HELP! Give Me Your Best Moving and Packing Tips!
Okay folks, I’m laying it all out for you. Here’s the deal. I. Hate. Moving. No, really I do. Like, probably more than any other thing you have to do in life. I even probably hate it more than I hate the dentist. And I hate the dentist a lot.
I don’t even like to use the word “hate” because I feel it is too strong 99.9% of the time. But I hate packing and I hate moving.
You see, until I went to college, I had lived in the EXACT same house my whole life. We parents were MARRIED in my childhood home. But since I left for college, I’ve moved a bajillion (okay, maybe more like 12) times.
Like I mentioned on Friday, I am SO excited about our new house and SO excited about the future… but to be honest with you, I am DREADING the next few weeks and the PROCESS of moving. We’ve already done a TON of de-cluttering and getting rid of stuff and cleaning out… and we have a lot of stuff in storage (because of having our house on the market for showing). BUT, there’s still a lot left to do.
So, that’s where you guys come in.
NO, I’m not going to ask you to pack and move my stuff for me. Although, I certainly won’t turn down anyone who offers to help! BAHA!
I need to know your best moving and packing tips.
There are a couple of challenges we are facing:
1. Our house is still on the market and has to be ready to be shown at any time… which means our house is in uber-clean-organized-show-ready-staging mode. So, how do we pack and have stuff in BOXES everywhere if the house is being shown to potential buyers? I mean, sure… in an ideal world our current house will be under contract before we have to move and we won’t have to worry about that, but in the case that it’s not… what do we do? Has anyone experienced this before? What did you do?
2. We are only moving about 15 miles away, so not far… we may not be able to afford movers. So, what’s the best way to get things ready for easiest and most efficient transport to the new house?
3. Do you have any specific packing tips for difficult-to-pack rooms like the KITCHEN? Ugh… the kitchen. Dishes are so tedious to pack! Haha!
4. Other moving and packing tips? I’d love to hear from you experienced movers! What worked best for you?
You guys have been so helpful in the past when I’ve reached out for help, so I know that I can count on you!
Thanks in advance!!!!!!
When you are switching your family members goods and/or relocating or perhaps if you are performing a long extended distance move, you will find there’s lot in the mind. If you are while in the Charlotte, Nc area and also are changing someplace other than there, you may even try the services of Charlotte movers, rather than do all of it by yourself. Get the better idea from here;https://hornetmovingnc.com/
Hiring professional moving or shifting service provider is quite important and they can simplify whole of your effort. There are many of such professionals available in the marae, make sure you bank on firms or groups that are associated in this business for long time.find out here; http://choosebestpackersandmoversinthecity.bravesites.com/blog
If you choose a removal company to handle your moving you may find that this is not a choice provided to you as they don’t cope with a large enough quantity of moving. However, some bigger removals organizations like Man and Van Slough give you the choice of ranting half the space in a bigger vehicle.
If you are seeking for that moving firm which can make your house relocation easy packing and moving your household items safely to the next destination then Man and van Epsom is moving firm which can safely move your house stuff to the next location and try to making your move stress-less.
One of my favorite tip is wrapping the dishes with the blankets. This ways I save space and money! One more advice I can give you is to hire professional moving company, this way everything will be insured and well taken care of. Good luck!
It should be noted that everyone who moves where or primarily seek to prepare boxes, but in fact they can ask acquaintances. Of course more important to properly pack, though it is important to entrust the task and professionals
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Moving and shifting houses would definitely require a lot of boxes. Cardboard boxes are the best and it can be collected free from a local store. Medium sized boxes are preferred as they can be lifted easily.
Use the right size boxes. Put heavy items, like books, in small boxes; light items, like linens and pillows, in bigger ones. Put heavier items on the bottoms of boxes, lighter items on top. And if you’re loading the truck yourself, pack heavier boxes first, toward the front of the truck, for balance.
Tom@MovingBoxesSydney
Hello! I am going to move next week and these months were packing and packing…I can’t give you some incredible advice but I will tell you to stay positive because it won’t be easy. If you are with your family everything is gonna be OK! 🙂
Kate Darcy
My advice for you is – look on the bright side, stay positive and take your time to say goodbye to your old place! Good luck!
http://manwithvanfinsburypark.co.uk/
Hi Molly!
Congrats on your move! It is nice that you are moving just 15 miles from your old house. If you have a bigger car the work will be done quite quick. You can declutter your house first, so you don’t have to move useless stuff with you. After that make sure that you pack each room separately and label all the boxes! Get everybody help and the work will be done very quickly. Try to stay positive and take breaks!
Good luck!
