We close on our new place in ten days - eek! We are only moving about a third of a mile away. So slightly farther than when we moved directly across the street when we lived in Florida - lol.
That one I did by myself because dh’s back was bad. I also had to contend with an elevator and carts and our largest car was a civic. Dh now has a mid-sized SUV and will be helping me this time!
We close on a Friday and we have movers coming the following Monday. Our plan is to move all the personal stuff ourselves and have the movers just move furniture. The good news is we don’t have to be out of our current place until July 31st, so if we don’t get our personal belongings out over the weekend, we have plenty of time.
We really don’t have a ton, but I still want to be efficient. Most significant items are clothing, books, and sheet music. I’ve boxed up some seasonal items to go straight to our walk-in attic space. I’ve also packed up cold weather clothes in these large zip up duffle-type bags.
I’m thinking we can almost go room by room? Does that sound logical? We aren’t going to box everything all at once. Just run over a carload of boxes, put it all away, and come back for more refilling the same boxes over and over again. Does this sound reasonable?
Oh, and I’ve seen the idea of pulling up garbage bags over hanging clothes, which I thought seemed useful.
Dh thinks we will be finished by Saturday at 3:00 pm. I am less optimistic. The truth is probably somewhere in between our estimates.
I moved like that recently, one carload at a time. Honestly, I lost a lot of steam after I had the necessities and there is still stuff at the other house (my brother owns it) My daughter came at some point and we did another push (also taking a lot of stuff to good will). I haven’t moved things in weeks and I do need to do more. It’s not all my stuff (it was my mother’s house) and siblings keep saying they want stuff so I haven’t thrown it out or taken it to the thrift stores.
If you do run out of steam on Sat or Sunday, can the movers take some?
We moved about 12 miles… garbage bags were awesome for moving clothes, but in the end, I did not even bother to cover anything on hangers - just put them in the SUV as is and hung them up as soon as we unloaded. For this to work, I mentally organized everything in the new closet and followed my mental plan to hang stuff accordingly.
We absolutely reused the boxes. And we used laundry baskets to move things, especially kitchen stuff. We also did not bother with any bubble wrap or serious packaging, even for china!
We downsized from our home to our current apartment without using movers (over 4.5 hours away). However, we basically bought all new furniture, and did it over the course of 2 years - carload by carload. I suggest using different sized plastic bins for putting stuff in and then unloading at the new location.
Even with a short move, make sure you do a first night box with your sheets, pillows, toothbrushes, toiletries, coffee maker, coffee, etc, everything you will need to sleep in your new home that first night, which you move the same time as the furniture.
Suitcases are also great for moving stuff - not just clothes! We have used the garbage bag method many, many times (moved my daughter from dorm room to dorm room and back and forth over college summers with the garbage bag method.)
In my experience, the kitchen stuff takes the longest to pack, because there are so many things, and many are breakable and awkward sized or shaped.
Before you move anything, do whatever deep clean you want on the new place. This will also take longer than you expect, but it is better to have clean floors, counters, etc. before you fill it up with stuff.
Packing and unpacking books (and your sheet music), will be the most exhausting part of the move. They are heavy and putting them in the places you want will take time. You might want to either do it in advance (so have those packed in boxes that you won’t reuse and just run those over) or do it after the movers are done at your leisure. I used very strong canvas bags to pack books (like those big LL Bean type ones).
Another great moving “vehicle” are those big blue Ikea bags. I have a bunch and have used them for every move starting in 2012 when my daughter went off to college using them. (We now keep them in our trunk and use them for lugging groceries into the house).
I bought some purple ones from Walmart. I think they are similar? They were on clearance - two for $5. I have six, and a friend will loan me two more. Does eight seem like a good number?
Don’t want to be a downer, but we took out insurance for our move, even though we were moving close by (more like 10 miles, not as close as you are). I’d heard of a truck burning up with someone’s stuff in it, and decided it was a good idea.
If you have little to no steps or a bit of a haul from car to house entry, a collapsible wagon can help cut down on the trips back and forth to the car. We recently moved our daughter and that wagon was my best friend!
I moved my daughter from one place to another in the same complex. I just took stuff in the car, and put it where it needed to be in the new place. I did go room by room. So…I did the kitchen (food, cleaning items, even the dishes). Just moved them to the new kitchen. Then I did closets. Moved stuff to the new closets…just put them on the back seat of my car. And hung them up. Then the bathroom.
I also moved small things like artwork from the walls and lamps. And curtains. Anything it was going to use again, I just put in its new place.
I did pack dishes and let the movers move them, along with the furniture.
I went back and forth a lot of times, but got it all done. It really wasn’t too bad!
You need this dolly to stack up the boxes when you load and unload into your car, new house, and old house. Trust me it makes life so much easier. You may or may not also need those bungee cords to keep the boxes in place. When we did our gradual carload by carload move - this dolly lived in the car.
The moving bag you have is fine but look on Amazon for storage bags for moving. Lots on sale right now. Look for ones where the strap goes all the way around the bag rather than just attached at the top. They are great for linens, clothing, pillows, plastic goods–just about anything not fragile. Nice thing is they’ll stack if mostly full. If you get the clear ones you’ll know just what’s in there without labeling. Some have the zipper go all the way around the top so it opens like a suitcase–easier to pack since top opens all the way.
I’d probably get more boxes and not plan to unpack as you go. Just concentrate on getting out of your present house. That is the first goal. You’ll be tired and run out of steam. You’ll find shelves you want to paper first, things to clean, furniture you want to move around still. And stuff you’ll decide you can live without. And remember decision making takes energy also.
Suitcases are great for packing fragile items–use your towels to pack around them.
That’s assuming you are packing boxes to be closed and taped shut. For such a short move I might not be doing that!
I agree with @BunsenBurner to not take the time to wrap every glass, every bowl, etc. - unless something is of great value. Too much time wasted on both ends - packing and unpacking - and having to get rid of all the wrapping! Best things as you can, use dish towels or cloths here and there as you pack a box for some cushion - unless you’re jamming on the brakes for 3 blocks you’ll be fine! And if you drop a box it’s all gonna break anyway!!
Since you are using professional movers for the furniture, you don’t need to empty any drawers, except ones with fragile items. Bookcases/shelves are the biggest issue, take pictures of the stuff on the shelves before you move and then it will be easier to put the stuff back in the same order (if that is what you desire.)
I remember @Hoggirl saying she/they are pretty minimalistic. And I remember her showing us a dining space/shelves in I think her Florida home which was beautiful but minimal in items.
I think this girl is going to have one box per room and be done in no time!
Something that took a lot of moving energy for us was my husband’s tools and garage stuff - ugh. Do you have much to move in these categories??
