Packing up a house to move...where to start?
 

Im feeling so overwhelmed. Weve gotten TOO settled into this place. We need to get rid of a ton. (which feels crazy cus weve gotten rid of a ton already.)

I have no idea where to start. We dont have a firm move out day, could be tomorrow, could be next September. :shrug3:lol Ok, it probably wont literally be tomorrow but it could be soon enough to catch us by surprise.

Where do I start?!?

I could start with all the books besides kids books. We read several of those per day. I suppose I could even pack most the kid books and rely more on the library in this season. :shrug3

I can pack away out of season clothes.( I THINK warm weather is finally done.)

toys...oh my goodness, toys. We have waaaaaaaaaaaay too many toys for one child. Its frustrating cus family give her toys and of couse she doesnt want to part with any of them. We put a lot in "rotation" in the basement and she actually remembers what she has and asks for it... even random junk that she gets. :-/ So the typical "box it up and if she doesnt ask for it toss it." doesnt help much. :shrug3

We have baby and toddler stuff for about 3 babies. A whole nursery set up for them. :cry I want to keep the stuff because it was really hard to find/source/buy all of it. Its all organic, natural, flame retardant free. Replacing it would be hard and I hope desperately we will need it one day.


Um...I have kitchen gadgets that are less-used in the basement. Those can be packed.

Ive never done this after living in one place for so long. Im overwhelmed. :sigh

Re: Packing up a house to move...where to start?
 

Can you ask friends for help? Pack up donations and ask around for which places will pick things up.

No matter where you start, have boxes/bags for Pack/Toss/Donate the whole time. Better to get rid now than at the new place.

Decor is an easy one, for me. It's not essential and it's out in the open so you won't make too much mess in getting it out and packed.

For me, it helps to ask "would I rather buy a new one or manage finding this one a place to stay and keeping it clean" instead of considering the cost.

Re: Packing up a house to move...where to start?
 

I agree pack decor first. It is non-essential. Besides what you listed, also think about linens not in use, seasonal items, things already in storage, the "good" dishes that you don't use everyday, household appliances that you don't use for special things, long-term storage papers and files, wall hangings and art, photographs. If you don't mind living out of boxes for some things, you could also pack not everyday things like the medicine cabinet as long as you keep the box open in case you need something in there. Things you use pretty much every day I would save to pack at the last. There's no harm in keeping the baby/toddler stuff.:hugheart

Labeling the boxes with what is in them and what room they will go in in the new house will make life a lot easier on the other end.

Re: Packing up a house to move...where to start?
 

Ugh I just did this in May, and it is SO overwhelming! Every day (or rather every moment) I would have to remind myself that you eat an elephant one bite at a time, and encourage myself that each box packed was one bite of a huge elephant! I learned that packing to move is 90% walking in circles and sighing loudly.

We had a yard sale a few weeks before the move, and as I was packing things, I was also making a yard sale pile. We got rid of SO MUCH STUFF. It was great.

I think you have a good idea of some starting places. At every step, I just looked around the house for non-essentials that could go. Will we need this between now and the move? No? Pack it up. About a week before, I even packed up all of our clothes except for about 3 outfits, 2 pajamas, and a few pairs of underwear per person. It isn't very hippie of me, but we switched to all paper and plastic utensils for the last few days, too, so I could pack up all of the plates and such.

For boxes, I went to local businesses like Dollar General and Kroger and got them all free. There is an ideal medium size that you want to shoot for for most things, as several of my bigger boxes became too heavy and difficult to carry. Heavy duty boxes like laundry detergent or bananas come in are great for heavy, fragile things like dishes.

Another tip that has helped SO MUCH with unpacking is to write on the box every single item that is in the box, along with the room it goes in. So instead of just writing KITCHEN on 15 boxes, I wrote "KITCHEN: 9x11 pyrex dish, muffin tins, round cake pan..." and so on.

Re: Packing up a house to move...where to start?
 

I would go ahead and pack up books if you have a lot of them, and yes, relying on the library IF you have time to go to the library with all the packing.

As for baby stuff, what about lending it to someone? I have done that between babies and it has worked out great! Or if you have too much of it (more than you would need for another child), you could donate some. Think that there might be some people out there who rely on thrift stores for their toys and would be thrilled to find something like X at a thrift store. I know I have been there and was so happy when I found something that was more natural, wooden, etc, instead of the plastic stuff there usually was. You could even pray that the items will make their way to someone who will love and appreciate the qualities you love and appreciate in them. Or you could find a school (Waldorf, Montessori, etc) and donate or donate to a church nursery (remember any of that would be tax deductible most likely).

