Moving to a New Home – Getting Organized
What’s a Homemaking site without some articles about moving?
I’ve moved many, many times in my life. While I was growing up my father’s job required we live on a few continents and then a few states. Moving is never easy and can cause disagreements, weight loss (me), and new gray hairs.
The average person moves house several times in their lifetime. Moving for a new job, a growing family, or just a change of scenery, there are all kinds of reasons and it is one of the most stressful, and rewarding times for the majority of people.
So let’s talk about organizing your packing
You have a new place to go, everyone has been notified, the movers have been scheduled so let’s commence with packing!
Collect Your Supplies – The main things you need for packing up you need are boxes and tape. If you know someone who has recently moved (we always seemed to) a good way to save is to ask them for their boxes if they haven’t gotten rid of them yet. This last time we lucked out as someone we knew had boxes AND tape they weren’t using from a recent move.
Packing in What Order -The next thing is to plan what rooms you’re going to pack and in what order. I started with our home office and the master bedroom. We of course had other areas I could have started with but those other places actually contained boxes I never unpacked from our last move. These two rooms had plenty of things not in use at the moment.
Of course you can start packing in any room you wish but the general rule is to start packing in the room where you use items the least (a closet, or guest room) and to end in the kitchen (the room you use the most).
Now I actually started packing well before we knew when exactly we were moving. I was systematically packing while we searched for a home. If you know a move is in your near future go ahead and start packing things you may not need for a few months. e.g Winter or Summer clothing.
Pack and Purge – Packing is an excellent time to purge your home and life of excess and get a fresh start in a new place.
In our home office I started by weeding out old papers and books. I started with organizing the homeschooling items (which I can’t seem to let go of for any reason) and then got my crafts supplies together. I packed all the bookshelves and emptied the closet. There are still things on shelves and tables but they’ll be packed in short order.
Whether you’re selling your house or moving due to a new baby, need for more, or less space, because you’re renting and need to move on, or are going to let your own house and move into another one – moving can be stressful….but it can also be a lot of fun.
More Moving Tips
- Real Simple’s Moving Checklist
- Pack Fast Move Fast
- We’ re using Angie’s List to make sure we get quality contractors in all the areas of our move.
