Packing

I thought I’d share a little bit of what we did to ensure all of our stuff arrives to it’s destination in good condition. Although, now I’m worried I’m jinxing myself since our things have only taken a little ride across town to a storage unit. And that’s basically nothing compared to the 3500 km trek we’ll be taking in a few weeks. I guess I’ll just have to call myself a liar then if anything gets broken!

First things first – I started packing more than a month before we moved. I know that may seem a little excessive to some people but I’ll tell you one big thing I’ve learned since becoming a parent – don’t try to rush things!

Case in point: Before having kids, I would plan grocery shopping for the hour in between when I got off work and when we had dinner. That included getting ready, driving, shopping, driving, unloading and putting away. When my oldest came along, I had to remember to give myself an extra half hour to make sure his diaper was clean, the diaper bag was packed just in case, and to baby talk to him as I walked the aisles. Now that I have two little munchkins, I just plan for the whole morning. This accounts for finding shoes, packing cheerios, water and fruit snacks so they don’t go crazy the second I sit them in the cart, coaxing them to get in the car and dealing with the tears once they realize we aren’t going for a walk to the park, picking up my list after my youngest throws it on the floor a hundred times, telling them we are not buying candy two dozen times, breaking up a few fights in the cart, and then making them lunch before I can put all of the groceries away because they are starving!!

Wow. Sorry for the tangent. And the run on sentences.  Back to business!

Anyways, I figured if I was going to handle all of this extra work on my own in addition to all of the regular things I do, I was going to need a lot of time to keep myself and my children sane. (In case you were wondering, I do have an incredibly supportive and helpful husband who just so happens to have a job that requires a lot of time and travel in May and June. Which didn’t leave him a lot of time at home, period, let alone to pack.)

The first thing I did was cleared out our basement. It was only about half finished down there and we basically used it for watching TV and as my husband’s “office.” So we packed away the big screen and brought our little TV up to the main floor so we wouldn’t need the basement anymore for living space. Then I started going through all the stuff that was down there.  I went through every box that was down there already – baby & maternity clothes, a box of keepsakes, picture frames and décor items, out of rotation toys. Stuff like that. I started boxing things up for good and also created an area in the storage room for things to sell at a garage sale. I also listed almost all of the basement furniture on Kijiji since we didn’t want to take it with us and well, any extra cash helps!

 

Then we just started stacking things! It was really nice to have all of the ‘ready to go’ boxes out of the way so we weren’t living in total chaos.


One thing I wanted to be sure of is that I could find anything I needed. Since we are not immediately moving into a new house, it will be essential to discern what boxes need to be unpacked and which can just go straight to storage for the next few months. Since many of the boxes are used and have lots written on them, I decided the easiest way to label them would be just a plain sheet of paper and some packing tape. Every single box has a big label like this. Hopefully they will last for the whole journey – hubby had some doubts about that. I guess we’ll see.

Well, this post is getting pretty long so check back soon to see our secret weapon for packing all of our furniture!!

 

 

Ok, just kidding. I have one more thing to say. The best thing we ever did was to let my in-laws take the kids for the last few days before we moved. That way we had no distractions when it was actually crunch time, especially while loading the trucks!

Ok. Now I really am done. See ya soon!

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Moving tips: Get Organized!

Well, it is officially official! The money is in our account and we are no longer homeowners. I’m just a little sad but we’re trying to look forward to the great things ahead!  So far this has been the least stressful move we’ve had, despite being the biggest by far. I’ve done my fair share of packing and moving in the past few years and like to think I’ve learned at least a thing or two. To me, the most important part of moving is the organization. There’s nothing worse than arriving at your new house only to be tearing apart box after box looking for a can opener or the remote control. Or missing a payment on your credit card because you forgot to advise them of your new address. Or staying up all night the week of your move just to get it all done. Or… well, let’s face it, when you are moving, there are so many things that could go wrong. And most likely something will. But as long as you are in control of the situation, you can take each setback in stride. We got through the first half of the move with minimal stress – and I’m sure it is all due to the fact that I am organized!

