My Moving Tips - Part One

Since we just moved I thought I would post the tips that were helpful to me for packing and organizing the move:

Create a "Moving Notebook": This was probably my number one favorite tool used for organizing the move. I had to refer to this book often and I just carried it in my purse so I always had it. Using a spiral notebook for information such as movers names and phone numbers, realtor name and number, new house address. Create running to-do lists in this notebook. Record your moving expenses in this book. I made my own little check list in here of things I needed to take care of such as, change of address with post office, get water turned on at new place, off at old place, transfer the electricity to the new house, etc. I wrote down our account numbers too so that if there was an issue at the new house and something wasn't turned on, I could easily access any information I might need. Keep this notebook somewhere easily accessible at all times your purse, the car, whatever works for you. Come moving day, if you need something just turn to the handy-dandy little book for help. **I also gave each room a page in my notebook and as I came across online/bloggy ideas for organizing or painting, etc. I wrote it in this book along with the blog or website name. As we are getting settled in the new house I figured I might need to refer back to some of these ideas!!

Get used boxes: Check with your local Freecycle or Craigslist for people getting rid of moving boxes. We found on Freecycle a guy who lived right up the street who had too many boxes and needed to get rid of them. It wasn't enough to do our whole house with but it was a start. Mr. Man also went behind some shops to get boxes. ULTA has great small ones for bathroom and book shelf packing!

Have a "GO BOX": I saw this over at Frazz Mom when we were preparing to move. I thought it was an excellent idea! Basically, when you are packing for your move have a medium to large size box and label it GO BOX. This is going to be the last box taken to the new place and the first box that you will open in your new place. My husband has re-named this our "Survival Box" because he says these are all the items you need when you move and you can't find the items because they are in 10 different places!

Frazz Mom suggested these items:

Toilet paper

Clorox wipes

Paper towels

Cell phone charger

Local phone book

Regular phone (land line)

Paper plates and cups

Towels

Light bulbs (Our new house didn't come with light bulbs in the light fixtures!)

Flashlight (Just in case!)

Snacks (Especially important for the kids!)

Tape

Scissors or box knife

Any tools you might need to assemble furniture- screwdriver, hammer, etc.

Here are some items I also added to my box:

Advil (moving hurts!)

Can opener

wash cloths

garbage bags

This box was extremely helpful. We pretty knew if we needed something that we could check this box first!! This was the second most favorite tool used during the move!

Give everyone a "survival bag": Each kid got a backpack and my husband and I each got a tote bag/brief case. In our bags we put things like the house closing papers, bills that needed to be paid, books we are reading, etc. This way we had our bags handy and could most likely locate things if we needed them. The kids got to pack books, crayons, paper, coloring books, a few toys. The bags kept them entertained at the old house during move time and at the new house while we were trying to get things unpacked.

Use color coding: Get yourself a permanent marker set - an assorted set that has blue, green, red, purple, black. Buy other colors if necessary. Use one color per room. As you pack boxes for one room, label the box using the color marker that you have designated for that room. I also colored a circle on the top corner in that color so that people helping us move just had to look for the colored circle, but you could also just use colored stickers. If you used stickers, you wouldn't necessarily need to use the colored markers.

On moving day, take a colored piece of paper (matching your marker colors) and color code your rooms as well. Hang the colored paper on the door, so that it is easily seen from the stairs or the hallway, wherever people will be moving the stuff (We used colored paper taped to the door) You know which room you plan to put your daughter in or which room is going to be the play room, but not everyone else will and they will probably will have a hard time remembering which room is which, even if you do tell them. So if they see a blue paper on the door they will put all boxes labeled with the blue in this room. It worked great and things moved from the truck inside much quicker.

**We realized after the move we did not have to go through the color coding. All we would have needed to do was label the boxes according to the room and then have a piece of paper labeling the rooms. The color coding was handy for all the miscellaneous boxes that people shoved in my living room because when I was looking for Lady Bugs stuff I just looked for all the boxes with the purple label. It worked well because the colors stand out.

Give each box a number and index it: As you pack you can label the box "kitchen - fragile", "master bedroom" or "play room", etc as needed but you can also give it a number. Using your spiral "moving book", create an index of the boxes. For each box give a brief description of what is inside.

I only took the time to do this with my kitchen stuff - for one thing I didn't have time to do this with the whole house and for another, the kitchen is the one that I always find myself going "where is that can opener?" and I end up tearing open 5 boxes before I find it. (another reason I didn't index the whole house is because my SIL helped pack and I thought it would be rude to ask her to index for me..... I was so very grateful for her help!!)

For example:

#1.

Can opener
large cooking utensils
towels and napkins
coffee pot

#2.

dinner plates and salad plates

#3.

Glasses and coffee mugs

This way when you get settled in and need the can opener you are not shuffling through 9000 boxes all labeled "kitchen". This way you open one box for the one thing you desperately need, instead of 24 boxes before finding the ONE thing you needed at that moment. You can unpack the one box as you go along also.

Have a garage sale / donate unwanted items: We actually put a ton of stuff out for sale and made $200. We then took pictures of what was left and then donated it to the thrift store, we also got a receipt from the store for tax purposes. I stapled the receipt to the picture of what we donated. We plan to have another garage sale this summer because as we are unpacking we are finding things we don't need anymore.

Pack an overnight bag: Pack a suitcase for each member of the family or use a laundry basket. Make sure to have a couple outfits, pajamas, toiletries (shampoo, toothbrush, toothpaste, etc.) for each member of your family. This way you aren't rushing to unpack boxes after a long day of moving to find pajamas or toothbrush, etc. Make sure the suitcase or laundry basket is taken to the new house safely in a car (maybe even in the first load over) and put in a safe place at the new house, such as the master bathroom - just be sure it is somewhere that it can't get buried.

Last minute checks:

Check closets, cabinets and drawers for any items left behind.
Have a cell phone or leave a home phone available for any last minute calls that need to be made. Is the water shut off?
Heater / Air conditioner turned off or down?
Light switches all turned off?
Windows all shut and locked?

At the new house:

Check the hot water heater that the temperature is set correctly. Ours was set to vacation mode so it took quite awhile for it warm back up.

Check the temperature in the fridge. Again, ours had been turned down low since no one was using it for several months.

Here is a neat Moving Checklist that I found to be helpful. I also read through this Packing Tips list.