A few months back, I mentioned that we were entrenched in the delightful and not-at-all-maddening process of selling our apartment. We had purchased our current place back in 2005, before we had kids, and I remember moving in, and thinking, "My god, this place is HUGE! We can use the living room as a squash court! WE CAN LIVE HERE FOREVER! AND ALSO LEARN TO PLAY SQUASH, WHILE WE ARE AT IT." Fast forward a whole mess of years and two kids later,and the formerly-palatial apartment is feeling more refrigerator box-sized by the day. It's time to move on; not far, but just to a place where I do not need to constantly come up with new and creative ways to store all my extra Costco toilet paper. Conveniently enough, we found a great, bigger place right around the corner. A true dining room! A porch! TWO closets in the kids' room! Huzzah!
We found buyers for our place -- which is what set this all in motion -- and the thing is, once things started moving, they Really Moved Quickly, such that everything was settled on Friday, and after discussions earlier today, it appears we're closing/moving next week. OMG. I shouldn't even be writing this; I should be, like, piling our books together, or extricating the toilet paper rolls from their many, many hiding places. But it happened so fast that I'm kind of just doing the slow, quiet freakout.
The one thing I have done (since this all came together EARLIER TODAY) was call movers to come in for an estimate. They told me they'd be sending a "relocation specialist" to our place later this week. A RELOCATION SPECIALIST. This made me feel like I was: (a) in the Witness Protection Program; (b) on a House Hunters-type show; (c) possibly joining a cult; and (d) on a House Hunters-type show about people in the Witness Protection Program wherein said witnesses are relocated to the perfect cult compound for them. It's probably called something like House Hunters WPP: Drinkin' the Kool Aid. You know, if it actually existed.
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Obviously, I have been sitting here for the past 10 minutes trying to think of a suitable name for my fake show. Again, this is instead of packing. For our move taking place in about a week. WE ARE DOOMED.
Tell me: How do you pack with kids around? Is there a method to the madness? Should I clean out first, or just move everything, and then deal with it in the new place? Despite however organized I feel like we may be, there is just so much STUFF. Guide me, o wise ones!
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We moved last year when my daughter was 2 1/2. My trick for packing while she was around was to Give The Kid A Job. It could be a challenge: "hey, try to see how many of Daddy's books you can fit in this box!" Or it could be something that kept her busy but didn't help me in the slightest, like letting her color on the outside of the boxes. (She thought it was cool because it was different.)
Oh, and reserve important move-related phone calls for naptime. But you probably knew that already.
Good luck! And congrats on the new place!
I'm sorry, I have no advice whatsoever, considering I just did this last week and am still recovering (and will probably be recovering for the rest of my life.) In fact, your post just triggered a moving-related flashback and now I have to go and find my bottle of bourbon. In one of my 343437 still-unpacked boxes.
I have three children, 6, 5, and 4 months. Just moved last month. For the EIGHTH time in the six years since we've begin procreating.
I have moved with small children eight times.
And I'm sorry to say, there is no secret. No trick. Pack their room last, and unpack it first. That helps with the weirdness. But otherwise? Pack late at night when they're asleep, and if you have to pack during the day when they're awake? A very large bottle of Grey Goose does a great job. (for them, not you...knocks them right out) (I'm totally kidding. Really. Sort of.)
Good luck. Moving sucks, but the end result usually rocks.
I can't offer advice on the kid thing since I only have a fur child. I've had four big professional moves and I've done it both ways. If you have time, get rid of stuff you don't want at the new place, mainly because you pay per pound. (I dunno maybe since you're making a short move it's by box.) I wasn't paying for the move, my employer was; so I didn't have to worry about cost.
Generally movers won't promise not to break (in other words pay for) stuff in boxes you pack yourself. I learned this the hard way the first time I had a professional mover. So check with them before you pack anything.
Also make sure that boxes are always packed by room - with no multiple room boxes. If you don't watch them, the packers wander around looking for things to fill their box. (Hee hee fill their box) It makes unpacking... um, interesting.
