Packing

flantastic

I need y'all's best packing strategies. We're buying a house and offer to closing is like 6 weeks (closing is a month from today).

We have a weird unfinished-ish half story in our rental (you could maybe consider it finished, but there's no AC/heat and while I can walk through the rooms without hitting my head, not everyone could). It's been good for some nice dry storage areas - i.e. not the basement. There are two decent-sized rooms, and I have kept up there in one half of one room most of the boxes and packing materials from our appliances, wedding gifts, etc. (knowing we had the space and would eventually move). It is paying DIVIDENDS. I think I have the boxes/dividers/cushioning for all of our glassware, for instance.

So I've started with those and with purging, but do you guys have any tips for how best to pack certain items, or an order in which to do it?

MissKittyDanger

When we moved, I started packing things we didn't need and knew we wouldn't.
Like it was summer, so I packed winter stuff.

Breakables - glasses - were packed with towels and cloths, or sweaters we didn't need. Two birds.

Pack plates like records. They don't move around as much.

Also it's easier to purge stuff when you're packing, because you look at it as "i don't really want/need this, why should I pack it?" Donation pile! {unpacking makes you realize how little you need/want also}

charlotte989875

Label everything. I did detailed lists of what was in each box, gave each box a number, and created a master list of the box number and contents. We've moved so many times in the past 10 years this system seems to keep things straight, you know where things are, and if you're really organized you can number code to rooms in the house (i.e. 1-15 kitchen, 16-30 master bedroom, etc).

We also found that it was worth getting the specialty boxes for plates and glasses (we had some casualties in our first move together). Also pack books in small boxes. 

Are tou getting movers? Best decision we made. We hired movers to load and unload but drove the moving truck ourselves and it saved a TON of money that way. 

OliveOilsMom

I purchased from Staples a giant roll of bubble wrap and huge stack of newspaper paper (I think it was that - it looked like a giant stack of big papers you would wrap hoagies in at a deli).  They were having a sale, so they cost like $30 for both including delivery.

I used them very liberally.  I only ended up having one thing break and it was totally my fault, I didn't use enough bubble wrap and didn't have enough "give" space in the box.  I had extra newspaper and bubble wrap in the end.  I gave the paper to a teacher friend, which said there were lots of projects she could use it for.  The bubble wrap stayed with us a while, but my sister has it now since she is moving!

I started packing up anything in the kitchen I wouldn't need.  I then moved onto decorative items and our summer clothes since it was Oct/Nov.  I also packed up any extra food that wouldn't be needed. I also packed up tools and other around the house things towards the end, in case they were needed.  The last things we did were our everyday clothes (which towards the end, we only kept a few outfit choices), bedding, and towels.

If you get movers, check to see if drawers need to be empty.  We did not need to empty out the drawers of clothes for our dressers with our movers.  Even our hutch drawers didn't need to be emptied, but I had all of that mostly packed anyway by the time they came. They also took our bedding (including pillows) thrown into trashbags.

short+sassy

Congrats on the new house!

I concur with a lot of @MissKittyDanger's advice.

Purge while you pack!  Have a trash bag and a donation tote handy, to make that easier.

Definitely use towels and clothes to pack breakables.  Just make sure those are handy and well labeled boxes!  You don't want to get ready for your first shower at the new place and suddenly be looking for the "kitchen boxes" to find the bath towels, lol.

This is probably on the lazy side but, for clothes that hang on hangers, I just leave them that way.  Pick them up in bulk off the rod.  Lay them flat in my backseat.  Pick them up in bulk and put them on the rod in the new house.

Pack your mattress and any immediate needs last.  Toilet paper, paper towels, trash bags, hand soap, shower curtain, bath mat...just to name a few.  Spend a few mornings and evenings before you move really paying attention to the items you use/touch every day.  That's the stuff you want to keep handy right away. 

MissKittyDanger

charlotte989875 said:

Label everything. I did detailed lists of what was in each box, gave each box a number, and created a master list of the box number and contents. We've moved so many times in the past 10 years this system seems to keep things straight, you know where things are, and if you're really organized you can number code to rooms in the house (i.e. 1-15 kitchen, 16-30 master bedroom, etc).

We also found that it was worth getting the specialty boxes for plates and glasses (we had some casualties in our first move together). Also pack books in small boxes. 

Are you getting movers? Best decision we made. We hired movers to load and unload but drove the moving truck ourselves and it saved a TON of money that way. 

So much agreed! We did it ourselves and I regretted it. It was a long day and took more than we expected {effort and time}

flantastic

charlotte989875 said:

Label everything. I did detailed lists of what was in each box, gave each box a number, and created a master list of the box number and contents. We've moved so many times in the past 10 years this system seems to keep things straight, you know where things are, and if you're really organized you can number code to rooms in the house (i.e. 1-15 kitchen, 16-30 master bedroom, etc).

