Moved to a new house recently?

[Tinijocaro]

We plan to move some time this spring if all goes according to plan. The mere idea of such a big move stresses me out. We've been in our 1300 sq foot home for 12 years, we have 4 kids and lots of stuff. We are constantly in a process of weeding out and are not packrats but have our fair share of stuff-ski equipment, camping gear, hockey gear for 4 kids, and all the other usual stuff that comes with life.

We plan to move into a bigger house but I plan to go through and continue to weed out the junk. We are moving in the same town.

I need your best tips/advice for moving and making it as pain free as possible. What did you do to prepare-what worked, what didn't. Any and all advice welcome!

 

[Ohiodislover]

Clean out your kids toys, and rooms when they are not there. Let them help with their prized possessions, but with the butt-loads of toys that they don't play with, donate them while they aren't looking. Much less drama, and more than likely they have forgotten about them anyway.

Sounds mean, maybe, but it worked when we moved

 

[Bluestars]

We packed a little bit at a time and stored the boxes in our guest room. A friend of mine had a yard sale right before she moved and made over $1000! That is a good way to get rid of the things you don't want to take and to make some money while you are at it.

 

[AprilShowers]

We started cleaning out closets & basement even before we put the house on the market. Boxed up everything that we don't use regularly, and put it into storage.
This serves two purposes: To make your house look more neat & closets more spacious, and stuff is already packed and ready to move.
Be really brutal about what you need/don't need. Eg: Do we REALLY need old winter coats from a couple of years ago just because we can make them "work" coats?
We sold our house in 3 days for full price. Realtor said it's because of all the prep work we did.

 

[shortbun]

My best tip for you is start packing NOW. We moved in December and the packing was a flippin nightmare. Our stuff just kept getting bigger as we pulled it out of closets/drawers/buffets....we ran out of floor space. Wish we had secured a storage space so we could have prepacked a lot then moved it out. Seriously.

 

[Kae]

My biggest tip is also a time saver. Pack up your kitchen stuff in paper towels instead of newspaper then it will be clean when you unpack it & you can use the paper towels later while cleaning while moving in. Last time it took a good month before we used paper towel on a roll after we moved.

Kae

 

[Liberty Belle]

We plan to move some time this spring if all goes according to plan. The mere idea of such a big move stresses me out. We've been in our 1300 sq foot home for 12 years, we have 4 kids and lots of stuff. We are constantly in a process of weeding out and are not packrats but have our fair share of stuff-ski equipment, camping gear, hockey gear for 4 kids, and all the other usual stuff that comes with life.

We plan to move into a bigger house but I plan to go through and continue to weed out the junk. We are moving in the same town.

I need your best tips/advice for moving and making it as pain free as possible. What did you do to prepare-what worked, what didn't. Any and all advice welcome!

Ugh. We did this last spring. It was hell. We pretty much got rid of half our stuff, if not more. We were pretty last minute about it, too, which made us get rid of more stuff.

Good luck. I have no advice, but when you get rid of the stuff and move into a home with space, you'll feel so good!

 

[Ohiodislover]

Ugh. We did this last spring. It was hell. We pretty much got rid of half our stuff, if not more. We were pretty last minute about it, too, which made us get rid of more stuff.

This made me chuckle...When we moved we thought we were starting w/ plenty of time left. As it came closer, we found ourselves throwing out/donating everything. Just so sick of packing, and running out of time.

 

[budmonster]

When we moved from MD to FL, I made sure DH was never around when I packed, he never wanted to get rid of anything. To this day he'll look for certain things (old albums, concert stubs & so on) and when he can't find them I just say " oh must have gotten lost in the move" but their really in a landfill somewhere in MD.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Start packing NOW. Seriously, that is the best advice I can give you. As you pack you will get rid of stuff.

Our favorite thing to do is rent a storage shed. It empties the house and allows you to stage your home for sale and you are prepacked.

I pack breakables first. The reason I do that is because in the beginning I am very careful and want to take my time to pack them so they don't get broken.

We have been in this house for 1 yr and 4 months. I am going to confess that we have not fully UNPACKED the stuff in the basement.

Packing is the easy part.