Moving house - packing.

[Titsalinabumsquash]

I'm not sure if there is a moving house topic, I could find one if there is so apologies if this is in the wrong place.

After a lot of jigging finances and cars breaking spectacularly, fences falling down and the house falling apart, we have come to the conclusion that we can't afford a packing service when we move, it will be just the removal and yours truly will pack.

4 weeks until we go so I'm starting now.

This is my current plan of action.

I am cataloging everything in a notebook to match the numbers I've put on the sides and tops of boxes.

I've also brought a load of coloured stickers so at a glance we can see which rooms boxes need to go in.

I'm not sure what order to do it in though.

The bathroom is just toiletries, most of which can be thrown out.
Toilet room doesn't require any packing.

The kids room is sparse as it is, I can't see it taking a lot of boxes but it does need to be split no 2 rooms the other end so I need to decide which child is having what.

Our bedroom has a LOT of stuff in it, most of which we won't need between now and then so I could start packing that anytime.

Hallway has nothing.

Loft has nothing.

Front room has a fair bit of stuff in cupboards/ drawers

Kitchen has tons of stuff. There is a new kitchen being fitted a few weeks after we move in do I'm tempted to sort the bare necessities to take and leave the rest in storage Until after the new kitchen is fitted so 5 plates, 5 cups, 5 bowls, 2 saucepans etc etc...

Office, well that's mostly books that need sorting and DP's stuff so he can do that.

Is there a certain order I should be doing this in? What am I forgetting?!

[curiousgeorgie]

I'm moving in a week and a half (at 37 weeks pg!)

Two weeks ago DH and I sorted and packed the under stairs cupboard, the junk drawers in the kitchen, the cupboards above wardrobes, under the beds, and ended up throwing away most of it.

Last weekend we did most of the playroom, leaving just the big unpackable toys (kitchen, easel, keyboard, rocking horse) and a few of her favourites but no more than would fit in two boxes.

We did all the ornaments, picture frames and knock knacks around the house and all non essential kitchen (champagne flutes, serving dishes etc) and DD's bedroom the same as the playroom. Spare room, study and hallways completely done and packed up.

Now with a week and a half to go I just have the kitchen essentials, one cupboard of toiletries in the bathroom and the couple of boxes for DD's rooms, as well as any clothes hanging in the wardrobes.

I bought address labels and stuck them on the boxes with an underlined room where they need to go, and exactly what's in it underneath. Also, in my situation that I may have a baby at any moment I'm labelling boxes as essential or non essential so that everything that can wait can!

Good luck!

[Ezza1]

Watching this with interest as I will be in 3rd trimester when we move.

I feel a bit overwhelmed when looking around the house at what needs to be packed/sorted/thrown! Will be good to see how others approach the task - I'm not a remotely organised person

[Pumpkinette]

I moved a couple of weeks ago and we packed and moved everything ourselves. I labeled each box with the room and a number. I then wrote in a notebook everything in that box eg: kitchen box 1 (plates and mugs) kitchen box 2: blender, coffee maker, etc. It was a bit tedious at the time but made unpacking at the other end really easy and I knew exactly what box to open when I needed something.

[Jan49]

I moved last year into storage and this year into a new house.

I started by packing things we wouldn't need in the run up to the move: photos, dc's old schoolwork, old documents, books. After that I basically packed everything in the house apart from the kitchen. I packed the kitchen in the last days. The loft was empty and I'd already sorted out the shed and garage so there was just labelled stuff like Christmas decorations in the garage. I decided to get rid of almost all the ornaments and paintings (to charity) and I only kept a few favourites.

I numbered each box and kept a list noting what was in the boxes. I wish I'd used a colour scheme or code for each room so it would be easier to see which room the box belonged to. I also regretted having the box number written in only one place on each box as sometimes I'd find the number was hidden by other heavy boxes when I came to unpack.

I used large laundry bags instead of boxes for clothing, sheets and towels and I found that useful as I could easily find those and some of the stuff we most needed after the move was clothing, sheets and towels!

OP, it sounds like it would be good if you focussed on your bedroom, front room and office. Not sure how old the kids are but if they're old enough you could get them involved in packing their stuff and deciding who gets what or you could deal with dividing the stuff after the move. You might find the kitchen is quite a big task if you've got lots of breakables that need careful wrapping. My kitchen was small and heavily decluttered but I still managed to fill 10 boxes with kitchen stuff! I used better quality boxes for the kitchen which also made them easier to locate afterwards.

[Titsalinabumsquash]

Thanks for the tips! It's only 3 weeks until we move. I best get cracking. :)