Would dd go for giving some toys to kids who don't have any toys? Or might she go for giving some things to friends to remember her by when you guys move? I have one dd who tends to want to hold onto and remember everything, too. The only solution I have found with her is to slow the influx, though, because when she finally decides to let go of something she ends up being sad about it later. I gave up trying to make her get rid of things because it just makes her sad and she doesn't get over it easily. So you have to decide for your dd how that works. With my dd on the off chance she does tell me she wants to get rid of something I just store it because I know she will ask for it back. I settle for not letting her keep actual trash and not letting her keep stuff that belongs to the household (ie she can't just take a pair of scissors or a Tupperware and decide it is hers and keep it with her stuff).

Would it help you to find an online to-do list for moving? There have to be tons of them- maybe one would resonate with you. Obviously you can't totally follow the "3 months before the move" etc because you don't know how long but you could start with the furthest away list and work your way up.

Re: Packing up a house to move...where to start?
 

First, get rid of as much as you can/want to, then start packing up closets. It amazes me how much stuff we have in closets. Pack up 90% of the books. If you don't have a moving date, I don't see the point of packing up all the books.

Everything off the walls.

When you have moving date then pack kitchen things that you do not use regularly, ie can live without for a month (or more).

Re: Packing up a house to move...where to start?
 

It's such an overwhelming job.

I'll say this--we've moved a lot. And hopefully for the last time. I have never, ever, regretted getting rid of things before a move. Rather, the other way around. "Seriously? I moved THIS across the country?????"

My dh just couldn't get rid of our StairMaster because "we paid a lot for it." It didn't sell at our rummage sale and we moved that monstrosity across the country. And it sits in our closet.

A friend of mine dumped boxes and boxes of homeschooling books at our co-op meeting. Her words, "I cannot believe I moved these here from Alaska. I haven't even opened these boxes."

So, just some encouragement to let go.

Re: Packing up a house to move...where to start?
 

I agree with sorting through things and working out what "really" needs to be moved. Moving is such a big job, hope all goes well :)

Re: Packing up a house to move...where to start?
 

I have been listening to the "a slob comes clean pidcast'' and her advice on things like this is to start with the easy. I relized it was what I had done in the past to actually get started. Pick an area and go though it and at first just get rid of stuff you don't need. I would start with things you have stored in the bacement see if you need the rairly used kitchen gadgets enough to pay to move and or store them.

It won't help right now. But I have had good progress with my girls who are attached to everything. Talking about how ' we can't keep everything and have a nice house'. You could present things to you doughters as ' we can't move everything' . I then will let them choose what they want to keep. Some times I am surprised by there choices, I do my best to try to repect them. The other thing I do is o normally keep my answers of where is x toy ( that we got rid of months ago go) to I don't know.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

Re: Packing up a house to move...where to start?
 

If you decide to get rid of some of the baby things (I totally understand keeping them if your family is not through growing) may I suggest you see if your area has an emergency shelter for women. They usually have to leave their homes in a hurry and without things. This could be a huge blessing. (Just call and check if they have a need for your excess toys or even videos.... the children get tv time at our local shelter and even the women have a movie at night after they have counseling all day.) They might even like some of the excess kitchen items.

Re: Packing up a house to move...where to start?
 

Egg boxes are good, from grocery stores, and liquor boxes are the best for books IMO bc they aren't huge and it's hard to make them too heavy for one person to handle.


Instead of writing on the box: mark the box in the top left corner (of each side) by the room and number it. Then label a 3*5 card the same way and write on the card what is in the box. Store all the cards in a recipe box or on a key ring. When you need to find something, instead of searching boxes to find which one has what you need, you can flip through the cards til you find what you need, then go to that exact box. Ex:: box labeled KIT-01 in top L corner each side and both top flaps, note card labeled KIT-01 on top. Put in box, 9*13 baking pan, 9*13 casserole dish, cake pans, cookie trays, spice/seasoning refills, measuring cups and spoons. All that gets written on the notecard, when box gets taped up notecard goes in the box. When you're searching for a cake pan, you go to your card box, find the card that says cake pans, see its KIT-01, and then you can just go find the box. :heart


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Re: Packing up a house to move...where to start?
 

We weighed our moving truck empty and then again full. I packed 12,000 pounds of stuff by myself in two weeks. Yes, you read that right. I think 75 or so boxes of books which helped with the wieght. Ha! I got all my boxes from the liquor store for free. So not book book size, but pretty big! :)

I would hate to live in a house without decorations. Those are packed last for me as my decorations are all on the wall anyway. :)

I'd keep all that organic baby gear for sure.

I do NOT write all those details on the boxes either and 90% of my house was unpacked the first week. If it makes you happy to do that, great. If not, don't feel like a packing failure.

Re: Packing up a house to move...where to start?
 

Sent a PM

Re: Packing up a house to move...where to start?
 

I don't write a lot of detail on boxes, either. I write the room and the main contents. I unpack everything in a few days so spending time on detail isn't a good use of my time.

I have one or two boxes for each room that I label "unpack first."

Re: Packing up a house to move...where to start?
 

:giggle

Oh dear! But this is so true!