Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Going on Number 16

In my 25 years of life, I have already moved 15 times. My husband and I just bought a house (yay!) and are preparing to move for my 16th (and maybe last?) time. With all that experience, I have picked up a few tricks for making moving day as stress-less as possible.

Start early.
Pack one or two boxes a day for a month or more in advance. You may be surprised how much stuff you have around that you don't use on a daily basis--you won't miss it for a few weeks.

Pack half and half.
It may sound odd, but you don't necessarily want to pack only one kind of thing in one box. For example, a box filled entirely with books would be very heavy to lift and may actually break the box, too. Fill the bottom half with books and top half with towels, clothes, or something else lightweight.

Don't pack blankets.
On moving day, it is very helpful to have blankets handy to protect furniture in the moving truck. If you keep your own blankets out, you won't have to pay for extras from the moving company. Blankets can also be useful to wrap around pictures, mirrors, etc. that may be fragile.

And my #1 moving tip:
Don't save ANYTHING for the last minute!
It can be tempting to say, "We can hurry and pack that in the morning before we load the truck." My admonition: Don't do it! If you have everything, and I mean everything, packed and ready to go it can take only a couple of hours to load a moving truck. If you are frantically trying to pack those last scattered items, you will be much more stressed during the day and you will waste the time of those who may have come to help you. The night before the move, pack an overnight bag as if you were spending a night away from home. Everything else goes in a box. Everything!

BUT!

Yes, I have moved more than a dozen times. But I have only moved once with a child, and she was only five months old at the time. Now, I have a two-year-old and a six-month-old...and I'm not sure what to do for them!

So...

How do you prepare your children to move to a new house before the big day?


How do you make the transition easier?


Have you had problems with your kids wanting to go back? If so, how did you handle it?


Any other tips for making a "smooth move" with the kids?

Thank you ladies! Keep up the insightful comments!

3 comments:

Tannie Datwyler said...

I have NEVER moved with my kids... I guess I didn't realize that until you said this. Both my kids were born in this condo I live in now. HMMMM... but hopefully we'll be moving in the next 6 months or so, so I hope to see some good advice on this. Erin's moved with kids before, maybe she can help us out. :)

One thing I'd suggest is to get your kids over to some sitters while you are packing. You probably already thought of that. But, I'm willing to watch them while you pack, just let me know!

Delia said...

We have only moved with my oldest...twice. He loved moving both times- I know we got lucky. He did ask about our old house and why we had to move, but I just kept the explanations brief and upbeat. It helps that when we moved to the new place(s) the first thing we set up was his room...much like his old one. Having that be familiar I think helps a lot. Good luck!

Kym said...

We have only moved once and that was about 6 months ago. I wish I would have come to you for suggestions before moving because I will DEFINITELY keep them in mind whenever we move next!!

Before we moved Riley had been sleeping through the night for quite a while. And I know we moved just down the street, but it was still a totally different environment to us and to Riley. He has quit sleeping through the night and it took some time for him to adjust to going to sleep on his own. I was frustrated because he had been such a good sleeper in the past and now he wasn't. But my mom reminded me that he's in a totally different environment and it takes some getting used to. So just try and keep the routines that you have and your kids will learn that "home" isn't a place, it's a feeling.

Now that I've rambled on I hope that was helpful(even if just a little)