Greets, Man Van Ltd.
website
Wow quite the pickle you’re in. Isn’t there a way to move your boxes to your new home in the course of a week? I mean is your new home available, or is it occupied by tenants who have to move out at a specific time? Because if there’s no tenants you can safely transport all you stuff in a week, moving several boxes a day.
As far as kitchen packing goes: wrap all your dishes in packing paper and put them sideways in your box. This will minimise the chance of any of them breaking. Wrap your glasses and all other breakables in plenty of packing paper before putting them in the box. Make sure nothing inside the boxes moves. Knives require special attention. I suggest you watch this video to see how to do it properly https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAs2KCwISMg
Prepare a first night box. It should include eating utensils, blankets, pet food(if you have a pet), some clothes, toiletries and some of your children’s favourite toys. You can add more items of course, but what ever you do, always put this box last in the transportation vehicle so you’d have easy access to it later.
I hope I’ve been helpful to you.
Christian Reese of Removals Ealing http://www.ealing-removals.co.uk/
Beautiful new home! Mishelle
GTA Movers
A perfection moving company offering award winning residential move, major commercial hub, moving house or commercial property and 24/7 service available in Toronto (GTA).
Hi Molly,
Congrats for your new home!I can advice you to organize your stuff patiently. It can be a lot of fun to find things you forgot that you have.Make a garage sale or donation.Try to keep calm and make the whole process a positive experience!Good Luck!
Madeline Miller
My husband and I are both military and though we are still early in our careers – we’ve already moved a bunch including from VA to NV. The biggest trick I’ve picked up along the way was buying multiple different colored duct tape rolls from Home Depot. Each room’s box got labeled with a piece of it’s own colored tape. I made a decoder on a regular sheet of paper so that I could remember what went where. We hired movers and they were able to take my key and put every box in the right room. If you don’t hire, you will at least know where all your stuff goes.
Another tip is to go through your things and DONATE WHAT YOU DON’T USE! EVERY move, without fail, we find things that we forgot we even had. They go straight to a donate pile. If we didn’t even know we had it, we obviously don’t need it. I also use a move to go through my clothes! I weed, weed, weed.
The worst part of packing is that there is always that LAST box that is just filled with random things that you just have NO idea what to do with them and you just chuck them in a box. That’s the worst.
Best of luck 🙂
A tip I learned was if you have the time and help, move one room at a time. Take each room to the new house and set it up with everyone’s help and then on to the next room!! Went by so quick and very smooth! Made the transition so much easier!!
A random tip I learned: Cut handles in any boxes that don’t have them–it will be a ton easier to carry!
If you move to Illinois I’ll help and babysit 🙂
Forlaurenandlauren.blogspot.com
Molly – I just discovered your blog and I’m obsessed. I love what you’ve created and look forward to following along. 🙂
all the best,
allie
http://www.allietozack.com
My husband and I are definite cheapskates, so we got as much help as we could from others. A guy from our church had access to a trailer, so we used that to move a lot of the bulky stuff. We had a moving day party, and people loaded their cars with our stuff. We made one trip to the new house, unloaded, stopped for lunch, then headed back to the old place for one final load. When everyone came back, they unloaded one last time and had dessert.
Before the actual moving day, I had taken a few days to get set up. I moved my kitchen stuff before anything else, using my own car for most of it. Food is important! You gotta be able to eat! Then I just threw my clothes into my car, like others have said, with hangers intact. I just hung them up when I got to my new place.
Moving is overwhelming; I did it twice in a year. Nobody likes it, but you will get through it, and it won’t be as bad as you think.
Moving is hard regardless of how far you are moving. My family made a cross country move a few months ago and I wrote out a few tips that might be helpful for you 🙂 Good luck!! http://polka-dottyplace.blogspot.com/2013/08/tips-for-packing.html
I think most everyone has touched on a lot of my tips-especially the styrofoam plates between dishes and using black trashbags over your hangared clothes. One thing I always do is pack the decorations first. The photos, keepsakes, etc. are a big part of what makes your house feel like your home, so if you take those out of the equation then you’re more motivated to get the rest packed and get your move on! Good luck!
I have moved lots and could not have done it with the big contractor bags that Home Depot or Lowes carry. Its just a huge trash bag that is almost impossible tear…I just throw everything in those. I mean EVERYTHING!
Ahhh! I totally know what you’re going through. After getting married my husband and I moved from Illinois to Connecticut and are living in temporary housing until we completely close on our house! In this process I have become somewhat of an expert (JK but I have some helpful ideas)
1. use pods! they will come to your house and drop of a large container in your driveway. This way you can hide everything away while still showing your house. This also allows you to have your storage in your driveway so that you don’t have the fear of packing away something you might need (ahh!). They can also drop the container off at your new house when your ready and then unpacking is easy also (nix the moving truck!)
