boxes are awesome, but they can be really spendy.

 

Craigslist often has people looking for moving boxes if you want to try to maybe resell them afterwards.

You can also look to see if someone has just moved and is looking to get rid of some.

[Melissa in St Louis]

Craigslist strikes again!!!:D

[Chelle in MO]

Melissa,

 

Are you moving to a different county, perhaps? As in...closer to ME??

 

Chelle

[Melissa in St Louis]

Probably not to a different COUNTY, but probably a smidge closer to you! :D We are trying really hard to find somewhere that isn't too far from our curent church, AWANA, piano lessons, and homeschool PE classes...BUT also somewhere that would be a bit closer to Jive #2. :001_huh: Anywhoo, I'm sure to make a venture out your way soon. I will have to (I mean, I have to honor of;)) decorating for St Pat's pretty soon.

 

Take care,

 

Melissa

[Chelle in MO]

I'd love to go by and meet you if we can work it out!

 

Chelle

[keptwoman]

I got my moving boxes on Freecycle last time. A whole houseload from someones move.

[Gwen in TX]

Don't put the labeled boxes in the house. If you have a garage, put them there, stacked by room (all the kitchen boxes along this wall, all the master bedroom boxes here, etc.)

 

Allow the movers (or your heavy lifting guys, if you are doing it yourself) to position all the furniture.

 

Then only bring in one box at a time to unpack. If your dc are old enough, you can give them a box to take to their rooms and unpack.

 

The reason? You can't position furniture if there are 20 boxes in the way. Also your house will look a mess for weeks as you unpack.

 

If you try it my way, your house will look lovely as you move in. And you'll be able to think (I can't think while standing in a mess).

[Melissa in St Louis]

:D I am blessed with all of these suggestions!!!! THANK YOU!!!!! :D

[Sharon H in IL]

Ha! Gwen in Texas gave you my best hint! Yes, put them in the garage.

 

Now here's my extra helpful tip: Use your master list (someone mentioned that earlier) to stack your boxes in rough numerical order in the garage. Dh made a trip to Wal-Mart and bought some inexpensive plastic knock-together shelving. We put all the single digit and teens boxes in one row, the 20's and 30's in another, and so on.

 

I'm in the kitchen and I need my pyrex pie plate. Check the master list and see it's in box 33. Go to the third row in the garage, nose around just a bit and find box 33. Take ONE box into the house, open and deal with the wrapping material and contents of only that one box.

 

It wasn't necessary, we found, to put boxes in exact numerical order, even if we could have. Just cutting down on the Big Search for the elusive box you need was enough.

 

Our house was tidy and liveable from the start. Unfortunately everyone kept wanting to eat meals and play instead of letting me just clean and organize. Well actually we did address that issue. :D We brought our babysitter with us.

 

Yup. We invited our 16 year old neighbor, the boys' regular mother's helper and babysitter, to come along with us 300 miles from home, and visit for a week so I could get started on moving in. It worked out great. We drove her back to Wisconsin and camped out in our old house, getting it ready for sale, before finally going it on our own. Jessica was a treasure and we sure missed her.

[The Governess]

Use butcher paper rather than newspaper so your dishes don't get all smeary.

 

If you can't find some actual moving boxes, you can ask in the produce department at your grocery store and they will probably have some to give you and might save some for you if you ask. The apple boxes are a good size and come with a lot of packaging inserts to protect the apples that are useful for dishes and breakables.

 

I hope your move goes well!!