 

 

It all started when Jen started talking about her Household Binder. I was super excited about the idea but initially put it off, thinking it would be best to create a binder once we were settled into our new home. Then it dawned on me that the move was one of the main reasons I needed a binder. How else was I going to keep track of all the things I had to do to prepare for and during our move? So I started putting together a binder and just added a “Moving” section. It is mostly just blank lined paper for making lists and plans and I added a pocket divider to hold any moving receipts or important papers.

Then came the fun part. I had to decide what it is that needed to be organized. And for me, there were three main areas of focus.

1. Budget: Moving can be expensive! Especially if you are moving long distance and/or buying or selling a house. But even if you are just moving across the street, it is still important to write down exactly what you expect to spend. I just made a quick little list of all of our anticipated expenses. I made sure to include things like packing materials, rental equipment, moving companies, storage, travel expenses (gas, meals, hotels), and closing costs.

2. Change of address (and discontinuation of services): About 2 months before we moved, I started taking note of every single piece of mail that we received. I just created a simple list of every one of those companies. Then, since I do receive many bills online, I went through every bill that I pay in a month and listed those companies too. This is when you start freaking out because you have a list a mile long. But the process was relatively painless. I just started making a phone call or two each day until I had every company on my list crossed off. I found that this worked well since some companies require more notice than others. For instance, some magazines are printed and labeled a month or two in advance so it could take up to two months for an address change to come into effect. Also, many utility and cable companies require 30 days notice for discontinuation of services. Banks, credit cards, schools, work, government, insurance etc. don’t usually require as much notice so they were left to the bottom of my list.

3. Getting us (and our stuff) from point A to point B: For us this was kind of huge since we are moving across the country. And cross country moves can be really, really expensive! I called around to a bunch of different moving companies for quotes but all of them were ridiculously out of our price range. In the end we decided to rent a U-Haul and make the 4 day drive ourselves. **Now I just have to insert a disclaimer here. We are in no way fans of U-Haul. Yeah, you read that right. We have booked two one-way rentals with them before and both have been disasters. So why are we doing it again??? Because the stress and problems that could occur in that one week are nothing compared to saving three, four, or five thousand dollars. So we’ve just mentally prepared ourselves for things to not go as planned and not set any strict timelines, just in case.

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Packing

Anyone know if there is a way to just skip over the next few months?? We begun packing this week and I’m already sick of it! We have only 27 days until we have to hand over the keys to our house. And how on earth do we have this much stuff?? I am in no way a hoarder and we don’t shop a ton so I have no idea how we have all of these things. Luckily, I have no problem getting rid of things I haven’t used in years. (Wedding gifts that are still unused? Goodbye!).

Unfortunately, in addition to all the useless things we’ve been storing, there is so much other stuff that we use frequently or will need in the future. Why do babies need so many gadgets? I’m so tempted to just get rid of our baby stuff and buy new when we have another kid just so I don’t have to store all those awkwardly shaped things. But we all know how expensive baby stuff is so I’ll probably continue to hang on to it.

One other thing I’m realizing is that much of the things that I’m now saying goodbye to are things we received from other people that I didn’t necessarily need or love but thought we should take just because it was free. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful here because there are many generous gifts we’ve received from friends and family members over the years that we absolutely love and use all the time. But I’m beginning to realize that if I don’t love it, I won’t use it. And then I’ll just end up storing it for a few years until I realize that I didn’t need it in the first place and finally get rid of it. I think my new rule should be that I can’t bring it home unless it is something I’d be willing to spend money on. In some ways it is a blessing that we are moving into a small 2 bedroom apartment because I simply cannot afford to keep stuff.

But as much as there is left to do, I’ve already taped up a few boxes and every time I do, we get closer and closer to getting it all done. Here’s to a month of hopefully minimal chaos! I’ll breath again in July when have arrived in Alberta with all of our things!

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