2. Use large (pretty) laundry bags for clothes. If you go to TJMAXX or Marshals they have these huge laundry bags. They are made of a woven material and can hold the entire earth. We used (and are still using) these to house our clothes because suitcases are not fun or functional.
3. Stop by a hardware store (Lowes of Homedepot) and pick up tons of newsprint paper. It is the best way to pack dishes. I actually used it when I helped my mom move also and it was the easiest/safest/most space saving way.
I hope this helps in someway! I know how frustrating and anxiety filled moving is especially when it involves buying and selling homes!
If you have any questions I would love to help!
XoXo,
Nikki
Thedarlingpearl.blogspot.com
Ah yes! Moving! We moved a lot when I was a teen and then I moved a bazillion times after high school! Below are what helped me the most!
1.) I bought notecards and listed (nearly) everything that was in each box so if I needed something or when I was unpacking it eliminated an extra step.
I labeled what room it belongs in in large letters, then my list in smaller letters below.
This helps especially if you have others assisting with the move!
2.) for dishes, I used styrofoam plates in between plates, pots and pans. Extra washcloths & dish towels around glasses. It keeps everything together also and less to throw away!
3.) I kept my closet on hangers, bunched them together and tied the hangers with rubber bands and popped a hole at the bottom of a trash bag and slid it over. You can already do this to clothes you know you won’t be wearing anytime soon.
4.) Furniture takes a lickin during moves. Keep your spare blankets, sheets and comforters out to protect them. When packing, only put soft objects and boxes around them and pool noodles are awesome to wedge between items for protection (and super cheap!)!
Keep dresser drawers in! Use painters tape to keep them closed.
5.) I always packed my jewelry (that was outside of my jewelry box) in ziplock baggies to prevent them from getting all tangled up.
6.) Cleaning supplies always got loaded last because there are always last minute things to clean and they get unloaded first.
7.) Expensive electronics go separate in a vehicle, not a trailer. That TV should fit nicely in the back seat (sans car seat, of course!).
8. I used my suitcases to pack up what clothing was in my dressers.
9. Layer the trailer when loading. Begin with large furniture in a row. Then whatever can be wedged around them and go to the roof of the trailer. You’re going to need every ounce of space. Mattresses are great to slide on top, light plastic boxes.
That’s all I can think of at the moment! I’m sure more will come to me!
Molly
I recently moved too, so I have a few tips.
1- Go to your local supermarket and find out when is their delivery date, that way you can get sturdy boxes in good condition for free.
2- If you already have the keys to your new house, move the closet from one place to the next (after you get rid of what you don’t use), that way you wont have to wash and iron it again.
3- Make sure to have plastic ware, plates and cups on moving day, so you don’t go crazy and buy something easy to eat to feed your helpers.
4- as far as the drawers if they can come out, take them out and full, (not sure if this can work for you, since you are still showing your house
5- For the heavy furniture, decide ahead where you want it (at least the room) so that it can go where it belongs, and you don’t have to do that by yourself.
Hope it helps a bit 🙂
Natalia
http://leavingthecorneranddippingmytoes.blogspot.com/
I’m currently mid-move (it’s been the LONGEST MOVE IN THE HISTORY OF MOVES) so I have lots of advice! pack the kitchen and fragile stuff first, that way you’re not already sick of packing and are more likely to do a good job with protecting the fragiles AND will have plenty of packing material on hand. Leave the amount of plates/cups/bottles, etc. you would use for a single day and pack those in the last box. Put them in your car on the move day, and then when you get to the new house you won’t have to search through everything to find those essentials. I also jotted down a brief list of what was in each box on the lid (especially helpful for kitchen and clothing boxes). Use Craig’s List if you find yourself short of boxes or packing materials, there’s usually someone hoping to make a buck after they’ve unpacked (and then you can turn around and re-sell on CL when you’re moved in!). Oh, and don’t let your husband convince you to move with all the stuff still in the dresser drawers….GOOD LUCK!
Ugh. I hear ya! I HATE moving too!!! I love the new house and reorganizing and decorating… but I hate moving! We had to be out of our townhouse BEFORE we could move into our house, so we had to rent a storage unit. It was actually really nice because we were able to move in a couple boxes at a time instead of just shoving everything in the house. That might be a good option for you? Then you could store the boxes there and keep your house organized and “show ready”?
