Friday, November 30, 2007

Moving

Jeremy and I have moved 7 times in our 9 1/2 years of marriage. In two weeks we move again, but this time it is into our very first house! We are so excited!

Through these moves I have gleaned from the knowledge of others and ended up with a few helpful tips. Hopefully they will save you some grief during your next move. I will just post a few that I think are really useful (because I need to go do some packing!).

*Buy a different color of post-it for each room. Keep a master list so you keep the colors straight. When you pack a box for a room stick a post-it of the appropriate color on it. When you get to your destination stick tons of the appropriate color by the door to each room. Your moving helpers will be able to look for the color and drop the box in the right room. Make sure to put a piece of clear packing tape over the post-it, but before you do that...

*Write a few key things that are in the box on the post-it. Don't get to detailed and waste time.

*Write a number from 1 -100 on the post-it based on how soon you will need to open that box when you arrive. You can use a number more than once. The idea is to help you prioritize when unpacking...if you go into a room start with the lower numbers and you will find the stuff that you thought you would need soonest. The higher numbers can wait. Now don't forget to put that clear packing tape over the post-it.

*Moving is a GREAT time to clean out and pare down. IF YOU DON'T LOVE IT DON'T MOVE IT! Having extra stuff that you don't care about clutters up your house and your life. You have to take time away from your family to take care of that stuff. Get rid of it. Do this as you are packing and again as you unpack.

*We knew that we were going to be moving a good bit so we bought some Rubbermaid totes a few moves ago. They have been great. They stack away easily when not in use and are great for organizing kids clothes (the clothes not being used right now). They stack up great in a moving van. You get the idea. We still have to round up a few boxes since we have acquired more stuff. But not near as many.

*Use all of your towels, washcloths, blankets, etc. to pad your stuff inside boxes.

*Use paper plates between your breakable plates. When you arrive just stack up the paper plates again and use them to eat on.

*Use tons of paper towels to wrap glasses and other breakables. When you arrive, have a bin to put all the paper towels in. You can use them as you clean for the first few weeks or months and not be out any money!

*Keep a folder of all info about your move. Every time you schedule a utility to be turned on or off print off a confirmation and keep it all together in your folder. Do this with your mail forwarding too.

For more info look at www.flylady.net. She has a whole section devoted to moving here.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey- thanks for sharing and updating the profile too! Denise

jennifer h said...

Congratulations on the house! WE WANT PICTURES!

P.S. We are at 10 moves in 16 years.

Anonymous said...

Does Jeremy have a blog?

Brandy said...

No, Jeremy does not have a blog. He has thought about getting one just to organize his links, sites, and articles that he likes (that is sort of what I use it for!). It is handy because then you can search the blog. But, he has not done it yet.