Also, it'll be a mess of boxes and packing material for a while so make sure that you your kids have essentials in a box marked "load last". I don't know what those are for you. For me it was my vacuum, paper towels, alarm clock, sleeping bag, dog bed, dog toys and bowls.
Mostly, make a list then relax. It'll all work out.
Pack (and label boxes) by room. The more you have, the more you pay. (If you are just moving around the corner you are probably paying by the hour, but the more you have the longer it takes.) So...get rid of stuff you don't need/haven't used in years/keep hanging onto but can't figure out a use for.
Leave aside three large boxes. A few days before the move, into the first box put a change of clothes for everyone, diapers, toilet paper, toothbrushes, toothpaste, paper plates, a few utensils, anything else you can't live without. The morning of the move, the other two boxes get the kids bed linens, pjs, bedtime stories, anything needed for bedtime, and the same for you (bedlinens, pjs, etc). If you can, transport them yourselves (not sure if you have a car). If not, make sure they are the absolute LAST thing packed on the truck and the very first thing unpacked, taken immediately to the kids bedrooms so you know where they are.
I have no idea about the kid stuff, but having just moved a week ago, I have one piece of advice: go to the new place sometime before you're moving and figure out what furniture goes where. (you might want to even vaguely mark it with masking tape if you think the movers will be moving quickly while you're wrangling kids) You want the movers to go ahead and get them where they go before overloading you with boxes, because trying to shift around heavy boxes and furniture to get things in the right place is a nightmare that takes many, many hours to fix. (Not to mention will leave your body looking like you just went a few rounds in a boxing ring.)
We are military and are now at our third home in a year, and I have a 3 yr old and 10 month old (fun times!) Definitely get rid of as much as you can before the move. It's really irritating when you're unpacking and find stuff that you wish you had thrown away/given to Goodwill. The morning of the move, we picked a bathroom or closet and put a DO NOT PACK sign on it and put suitcases in it with the clothes, toys, valuables, whatever we didn't want the packers to take. Make sure your purse and cell phone go in there, you don't want to have to search through boxes trying to find your phone. It will be easier for you since I moved across country (KS to VA, then to NC), so we were without our stuff for over a week, but it's still easier to have the necessities easy to find. Don't forget to leave out a roll of toilet paper for the new place! I also reallyyyyy agree with figuring out where you want furniture to go so the movers do the heavy moving and you're not rearranging after they leave. Good luck!
Good luck and congrats!
Wow, I think I'd be really freaking out if I was moving that quickly, but you'll get through it. These folks have some great suggestions. I have none. But I do have lots of virtual hugs and congratulations! Moving is an adventure, a fresh start.
Moving with kids under such time constraints? I'd say pack them first, relocate them with the specialist, and rendezvous at the cult compound. Good luck! :)
I cracked up at @Kristine's response :)
I have no kids so nothing to help you out with that part, but I would say to get rid of whatever ever you can as you pack that you don't want/need anymore. Don't make it a big We Have To Organize! thing, but as you pack a room and run across things, just give it a quick thought about whether to move it or lose it. So to speak.
Good luck & I'm jealous that you get to move to a new place. Figuring out where everything goes is kind of fun (again, I don't have children underfoot, so take that for what it's worth!). I haven't moved in several years...might be time!
GAH! I hate moving! With a week to go, I say just make sure you pack everything. You may start all organized, but by the end, if you're like me, you'll just end of throwing random crap in boxes.
Good luck!
I love the name you settled on. Although I hear it in some pseudo-hip-hop accent, complete with backwards/upside down visor and ironic peace sign. Which doesn't seem to be exactly what you were getting at.
I know - you can't be responsible for the weirdness of other people's perceptions.
In any case, I would most definitely tune in to HH WPP:DTKK - particularly if Mandy Patinkin did the voiceovers.
I have really no good advice because I always freak out and then move everything in, like, plastic bags from the grocery store. Don't do that. That's my advice.
