T minus 17 days...

megs1383

I'll be moving into my house!!! (assuming all goes as planned). I need to start seriously packing, but don't really know where to start.

Anyone have any packingor moving tips/advice??

mamie329

YAY! Don't forget to blog all the moving and house progress!

As far as moving and packing, I've heard to label every box and make sure you have a box of important essentials you'll need the first few days that you don't have to dig out of other boxes -- soap, TP, canned foods, paper towels, etc. 

mofe

Yay!  If you have stuff that you don't want, don't just throw it in a box and assume that you'll go through it later...get rid of it!

hawkilady

How exciting!  I can't wait to move to a new place...

Tips for packing:

Group together similar items and label things very specifically (winter clothes, bedding for guest room, bedding for master BR, towels, instead of just Linens) and weed stuff out as you pack.  No point in moving stuff you dont use just to store it soemwhere.

Definitely pack a box of cleaning supplies and dont load them onto a truck.  You'll want to clean everything before you unpack. 

Pack up one room at a time so you have similar items together and you'll know where to put the boxes when you unload them. 

Label remote controls, wires for electronics, etc. so you remember which TVs/computers/etc they go to.

 

stephriz

We're moving just across the city, and my SIL gave me this advice for local moves.  She said there's no point in going through the stress of packing and unpacking when you're moving locally.  Just put your stuff in open top boxes, put the box in the car, and put the items immediately away in the new house. 

Obviously this won't work if you have a moving truck and are doing everything all at once, but I'm going to follow it this spring.  Seriously, the thought of wrapping up all of our kitchen items in newspaper to take them 10 miles to the new house makes me want to rip out my hair.

megs1383

mofe:

Yay!  If you have stuff that you don't want, don't just throw it in a box and assume that you'll go through it later...get rid of it!

This is the one thing i have been doing so far... digging deep into my closets one by one and throwing lots of stuff out!! if i havent worn it in a year or 2 - goodbye!! if i read it and thought it wasnt good enough to reread...trash!! i am learning to have very little attachment to things, which actually feels really awesome.

Junebug060609

We're about on the same schedule...but in reverse.  We are sellers and have closing in T minus 16 days.

Others have good advice.  I'd just add to keep out things you know you'll need immediately (toiletries, clothes, power screwdriver to reassemble furniture, a knife to cut open the boxes).  Labeling is key.  You'll want cleaning supplies handy too...both for cleaning up your old place and for cleaning out the new one.

Congrats!

Junebug060609

megs1383:

mofe:

Yay!  If you have stuff that you don't want, don't just throw it in a box and assume that you'll go through it later...get rid of it!

This is the one thing i have been doing so far... digging deep into my closets one by one and throwing lots of stuff out!! if i havent worn it in a year or 2 - goodbye!! if i read it and thought it wasnt good enough to reread...trash!! i am learning to have very little attachment to things, which actually feels really awesome.

If the clothes are in decent shape I'd suggest the Salvation Army, Goodwill or the DAV...or a consignment shop to make you some money.  For books, try www.paperbackswap.com.  They might not be kicked to the curb immediately, but they can earn you some new reads.  (feel free to ask me if you have questions about PBS)

ETA: fix spelling error

angelfire0412

Congratulations, yay! Very excited and happy for you.

All of the PPs have fantastic suggestions. We just moved and it completely suckedball$, but that's to be expected. And we had people pack and move everything for us. It just totally sucks to have to reorganize and distribute everything...

But definitely do Mames suggestion of making a separate necessities box, we ordered take out the night before we left only to realize they didn't include plastic silverware and all of our flatware was packed. Awesome. Also, the packers boxed up all the clothes I had set aside for the week until we moved in. That was really cool too. Just label the boxes for the room you want them to end up in in the new house and GOOD LUCK!!

xoxo