Being a Military family, we tend to move often. I like organization and checklists and all types of things that make moving easier. But I’m not going to give you those today. I’m going to give you my top 2 tips to make the actual moving part easier.
#1 PURGE!
See this post for more information. As tempting as it is to say you’ll do this as you unpack, it’s so much easier to do ahead of time! Whether it’s down the street or across the country, when you get to your new house you are usually in a hurry to get unpacked. Which means you are more likely to put things in a closet instead of actually going through them. And why keep items you aren’t going to use?
#2 BAG IT!
This is slightly more unconventional. But after 4 moves, I think it’s essential.
Bag and label all drawers. Using 2 gallon zip lock bags, every drawer from nightstands to utensils are bagged before the movers come (side note: this would also be useful when moving yourself, just do it as you are packing!). I originally came up with this plan after our first move. We would open boxes labeled “Living Room” and there would be a bunch of pens, cords, nail files, and a few remotes. It always took a few minutes of emptying before one of us realized that it was the random stuff from our end table drawers.
This tip is twofold. 1) It requires you to purge the drawers that would usually get skipped, such as utensils. It’s much easier to choose what to keep when you are physically putting items in a bag. And 2) It makes unpacking SO MUCH EASIER! As I said earlier, when you are unpacking, you are usually in hurry and it’s great to open a box, see a labeled zip lock bag, and place it in the drawer it goes in. During the initial unpack, I usually don’t even open the bags, I just put them in the drawer. After we get all settled, then I’ll take the time to go around and unpack the drawers.
If you have movers that are packing you up, there is a third benefit. Movers like to use paper. Lots and lots of paper for padding. And if you have a drawer with a lot of various items, they will wrap each one individually. In a huge piece of paper. I opened a huge box labeled “Kitchen” after our first move. I figured it was a bunch of appliances or something. Nope, it was the contents of our utensil drawer with each spoon, ladle, spatula, and whisk wrapped individually. It took forever to unwrap each item and put it away!
My exception to this rule is breakable items. I always leave any fragile item outside of the bag, but still in the drawer, to allow the movers to pack it accordingly.
Do you have any essential moving tips???
Kelly Rooney says
Autumn,
I too am a bagger! It is absolutely essential if you don’t want the 50 lbs of packing paper..and like you said its so much easier to toss a bag in the drawer and come back to it. I wanted to scream when they would dump a box with pens, pencils, and other misc. items. I also started packing the clothes from my dresser into our unused suitcases. That way when they packed our suitcases, all of my clothes were folded up inside nice and organized. There is nothing more annoying then having your clothes shoved into a box and then have to be refolded while you are in the process of unpacking 🙂
Autumn Kinsey says
Great idea! I usually bag any clothes in garbage bags with a dryer sheet as well. Otherwise I feel like I have to wash everything when I unpack!