We moved in March with a 3 yr old and a 2 yr old. I packed a lot during naps and after they were in bed. Also? I procrastinated a lot a shoved stuff in random boxes on the day we moved. Because I am responsible like that.
Here's my only advice about moving with kids - make them pack their own stuff (obviously not anything breakable, but if it comes from their room and is going to their room, how much more organized does it really need to be?) and unpack their stuff first. Like before you find the toilet paper. Open up their boxes and let them go hog wild. Sure, you'll have to clean a lot up afterward and put stuff in a proper place but it will keep them amused for hours. And it helps them realize that even though the location is different, all their stuff is still around.
Ok, I only have pets, not kids, so it's not AT ALL the same, I know. However, for the last day of packing, moving day, and first day of unpacking, we had our nervous dog stay with family; that way, it was just a regular trip to Camp Grandma and Grandpa with lots of walks and fun things, and then she came home to a new place that was reasonably settled (as in we knew where the dog food was).
I don't know if you have anyone nearby who can help with the little ones, but if you're worried about the transition for them, maybe that would be a good idea. Or maybe it would scar the shit out of them. What do I know? (No wonder I'm have no children.)
I always get super specific with my box labeling when I'm moving. So that when I go to unpack I know exactly which box goes in which room and when I should open it.
At one point I might have even labeled a box "To lose. No, really. Please lose this between Point A and Point B."
Heh.
Definitely get rid of stuff before you move. It feels good to purge! Plus otherwise you'll be mad when you get there and think "Why did I drag this all the way over here? I never use it." Anything you haven't worn in a year, donate. I know for me when I get to a new place I often want to get new dishes/decor so keep that in mind before bringing questionable items.
And good luck!
We moved about 2 months ago with our 5 and 3 year old boys. We got rid of tons of stuff but we had lots of notice before we moved and spent weeks going through all our junk to figure out what to get rid of. Just getting all the stuff we didn't want to Goodwill and the dump was a big undertaking. If I was moving on your time frame I would just pack everything and then go through it as I unpacked. I'm a packrat though and sorting through everything to decide what to get rid of was really stressful for me. I couldn't do that and pack in a short time frame without losing my mind.
I highly recommend labelling each box with the name of the room it's going to in the new place and it's contents. I'm not organized at all but we did that and it meant that we had almost no trouble finding things after we got to the new house since everything was in the correct room and we just had to read the labels. It also saved us a bunch of money since the movers never had to ask us where to put anything so they moved us way faster than they estimated it would take.
I second the other recommendations to pack when the kids are sleeping if you can, unpack the kids' room/toys first, and pack your clothes, toothbrushes, and other necessities into suitcases so you have everything you need for the first night in the new place without opening boxes to get to it.
WELCOME TO HELL!
I just did this obvs.
We moved about 150 miles away when M was 15 months old. But never with 2 your age. My advice - throw away as you pack. Do so with reckless abandon (especially old toys, clothes, etc). Anything you hesitate on (things you don't use everyday but may hold sentimental value), throw into a "maybe" box to deal with after the move.
I can't tell you how many half-unpacked boxes we have in our basement almost 3 years later. The things we really use have been removed, the things we haven't used since the move are still in those half-filled boxes. We really need to sort through them, but now we have an almost 4yo and a 3 month old and no time.
Purge now - you'll be much happier.
We found out on a Monday that we had to move on that Friday so I feel your pain.
Be sure to ask the movers about additional charges for stairs and something called a distance fee. My new apt's front door was more than 75 feet from where they parked the truck so they tacked on a $475 fee.
If they are doing the packing for you, but sure to ask how for a price list of packing materials. We didn't and it turns out a small box through the asshat company I used was $12. Roll of bubble wrap, $22. Wardrobe box, $45. I spent almost $3000 on packing supplies. If I had know how much it was to buy boxes through them I would have bought my own at Uhaul and saved a ton of money. Be sure you fill out the insurance paperwork correctly if you buy insurance from the movers. Mine are claiming the paperwork wasn't filled out correctly and now they will not pay me for anything that they lost or broke.
