10 Steps to Keeping Your Sanity During a Move

In the almost 7 years of our marriage, J and I have lived in 8 homes, 9 if you include our soon to be new house. That’s ridiculous isn’t it? We are so glad to be settling down and even more glad that this will be the LAST time we pack boxes, move boxes, and unpack boxes again. Hallelujah!!! So, I thought it would be fitting to share some tips. Tips we’ve learned over our several moves, and tips I’ve gathered on Pinterest. Moving along now… (ha, see what I did there?)

1. Don’t wait until the last minute. Seriously. Just don’t. It’s stressful, it’s tedious work… and it will be SO hard to find everything you need once you move.

2. Reserve a bigger truck than you think you’ll need… most likely you have more stuff than you thought you did. Trust me.

3. Label label label… I would love to take the time to color code all the rooms, and use stickers… etc etc. But “nobody got time for that!” So, what we do is label the boxes with the room they go to (Boogie, Bubby, Master, Kitchen, etc.), and a list of what’s in the box. Simple, effective, gets the job done without the extra hassle of being overly organized (yea, I really did just say that…. who would have thought?!)

4. Use towels, t-shirts, baby blankets, washcloths etc to pack breakables… soooo much cheaper than packing paper and bubble wrap… and you’re packing two things at once!

5. Use a towel between picture frames and stack in boxes. I double up on the towel on the tops and bottoms of the boxes and remember to write FRAGILE on the box. Duh.

6. Pack a box or backpack with the essentials. For us, this would be toiletries, extra cloth diapers and wet bags that aren’t in the diaper bag, change of clothes for everyone, bills and paperwork (we have a family binder for this), wallets, checkbook, pens, notepad, address book, cash, take out menus and snacks. Yes, you’ll start unpacking as soon as you get to your new home if it’s not far away, but seriously, it’s nice to have all that in one place instead of trying to dig for it. It’s all there ready to go!

7. Leave clothing in drawers! I’ve never done this but hello! Genius! And use trash bags to combine hanging clothes! We are DOING this.

8. Create a checklist of everything you need to accomplish at your old house before, during and after the move. And then create ANOTHER checklist of things you need to at the NEW house before, during and after the move. Lists rule the world people.

9. Gather boxes from local grocery stores, the boxes we get from our local grocery store are the ones they get the gallon jugs of milk in… they are the BEST. Perfect size! Freecycle and Craigslist are also GREAT places to find free boxes. Or if your husband manages the dietary department of a nursing home…. you can get lots of boxes there too! Ha!

10. Start one month prior to moving, pack 1-3 boxes a day for the first 2 weeks, and then start hardcore packing the last 2. We have already packed all of our (mine and J’s) books, CD’s, and random decor that was in our bedroom. That’s a start!

For more tips, check out my Pinterest board!

What tips do you have for moving?