Moving. UGH.

24 Comments

We’re moving to a bigger & better place! Wahoo! I’m trying to stay on an even keel, but it’s hard to stay chipper when I’m tripping over boxes and buried under piles and piles of laundry because Penelope has been vomiting everywhere. I think I need to be heavily medicated with our next move. This is crazy. See! Our living room looks more like the back room of a liquor store.

BTW, did you know liquor boxes make the best moving boxes? They do, especially if you’re packing up a lot of books.

I’m definitely looking forward to having my own well-lit studio! I couldn’t be more excited about that. We’re also finally getting a garage. How I’ve missed having a garage! So, this week & next are going to be a bit on the crazy side around here. I can’t wait til the dust settles & I can get back into a routine again.

Do you have any tips for moving? What about moving with a child? I could definitely use the advice.

view or add a comment
  • Categories
    1. Gennifer says:

      Since the last time I moved was ten days before my son was born, and with a 22-month old toddler, I have no advice. Not much help, huh?

      Good luck with your move, though! :D

    2. Chelsea says:

      My husband and I have moved quite a few times, and my best advice is to mark a few boxes with BRIGHT tape/stickers/whatever to indicate those are the boxes that have to be opened first. It helps in all of the commotion of the move to find those essential items!

    3. I’m moving too! From an apartment that my husband lived in before we were married to a three bedroom house with a garage. So so excited! Thankfully it’s just across town so we’re going to be able to do it slowly in several trips instead of with a huge moving van. The best lesson I’ve learned is to use small boxes, but it looks like you’ve already got that one down :)

      • Melissa says:

        Leyla,

        Woo hoo for moving into bigger & better spaces. We’ve never had an across-town move up until now, so I’m thrilled to be doing the same. Every move we’ve had has been a 4-touch move with moving stuff into and out of storage units. We lose at least one box of Chris’s clothes every time. Hopefully we can avoid that this time around!

    4. Cait says:

      I find that putting a room that you would like a box to go to helps a lot with unpacking. That way you are not searching through piles of boxes in random rooms and not making extra trips lugging those boxes full of books! Best of luck- it’s a crazy but fun adventure! Enjoy the new place :)

    5. Diana Smith says:

      We are moving too! So I can relate! But I have a newborn and its hard cause I can’t pack everything of hers because we still need it! Good luck on moving. Happy that you get a bigger place with your own studio!!

    6. When we last moved, my daughter was 2 1/2 years old. I was very concerned about the disruption for her. Luckily, we had some overlap between houses, so we were able to get her room painted (pink!) and slowly move her things in so she would feel like she was already home.

      That’s my advice–get the kid settled first. If she is comfortable and has toys readily available, the rest of the moving will be easier.

    7. Emily says:

      Eew! I hate moving(!) but I’m so excited you’ll have a bigger space and a garage! My best advice is to get the beds set up first- sheets and all. It’s so nice to have somewhere to sleep right away. Also, keep things you’ll need right away in a separate place (ie toiletries, toilet paper, snacks, clothes, etc.) Since you’re moving across town you might not need to unpack your drawers or take your clothes off hangers. I also read that you should put everything away once and where it belongs. If you have a lot of misc stuff that you won’t need, get rid of it rather than collecting a gigantic misc pile. The last bit of advice is mostly for myself. Good luck!

    8. Tamara says:

      I agree about using liquor boxes! They are the best for most types of packing you need to do.

      Another bit of advice I learned and have used in my past two moves is in addition to marking the box with its contents and its new location, is to record room of the contents in your old house (preferably with different colors to differentiate the new and old location). Recording the old location can be quite useful if you don’t unpack your items for a bit and then try to find an item that’s not marked on the box (because that does happen).

      It’s also useful to mark the contents on two sides of the box. If boxes get stacked up, it’s a pain to rearrange them to find the contents.