We also found that it was worth getting the specialty boxes for plates and glasses (we had some casualties in our first move together). Also pack books in small boxes. 

Are tou getting movers? Best decision we made. We hired movers to load and unload but drove the moving truck ourselves and it saved a TON of money that way. 

We are. We're only moving like a mile and a quarter, so hopefully them driving shouldn't be a big deal, but yeah DH and I agreed that 1) we'd feel bad doing like all our other friends and trying to guilt friends into helping and 2) we cannot move our china cabinet and a couple other items just the two of us, especially since I'm not supposed to be lifting heavy things right now anyway. (My main contribution is the organization and pre-packing.) I think MIL is coming out to keep DD occupied and out from underfoot.

MissKittyDanger

short+sassy said:

Congrats on the new house!

I concur with a lot of @MissKittyDanger's advice.

Purge while you pack!  Have a trash bag and a donation tote handy, to make that easier.

Definitely use towels and clothes to pack breakables.  Just make sure those are handy and well labeled boxes!  You don't want to get ready for your first shower at the new place and suddenly be looking for the "kitchen boxes" to find the bath towels, lol.

This is probably on the lazy side but, for clothes that hang on hangers, I just leave them that way.  Pick them up in bulk off the rod.  Lay them flat in my backseat.  Pick them up in bulk and put them on the rod in the new house.

Pack your mattress and any immediate needs last.  Toilet paper, paper towels, trash bags, hand soap, shower curtain, bath mat...just to name a few.  Spend a few mornings and evenings before you move really paying attention to the items you use/touch every day.  That's the stuff you want to keep handy right away. 

I did similar. We wrapped the hangers together to make it easier to grab them, then used a garbage bag to make sure they didn't get dirty also

6fsn

We left everything in the dressers and hanging in the closet.  The movers took care of it. 

I used the big suitcases for packing towels, blankets, and sheets.  I packed the breakables and sentimental stuff myself and moved it myself.  PURGE AS YOU GO.  Set a goal of so many boxes a day.  I packed our whole house with a 3.5 yo and my under 1 yo in the ergo.

Use smaller suitcases to pack an overnight bag like you would on a vacation.  Move this yourself day of

Use a laundry basket for cleaning supplies, tp, a towel per person, paper plates, napkins, silverware, sheet, snacks, and water.  Move this yourself.

If you can have your MIL take DD for the night it's awesome.  Our kids came to the new house to see all of the stuff, but then my mom took them for the night so we had an extra night to set up their room.

CharmedPam

1.  I am lazy
2.  I am cheap

Instead of buying those special wardrobe hangers with the metal rod in them, I pack up my clothes, all on the hangers still in large black bags.  You can store them length wise too, or just throw them in, and drag them out.  

charlotte989875

Also a bottle of champagne/bourbon/wine and glasses should be easily accessible for the end of the day. 

flantastic

charlotte989875 said:

Also a bottle of champagne/bourbon/wine and glasses should be easily accessible for the end of the day. 

I can't drink either! Pregnancy - good for getting out of moving heavy things, bad for celebratory drinking.

sparklepants41

flantastic said:

charlotte989875 said:

Also a bottle of champagne/bourbon/wine and glasses should be easily accessible for the end of the day. 

I can't drink either! Pregnancy - good for getting out of moving heavy things, bad for celebratory drinking.

Being preggo should totally give you the upper hand in picking which takeout/delivery place to get celebratory pizza/wings/Chinese from!

charlotte989875

flantastic said:

charlotte989875 said:

Also a bottle of champagne/bourbon/wine and glasses should be easily accessible for the end of the day. 

I can't drink either! Pregnancy - good for getting out of moving heavy things, bad for celebratory drinking.

Congratulations on the pregnancy! I agree with @sparklepants41 that you get to choose the takeout. 

southernbelle0915

- Colored tape or colored sticky notes - blue is kitchen, yellow is master bedroom, purple is guest bedroom etc. And ditto @charlotte989875 on labeling (generally) what is in each box.
- Indicate boxes that need to be unpacked right away. Slap a piece of leopard print tape (or something) on each box that has your essentials. It'll help you prioritize and unpacking won't feel so daunting.
- Buy some paper plates, cups and plastic silverware and bookmark some take out menus.
- Pack a bag like you're going on vacation with stuff you'll need in the first week. That way, if you can't unpack everything right away, you have what you need to get by.
- Deep clean everything before you unpack. A blank slate is far easier to clean and you're not unpacking into someone else's grime.