The Inevitable Packing Thread

The best thing we did was rent a storage locker for about three months before the move. Bit by bit, we packed boxes and moved them to the locker. When done by the carload it was manageable and incorporated into regular errands. It also avoided the "boxes everywhere" that gets so overwhelming. By the time we actually moved, we cleared the house of what was left, then drove to the storage facility to load what was left into the moving truck. This part went really fast because we weren't going in and out of the house with hallways and small doors and such.

AC is absolutely correct, assuming it will be a relatively local move.

You say you have been in your current home for 16 years. Will you be putting it on the market, and how hot is the market there? My suggestions to begin:

If you list with an agent, one of the agent's first suggestions is an excellent one for anyone moving. DECLUTTER. This can be easy, or this can be hard.

First step: start a special file for Donation Receipts. You may be surprised how quickly the value of the things you may otherwise just drop off at a charity drop box can add up when it comes to tax time. It can be a PITA, but maintain a list of the items you donate as you add them to the donate bag/box/pile. Then, when you take the actual donation to the donation center, you can easily have them list "5 blouses, 4 toddler boy jeans, 1 lamp, set of Corelle for 8, etc." directly on your donation receipt. If they just give you a generic blank receipt for you to fill out, you have your list to staple to it. Moving years are always followed by tax filings from hell, so every little deduction counts.

If you haven't used it in 5 years and there's no value or connection to it--get rid of it. I know a big thing we Mommies have is getting rid of baby clothes. Keep one or two special things, and donate the rest to a charitable organization where you know those baby clothes will go to good use. Two years ago, I helped a friend sort through some of the tiniest preemie clothes you could imagine. She was holding on to them for no particular reason other than to remember how tiny her much-wanted preemie son was. When we took that huge box to the charity she chose, you won't believe it, but one of the staff members was actively searching through their (small) warehouse for tiny clothes for a preemie boy born to a woman they had been counseling throughout her pregnancy. My friend cried, knowing that she had passed along love, hope, support, and nurturing for a fellow mom who was in need at the same time as she was "letting go" of some of the things she kept yet had no use for.

One of the hot spots for us was always our daughters' rooms. If you live in an area with decent consignment stores, or better yet, a booming yard sale area--have your older kids sort through their things ruthlessly. If you are a yard-sale friendly neighborhood, tell them they can have any of the proceeds from the sale of their things. There will be items A is giving up that B will want. You handle these on a case by case basis, as the adults. Some things are practical and easy. That sweater too small for A that B will fit next winter? Of course she can just have it. That toy you are on the fence over? B can "buy" it from A by allowing A the proceeds from the sale of an equivalent item of B's. Follow me?

Assess all of the "stuff" your kids have as keepsakes. Chances are, a lot of it is crap like the plastic groucho glasses from the goodie bag from their friend Lydia's sixth birthday party three years ago. Moving as often as we did, we ended up with a metric ton of this sort of stuff. Get each child a "treasure box" (you be the judge as to the size) they can use for their meaningful treasures of this sort. Once the box is full, that's it. No more "treasures" can go in there. Easier said than done, I know...but it works. Of course, things YOU want to keep (baptismal outfits, that blanket your grandmother crocheted, etc.) go into separate boxes (rubbermaid-type, WATERPROOF) for each child. Again, you are the judge as to what is worthy and what isn't. (Your kids are watching and learning how to separate the sentimental valuable stuff from the chaff. Set a good example.)

Piles of papers? Be ruthless. Pretend you are being paid for each magazine you donate to a nursing home/dentist's office, wherever. I have been known to bring a few magazines with me to waiting rooms and just leave them there when I am called in (Insert paranoid smiley here). Preschools and primary schools will take some of them to cut up for projects.

Books your children have outgrown can be passed along to friends, family members with children in that approximate reading level. Call first to check on this, but many school libraries and public library systems either donate a book to underprivileged kids at the end of the school year, or have "free book" boxes. Some libraries will simply catalog them into their collections. Last place we lived, the public library accepted donations all year long and volunteers sorted them into topics. Once a year they had a MASSIVE book sale at the local convention center and raised boatloads of money for unfunded library programs.

Does bagster or something similar service your area?  Our neighbors kids are cleaning out their house after 60(!) years and they've used several and really like the service.  We used them once after we moved in and did some renovations and had a good experience too!

We've been in this house for 13 years now but before that we moved a lot. And we always did it ourselves, no packers, no movers, just us, some friends who we bribed with pizza and beer and a U-Haul.

Start with non essentials, like decorative stuff. Next, other non essential stuff like books, candles, things like that. As you're packing this stuff start sorting out a trash pile, a donate pile and a sell pile if you want to bother with that. If you put trash out every week you shouldn't need a dumpster. With kids, get a Rubbermaid container for each kid and put their mementos in them. You can take outgrown kids clothes to Once Upon a Child if you have one in your area and just get cash for whatever they'll take and then just keep going to Goodwill.

I'd work on one room at a time. If you have a garage, start stacking your packed boxes in it. Park in the driveway. You can pack some stuff in suitcases, use old/extra blankets as padding for the moving truck.

When moving day is getting closer, wrap and pack all of your glass dishes, glasses, etc. and use paper or plastic stuff. Much easier to just throw away or throw into the dishwasher and then a bag when it's time to move out. We also tried to eat up all of the food in the house the last few weeks so we didn't have to haul it in a cooler.

We've always gone back to clean but honestly at this point, I'm over that. I'd hire a maid service to come in and clean once we were out.

We’re signing the contract on the new house tomorrow.. Yay!

I started packing today, seven boxes for today.

It’s so different from older moves because we get so many boxes from Amazon, etc now. So I’m trying to fill them as they come in. Also I saved all the boxes from Emma’s Girl Scout cookie sales, there were like ten of those and are relatively compact, so good for glasses and heavier things.

I have at least fourteen weeks, so I’m keeping a calendar and trying to get a respectable number of boxes packed each day. We’re already in contract on the house we’re in but for some reason I’m not positive they’ll go forward with the sale. Just a feeling at this point. We’d be 10K richer if they don’t, and houses go fast in my neighborhood, but still hopefully we’ll find out when we try to nail down a closing date.

Get those VHS tapes digitised (assuming you mean home movies with the kids in them.)