      I also try to give someone who is helping with the move the job of setting up and making the beds (because you’ll be dead tired and that’s the last thing you want to do at the end of a moving day), and then focus yourself on unpacking the kitchen and bathrooms first!

    9. Laura chavous says:

      here is a tip for moving with a child: set up a space for her first thing with her familiar toys and belongings so that it looks like her space. That will help with the adjustment. Sounds silly bc its so simple but it works.

      • Melissa says:

        Thanks for the great tips, ladies!

        I’m definitely going to try & set beds & a spot for Penelope first. What great ideas. Every move we’ve done we’ve just slept on couch cushions or air mattresses for the first week!

        Have any of you seen Hoarders? We’ve recently watched that, which I think helps with the motivation to de-clutter. I think we might be hosting a giant yard sale soon.

    10. Julia says:

      Poor Meliss! And you just got Penelope’s room just the way you wanted. Where are you moving to?

      Moving is so not fun. But the end is always better than the beginning, right?

    11. Kirsten says:

      good luck!!! my only advice would be to pawn off penelope on a relative for a couple of days so you can get some REAL work done. I have a toddler and i know that when she’s awake… nothing REALLY gets done.
      i think we’re all just excited that you’ll have a new place to decorate then show us. hooray!

    12. If they still have the dividers from inside the boxes at the liquor store, use those to pack your glasses and any similar sized breakables!

    13. I love liquor boxes for moving – that’s all we used! I think the people at the LCBO thought I was insane! We cleaned out all the liquor stores in our area! :)

      I used the dishtowels and regular bathroom towels to wrap our breakable things… we have to take those things with us anyway and I didn’t have to use nearly as much paper to wrap all my dishes/breakables.

      All the best!

    14. Mindy says:

      we’re in the smack dab middle of moving too, it feels like the process is dragging, but will soon be over thank goodness!
      & we look like a liquor store ourselves :P they really are the best!

      good luck!

    15. Rosie says:

      Those liquor boxes were cracking me up.

    16. yay! you found a place! is it in utah county? :) good luck with the moving, that’s definitely one of my least favorite things. i’d recommend getting rid of the kiddo to help you get more work done. if you need a babysitter for penelope, let me know!

    17. Jenn says:

      I second pawning off Penelope for a weekend to some family members. When we moved into our new house from an apartment, Jack played all day at a friends house then went to his Grandma’s for the weekend while we painted and got the majority of things settled. Plus, he was so excited to come home to a new room full of his favorite things.

    18. i don’t feel like reading all the comments, so sorry if this is redundant. i always get my kids rooms packed up last and unpacked/set up first. that way they can have something to do and a place to do it without being at my feet. a babysitter would obviously be better, but that can only buy you so much time, right?

    19. Emily says:

      Yay for a new place! Can’t wait to see pictures.
      I grew up moving from place to place so some ideas off the top of my head:
      – Like others said, LABEL EVERYTHING. It really helps to know which boxes go where and to just put them in the appropriate rooms right when you’re moving in. Then you don’t have to move all the boxes into the new place and move then AGAIN to the room where they belong.
      – Definitely find someone to watch Penelope while you’re doing the actual moving. The last thing you need is a little one in the way (no matter how cute she is!). Have some of her favorite toys easily accessible to help her settle in to her new space in the house.
      – Put together a box or large bag of things you’ll want right away: Toilet paper, hand soap, paper towels, a set of sheets for each bed, towels for showers, and small hotel-sized bottles of shampoo, conditioner, body wash/soap. That you can shower and sleep without digging through boxes looking for those things!
      GOOD LUCK!!

    20. Jill says:

      Tips for moving? Ha! I gave birth exactly one week prior to moving, so I couldn’t hardly lift a thing….so while my husband worked his tail off, I got to rock a brand new baby. It wasn’t so bad!

    21. Modern Palm says:

      I don’t know why, but I feel like pregnancy and moving go hand in hand! Congrats on the move and super congrats on the baby boy! Yea!

    mobile site