You spoke and thankfully, I listened.
To all of you who commented with moving advice on my blog post over at www.thebabymachine.com – if I could reach through this computer screen and give you a big squeezy hug, I would. I owe you my sanity. What those comments confirmed was that if you want the very best advice – go straight to the mamas.
There is no question, the move day was a monster – 13 hours of non-stop action, cardboard boxes galore and the odd dropping of the F-bomb. But we survived it, largely because I implemented what you told me to!
Here are a few of the gems that blog readers provided:
- GET MOVERS. I did that and even got them to pack up the house for me. There was one stressful thing about this – I wasn’t prepared for them. I needed to do a “pack for the packers”, much like you do the “clean for the cleaners” the night before the house gets cleaned. Because I didn’t prepare for them, I was unwrapping empty yoghurt containers in the boxes marked “basement office” when we got to the new house. I would have liked to avoid that, but not this time around. Having said that, this move would have been impossible without movers;
- Farm out the kids. Check;
- Keep drawers taped in the dressers and move them that way;
- Don’t take clothes in closets off hangers. Use the closet moving boxes;
- Have kids pack up their own desks and decorate the boxes. It makes them feel involved and gives them a sense of ownership and responsibility;
- Keep all special items (loveys, blankies, etc) and necessities (toilet paper and toothbrushes) IN THE CAR so as not to get lost in transition;
- Make the beds FIRST, so that when exhausted at end of day, at least people can crash in bed;
- Make the kitchen an unpacking priority;
- Label all boxes very clearly;
- Keep perspective – you will survive and it’s only STUFF! Your home is about the PEOPLE;
- If you cannot be there to direct the movers to the right rooms, colour code each room in the new house and colour code the boxes. Colour code furniture too;
- Use numbers to prioritize boxes – 1 means open now, 2 means later, 3 means no rush.
I’m still taking life one box at a time, but it’s done. We did it. And I don’t know how I would have done it without you.
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Good for you!!! Way to go! You survived the day and thats whats most important! Looks like the mama’s were a lot of help! I noticed many of the things I said on there as well! Its amazing how some tiny things can make a HUGE difference and make your life so much easier!!! Great job! And as for unpacking! You got time!!
AngelicMama – you had AWESOME tips! I’m sure you will help lots of people by having posted them to me!
I’m using these tips in May for when I move on to the next chapter of my life as a single mom of two little ones. Question–how do you colour code effectively? Markers, stickers?? (OMG, I just came up with a new product line for Mabel’s Labels, didn’t I?!)
What fantastic tips that I NEVER would have thought of. Glad to hear that everything sorted itself out well enough! Good on ya!
Shannon – you may just be onto a new mabel line! hee, hee!!
Thanks Cait – so true about the tips! Love the mamas who share their wisdom!!
Love your blog! Blog from MBC:-)
Andrea
Great tips. We are moving in about 2 months and have packers/movers coming. Interested to see what that will be like and trying to figure out what I need to do to get ready. How much to pack before they pack? Like should I Put all the little thingsfro ma drawer into a ziplock bag? all the medicine cabinet things…do they just toss that in a box? or should I try and bag it in little bags first?
Glad you survived!
Congratulations on surviving the move!
Hats off to you for asking for advice and then compiling it for US to use!!
You rock!