Please give me your best helpful hints for a smooth moving day! We have rented a Uhaul and have friends helping us move.
We've been labeling everything we've packed so far with what's inside and where it goes in the new house. We've planned to buy plenty of food and drinks for those helping us. We are moving about 20 minutes away, so not a long distance move, but trying to do everything as efficiently as possible. Thanks!
If you are DIY load up the truck in the reverse order you want it unloaded and organized by room. That way you can just use an assembly line method to unload and deliver everything to its intended location.
If you can try and go to the new house the morning of or night before and stock the bathroom with tp, soap, hand towels, and your shower curtain liner and soap so it's ready to go. I normally clean it when I do that too. Throw bottled waters in the new fridge and paper towels and plates in the new kitchen. If the fridge has an ice maker I turn it on then. Also set aside bedding that you'll need that first night and you won't have to dig for it. I've moved a lot and it's always so much nicer when you already have a clean stocked bathroom for the end of the night.
If space in the truck is an issue, put all the boxes in the moving truck first stacking them All the way to the ceiling, then add in your furniture/ oddly shaped stuff.
Super cheap paper plates to go in between your dishes. Wrap breakaples in your dishtowels and bathtowels. Keep a laundry basket or box in your car with the absolute essentials, for me this was paper plates, glasses, silverware, dish soap, etc. The things I needed right away.
Purge! Purge! Purge! I find that moving is the absolute best time to go through everything and determine if you really want to keep it. Do you really love something enough to pack it up, move it, unpack it, and find a new place for it? If not, get rid of it.
Leave clothes on hangers and cover them in a garbage bag in a dry cleaner's bag style.
If you are comfortable in doing so I would avoid wrapping every individual dish. Last time we moved (about a 20 minute drive) we took the whole stack of dinner plates, wrapped them in a towel, and placed that in a box. We did the same thing with bowls and salad plates.
Rent a dolly if there isn't one provided with the moving truck. They are life savers.
Make sure there is TP at the new house. I throw a couple of rolls in my car, plus stuff like a hand towel, paper towels, etc. I'd also have paper plates etc handy (like in a grocery bag in my car) so you're not digging through boxes for them while you're waiting to eat.
Seriously, pack yourself an overnight bag with toiletries and a few changes of clothes. Like you're going somewhere for 3 days. Pack EVERYTHING else in the house. Either the morning of in your old place or the afternoon of in your new place, just do a load of laundry - clothes, towels and bedding. That way you'll have clean bedding, towels and clothes for a few more days.
Whittle down what's in your fridge over the next few days and use or toss as much as possible.
I like moving the heavy stuff first and getting help with that. Move lighter boxes and clothing in your car before or after the big move.
Everyone else has covered some of what I would have said, including hiring movers and having a bag with your essentials for the first few days, but here are a few more:
1) Buy a roll of mover's cling wrap and wrap all the drawers of your dresser. Then you don't have to unpack them. This stuff is pretty reasonable on amazon. I got a giant roll for $15. You can also use it to wrap and protect furniture and appliances.
2) Pack plates on their side and not flat. Use Styrofoam plates as liners between them. Line the bottom of the box with a towel or something else to provide cushion. You'll fit more plates in the box and they are cushioned better this way.
3) Put your beds together first and make them up at the start of the day. That way at the very end of the day when you're exhausted, you still don't have to make the bed.
4) Use this as a chance to purge. If you haven't used it recently, don't spend the effort to move it.
Since you're doing it yourself - pack any heavy non-breakable items (think books) in any rolling suitcases you have. Few things suck more than having to move a box of books.
set up and make your beds first when you start unpacking. nothing worse than being dead tired and realizing your mattress is leaning againt the wall and no idea where your sheets and pillows are.
We just did a very short distance move. We had the house for 10 days before the moving truck so we moved everything we could over in boxes in our cars in the evenings and the weekend in between. Unpacking each load as we went. Then we even reused boxes.
Get a box of blank newsprint and use that to wrap everything that goes into boxes. Cheap and good protection. I watched our professional movers the last time and they typically did 2 layers on everything.
Put a bin or box together of everything you'll need when you first get there if you don't take that stuff over prior: Bedding for each bed, including pillows Bathroom hand towels, kitchen hand towels Nightclothes and tomorrow clothes for everyone (including socks and undies) Someone mentioned shower curtain. That's brilliant. Toiletries, you can also pack a suitcase like you would for a three day trip with outfits , toiletries, undies etc Any special lobbies/ toys for babies and furbabies
set up and make your beds first when you start unpacking. nothing worse than being dead tired and realizing your mattress is leaning againt the wall and no idea where your sheets and pillows are.
Best advice I have ever been given in life. The only reason I open threads like this is to share it!!
Pack one box or tub that is different from the rest with your bedding, towels, toilet paper, paper towels, multipurpose cleaner, toiletries, and anything else you might need that first night.
If you are DIY load up the truck in the reverse order you want it unloaded and organized by room. That way you can just use an assembly line method to unload and deliver everything to its intended location.
We have what feels like endless amount of glassware and china. I line boxes with towels and coats and use our clothes to wrap all breakables. Put a layer of a towel or coat on the top. This way clothes and breakables get packed all at once.
I've done it twice already and shudder to think I'll have to do it again next year.