I'm going to stop now because it seems like I'm just trying to scare you and I assure you I'm not. I just really want you to not get blindsided by stuff like I did.
We just moved this past Sunday about 2.5 miles from our old house. We had the luxury of closing on the new house 2 months before the old house, so we moved the stuff we absolutely needed (sheets, towels, partial wardrobes, toiletries, dishes, etc.) in the car. For the final packing, we took shifts: over the July 4th weekend I packed on Saturday while Al went out with the Beaner, and he packed on Sunday while I went out with the Beaner. I totally agree with Cindy's recommendation to Give The Kid A Job. One day it was "pack all the things in your dresser into medium-sized boxes". Another day it was "put a blue post-it note on any closet, cupboard, or drawer that still has stuff in it." (I loved this system, btw; it kept me from re-opening closets, drawers, and cupboards I'd already emptied, and kept me from leaving things behind.) On the day of the move, he was tasked with going around and confirming that all rooms were empty.
I should add that my husband is a genius packer. While I tend to be anal about labeling and numbering boxes and keeping detailed lists of contents, his system -- especially for a short-haul, single-day move -- was even better: He was VERY SPECIFIC about where he wanted each box to go. His goal was not to have to move any box once it was in the new place.
I don't have kids, but moving in general works best for me if I cut my stuff down by 1/4 or 1/2 when I'm packing and then again by another 1/4 when I'm unpacking. If you think you need it but having used it in 3 years, you don't need it! :)
Well, I think I'd be really freaking out if I was moving that quickly, but you'll get through it.
Well, your post just triggered a moving-related flashback and now I have to go and find my bottle of bourbon.
The first time I moved with a family I was 8 months into a high risk pregnancy with my third.
I did absolutely nothing. It was glorious. I highly recommend it.
Otherwise. Your screwed. Sorry.
I feel like a super hero of moving. This stuff makes me tingly! I have moving and packing fu!
Don't pack stuff you need to get rid of. If you can go through it as you pack then DO EEET! You will regret the hell out of not doing it later when you start finding random boxes full of stuff that you are like "WHY did we even haul this over here." Those boxes are piled in my guest room...ONE YEAR LATER! Not saying to pull everything out and organize but you can can give items a once over as you are putting them in the boxes. Set a goodwill bin to the side and take as soon as it fills up. Keep the stuff going out so it won't get in your way (I sent my bro on these missions to keep the out take moving). Keep trash boxes/bins too. As much as you can get out...do it before it piles up. Then you can see what you actually have to pack and it is less overwhelming.
Give the kids boxes to pack. You know..."Pack these towels in the box for mama!" They can't break towels and hopefully they won't notice when you bring them the next box to pack that the contents look very similar to the box they just packed!
If they aren't into packing get them to the "help" clean. "Here's a rag. Can you wipe out the cupboard for mama?" Doesn't matter what they do as long as they are busy.
My moving trick is color coding my boxes. I use neon index cards and tape them on the box with the room label on the card. Then go through the new place and stick the card on the door of each room. So when the movers come in you don't have to explain "it's the guest room...no not that one...the one across the hall" You just say Guest Room Pink Card. Pink card on door? Pink card on box? Aha! They match. Put box here! Theoretically unless your movers are colorblind it makes things easier.
I am a firm believe in the sacred space of the do not pack closet. And in it make sure you have simple tools like things to take the beds apart with.
Buy two tape guns. You think you can share. It's a pain in the ass. One person always need it when you do. Bite the bullet and spring for it! Don't buy cheap tape. It will be the bane of your existence and dealing with it will slow you down.
DO NOT mix rooms in boxes. My mom does this. It drives me nuts. My last move I got desperate and ran out of time and mixed. Still can't find stuff a year later. DON'T DO IT!
Sorry...rambling comment...so put the kids to work if you can't pack at night or send them to grammy's house. Organize as much as you can before you move to help you be able to unpack in an organized way.
I have plenty of idears about this stuff. Feel free to email me smbncsu at gmail dot com if you would like. My friends always want to know about my packing systems and process!
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