ugh, packing! I try to think of it as I’ll get a new start with putting away and organizing in the new space, and it’s a good way to purge, so think of it that way? That being said, go to craigslist and fb garage sale boards to try and get used boxes of people that have moved and are trying to get rid fo their boxes. Constantly keep watch on craigslist and on the fb boards, just tell people you need moving boxes and usually people will pipe up saying they have some. When packing your kitchen I do what Crystal said, except I use towels too. I find that towels are a bit thicker then sheets, I’ll put the sheets at the bottom of the box to cushion everything else. If you do hire a moving company move during the weekday, it’s cheaper. Also ask them for wardrobe boxes, usually they have them for free for you to use. They bring them and you put your clothes in them, but then you have to unload them before they leave. At least with the few moving companies we’ve used that was the case. The kitchen ALWAYS takes the longest, so don’t under estimate the time it will take. As for showing your house, maybe you can pack up one box at a time and just put it in a neat pile in the garage, organize by room that it’s going to. My sister has used different colored dots per room when she moved, or you can just write in sharpie on the box, which is what we did. You might want to just throw stuff in boxes, but in the end that will be a pain in the butt, take the time now to organize and get stuff in boxes the right way and when unpacking it will go a lot smoother. Good luck!
My biggest tip is to accept help. I’m a control freak but when it comes to moving, I accept help. For my last four moves, a friend has packed my kitchen. It is a true gift from the Lord.
I hate moving too.
I don’t really have any great advice. We’re in the process of moving right now- and it’s just not ever fun, so I fully understand what you’re going through!!
If you have some time between closing on your new place and still having possession of your old place, just try to move things a few boxes at a time. We had almost 4 weeks before we had to be out of our apartment and it’s not too far to our new house- so we’ve moved at least a car load of boxes every night!
Clear plastic bins – you’ll be able to see what’s inside and they’ll double as storage bins in your new house! Also – totes from 31 Gifts might be useful too if you can find someone who sells it, they’ve got lots of bags that can also work as storage!
We have a small house, and so we have many plastic totes in storage in our garage. One thing that has helped just in the boxing is Evernote. When we pack a tote, we document it in Evernote – take a picture of it’s contents and number the box. We don’t label boxes with words so they can be reused without having to cross anything out. If box #25 is spring clothes and I take them out, I fill the box with someone else, update its description in Evernote, and now we know it has something different in it. If I need the next size up baby clothes, I search Evernote for that size, send hubs to the garage telling him I need tote #16. He grabs it easily. I know this is more about storage than packing, but it can help as you move things in. Boxes 15-20 go into the bedroom, etc.
Hire. Hire. Hire.
There are companies that will pack up your house for you. It isn’t cheap, but it is totally worth it for your sanity 🙂 You simply direct the process. I’ve heard it’s magical.
I hate moving too! I just moved into my very first home and I thought I didn’t have that much in my apartment, but things started adding up fast! I can’t imagine how it is to move a whole house!
One of the ways I like to pack dishes: sheets. You have to pack the sheets anyway, so this kills 2 birds w/ 1 stone. Plate, fold over the sheet, plate, fold over the sheet, etc. Then for glasses, I wrap a glass and twist it off, then repeat. I’ve done this with several moves and the dishes never even wiggle.
I bought a “team strap” from Amazon.com for like $20 and it helped to move large furniture w/o putting strain on your back (Well, at least that is what the men told me). It doesn’t make things feather light, but it did make sure they picked up things w/ their legs and not their back.
Also, I would invest in a real tape gun, not the plastic packing tape dispenser in the office supply section, but a metal one w/ a sharp blade. Packing is annoying enough, but you don’t want to stop after every tape session to find the end of the tape or or fight to tear the tape.
I also kept all my clothes on hangers for the first time. I was only moving a short distance like you and was able to load everything in the car. It really saved time vs folding, packing, unpacking and hanging.
Hope this helps!
I purchased thick black yard garbage bags. Cut a slit in the bottom and pulled my clothes on hangers through, then if I could I knoted the big opening. This way if something came off a hanger it was in the bag. Then I just hung up the hangers in bags when I arrived at my new place and cut open the bags. Voila my closet was moved and I did have to take everything off hangers and put them back on.
Also, I packed my kitchen and took it over before the official move date. This way when I moved in I could cook dinner/breakfast what ever I needed.
Congratulations on the new house!!!
xo, Lee
Hey Molly, I kinda lived my life around moving….1 Newspapers for the kitchen – A layer of newspaper a plate same goes for glass and ceramics. Pack what you don’t use and stay with what you do a few dishes, a bowl or two 2 cups and 1 pot and pan don’t forget utensils! Think about what you’re going to cook in the next week and keep those instruments around 2. Mark your boxes! 3. Pack 1 room at a time. 4. Don’t take anything off hangers. 5. Have at least a weeks worth of clothes, hygiene, etc in a suitcase that you keep for easy access. 6.Cardboard, if you have carpet moving furniture with carpet is a snap! 7. Blankets – They’re good for mirrors Hope this helps! ♥