A few weeks ago as I was getting ready for bed, Tom rushed into the bedroom holding his laptop open to what looked very much like our dream house. Look at this room! And that one! A fireplace! A sun room!
The next day we went to see it. I only had about fifteen minutes to look around, but that’s all it took. As I drove away, I called Tom and said, “Let’s do it. Let’s buy it.”
So we did. We bought a house.
I spend more time mulling over a shoe purchase.
Writing about it here, the news feels a bit out of nowhere, but we’ve been casually looking for a while. And, honestly, the move is about five years in the making. We bought our current house knowing we wouldn’t be here too long. We love our current house, this neighborhood, this location — but it’s tight on space. Especially with three children who all have very real hoarding tendencies. We keep expecting the fire marshall to bust in because we’ve exceeded maximum occupancy, exits are blocked.
This new house is different. We’re hoping this is our last move for a while. As in, we’re already scoping out where to pose the kids for their prom photos, and we’ve had actual conversations about how it’ll be a great house for when our adult children visit with their children.
It’s kind of crazy. I keep thinking huge philosophical and dramatic things like, WOW! This is where I’m going to raise my kids! This is what my life is going to look like! It’s exciting and overwhelming and, to be perfectly honest, all a little hard for me to wrap my mind around.
Especially because right now it’s hard to see past all the work ahead. Packing, moving, cleaning, settling. Anytime I’m tempted to daydream, I stub my toe on a box and return to reality.
Every time I move, about a month before I halt all purchases. I don’t want to bring anything new into my house that has to be moved. I also make a concerted effort to use up things — that pound of cannellini beans, a half a bottle of lotion, that sort of thing. I packed our full-sized toothpaste and told Tom that he was going to have to learn to squeeze from the bottom of all the travel-sized toothpastes in our medicine cabinet.
I’ve never heard of travel-size toothpastes derailing a move, but it certainly can’t hurt.
Then comes the real work — sorting, organizing, donating, trashing, and eventually packing.
I need all your best packing and moving tips. Especially ones for how to survive a move with little ones (because right now anything could happen).
Can’t wait to show you the new place.
LABEL EVERY SINGLE BOX! And not just “David’s room” but “David’s toys and books” Come unpacking time you can know what is essential and what gets unpacked first. On our last move from VA to Arkansas I found those giant Ziploc bags to be INVALUABLE. I washed all our sheets/comforters/towels/washcloths that we would need the first night and packed them in the giant Ziplocs. Then they were ready to go, all clean and without that yummy cardboard smell. 🙂 I also vote getting as much help as possible. We moved all of our belongings three times in six months and the first two times we did it entirely on our own. What a nightmare! Send your kids to grandmas house, make pleas on Facebook with the promise of pizza and beer– the more help the better. Good luck! Excited to see your new house!
My MIL is the greatest packer I know and her mantra for moving is, “Live like you’re camping.” Don’t wait to pack up things you might need, just pack them and get some paper plates and deal with it later.
Also, sometimes the sorting and purging can be overwhelming when packing and you need to just dump it all into a box, move it, and then sort it later (like in 5 years, when you finally unpack it). I know that isn’t ideal but, honestly, it might make it less stressful and faster. B/c since this is your “forever” home – you’ll have that long to sort through it all 🙂
I also agree a detailed labeling system is very helpful. And this website is my go-to for all tips: http://www.iheartorganizing.com/2015/04/uheart-organizing-we-like-to-move-it.html?m=1
Good Luck! And I can’t wait to see pictures of the new house!
Hit up ABC stores for boxes often. A lot of them have the inserts for bottles that are perfect for glasses. Their boxes are also incredibly sturdy. I have a Jim Beam box that I packed when moving from my first apartment and it has made it through 8 moves since then because I never completely unpack it. Anywho, we always use liquor boxes for anything breakable and heavy (plates, books, glasses, etc.). They also usually have handle cut outs and those that aren’t loaded with valuables or heavy things are the right size for kids to carry.
We frequently have a lot of Mormons help us move and I always love to see their faces when they see how many liquor boxes we have.
how exciting!!!! i can’t wait to see it!! when i saw the picture on facebook, I thought it was a sponsored post for pronamel hahaha. Anyways, you can do it!!!! Packing and unpacking isn’t great fun (although I have to say, I love unpacking and reorganizing), but you can do it. With our moves, we have unpacked the toys first and just throw them in one of the rooms (after they’ve been packed up for awhile) and it’s like new toys. So that’s fun. Besides that, no real advice.