share your stress free moving tips !!

[*charmalea*]

Valium sandwiches...

lol, for me or the kids ???

tomorrow, he have set aside to pack all the stuff we are not currently usuing (seasonal clothes , linen excess towells and what ever else i find ) and also doing a major clean out ..

I wrote a list on what to do and when , but we are getting a truck on friday and the only other person we have helping is my mum !! poor thing and i have a bad back so we'll see how the day goes !!

i have no motivation to pack atm as it seems so far away , but i guess the sooner i get it over and done with the better !!

thanks for all the tips ,they are really helpful ..

im the sort of person who wants it all moved/cleaned in one truck load , but apparently moving doesnt happen like that

[Astrid]

i have no motivation to pack atm as it seems so far away , but i guess the sooner i get it over and done with the better !!

I was like that, ended up that we did not get all the packing done. I was still packing on the day and we had to go back ourselves for the that few items. The kitchen was the worst. It takes a lot more time and boxes than you first think. Set your self a rule, to pack x many boxes a day and don't just do the easy stuff first like I did Mix it up, so all the last boxes are not hard.

[mrsmac]

Some great ideas from the other ladies as usual. I 2nd Lulu's sandwich idea!! We have moved 10 times in the last 11 years and I don't think it gets easier, I have moved while pg twice and with a 6 month old and 2 other kids!
Here are the only things I can think of to help:
We have decided that the expense of a removalist is well worth it!
McDonalds can be family food for 2 days if it needs to LOL
Let anyone who offers to help do so!
If you have to have the previous place clean hire a cleaner, we found a lovely Korean couple who do it for cash in hand and they are cheap and do a brilliant job.

Good luck!

[Visitor8]

oh yes I second the cleaner thing!! They do it all, floors, scirting boards, scrub the walls. Something that none of us want to do!

[Cricket]

About last minute packing - some of that will have to be done. And you likely won't do worse than my parents. They moved last summer and were told that the moving company they hired would do the packing when they arrived, so that it would be insured on the truck. However, when the guys got there, they said no, they never pack. They had no boxes or anything. Needless to say there were some panicky moments. Mom and Dad had nothing ready, and a whole bunch of moving guys waiting to load the truck. So while the moving guys loaded the furniture, mom and dad and the kids ran around like mad throwing anything and everything into whatever boxes they could come up with. When they got to the new house, they discovered boxes with things like "coffee filters, two hangars, a single sock, the toaster, and a couch cushion" Mom said at least all the stress of packing was confined to a few hours. And they made it to the new house with all their stuff, and nothing broke.
Hope your move goes more smoothly than that!

[Visitor8]

LOL Cricket that is quite funny!

[Missy_Moo]

We moved two weeks ago, and I dont have an answer.

We cheated and paid people to clean and move our stuff...

Good luck...

[Cricket]

About the cleaning of the old house - I don't know how far you are planning to move, or how much time you have between you leaving and the new people taking possession, but I kind of liked going back to the old house a couple days later to clean. I went through all the rooms, and made sure that we really had gotten everything, cleaned things, and remembered all the things that happened there, looked around the property again, etc, etc. It was kind of nice, for me. But then, the times that we have moved haven't been really far, or really rushed, and my mother-in-law was able to watch my kids. If the new owners are moving in the day after you leave, or if you have to drive for hours to get there, or if you have to take the kids with you, then you might want to get a cleaner in. Too stressful otherwise.
Just a thought.

[S'rose]

I have done this way too many times, and while I don't have kids, I do have 2 dogs - which always go to the kennel overnight... no worrying about where they are and what's happening. Less stress than watching the upheaval.
Big boxes - room by room. Write on the boxes generally where they came from because when being unloaded they can be put in the right room to start off with!! Lots of textas and tape!!
Book boxes, they are so heavy its much easier with small boxes.
Essentials like: phone chargers/kettle/toaster and things you need first up - in a box in your car!! It cannot get lost amongst stuff which always happens because its the box you want.
Make the beds up first once moved. Kids can then sleep etc, while you sort out unpacking.
If you have a garage... put allllllll the boxes in there or somewhere in a room out of sight. If you are exhausted and overwhelmed, looking at them only stresses you out more. Bringing a couple in at a time makes the job more user friendly.
Esky - lots of water/easy to eat snacks, and cash for the takeaway - never try to cook dinner the first night you move.
Frozen food - plastic washing baskets and bags of ice if you don't have a spare large esky!! You can freeze water in old milk cartons as ice blocks - smaller and cost nothing extra too.
And as a mother - get out of the house as early as possible and let the guys move. They are more efficient when we don't get under their feet and they don't have to worry about our stress levels and cranky pants moments.
Clothes - lay out your doona... take clothes on hangers from wardrobe and lay across the doona... top and tail to even out the weight, fold the doona ends over each other and they can moved as they are just like that. Much easier than trying to box etc, and you can speedily unpack them to access the doonas at the other end.

I am sure there are a heap more, but its an experience I choose to block from memory lol.

[Glamourcide]

If moving house but not town, I have found it easier to do a somewhat more gradual move. That is, pack up stuff you barely ever use and get that over to the new place first (we tend to move over the space of a week or two, rather than do it all in a day or two!!). Then, stuff that is used relatively infrequently. Then goes the stuff that you won't need for the next few days. DH and I have a routine of deciding which date will be the first night we spend in the new place, leave out as many changes of clothes as we need for the next couple of days, and shift everything else before 'moving day'.

Small loads are best for us - I'm one of those people who buckles under pressure and when given a small amount of stuff to sort out, I can do it and then go through another pile quite happily, but if I were presented with a massive amount of stuff, I crumble and can't do it. So maybe try doing things room by room? Bathroom/laundry. Then eldest child's stuff. Then second child's stuff. Then mum and dad's stuff. Then lounge room. Then kitchen, kwim? Rather than 'Okay, the movers just gave us an entire house bursting at the seams with cardboard boxes... this is going to take me daaayyyss!!'

As for cleaning, again, I tend to do it room by room as things slowly disappear from the house. Ahh, spare bedroom's empty - clean that, shut the door. Kids' bedrooms are vacant - do them, shut the doors. Master bedroom - done. Bathroom and kitchen I tend to do a day or two after we've moved out, when there will be no more splatters on the tiles or dripping water in the shower to help the mould grow back.

Good luck, I hope everything goes well!!