The Move Part II: Everything Else

I never, never, never want to move again! I don't mind packing so much as I really despise the unpacking. Going to a new place is fun and finding an apartment can be fun sometimes, but wow, I'm glad it's over.

Too bad we'll have to move in another two years. Maybe in one, depending if this place is too small for our growing family.

But the process wasn't for nothing! I felt like I learned a lot about packing and moving in general. Mostly I learned that it's expensive, and even if your husband is nice and does the drive across the country so you can fly with your baby, flying with babies is NOT fun!

But we are all here. And we're all safe. And the house is nearly unpacked with the exception of hanging pictures.

And here are some things that I learned that helped me a little bit with the packing:



Pack your hanger clothes in plastic bags.

Did I mention I hate unpacking? Because I do, but this made is SO easy! (at least the closet part) I just had to tie it up, throw it in a box, and then toss them back on the rack when we got to our apartment. And the best part is that I didn't have to reorganize my clothes in the way they were before we moved.

 Save your shoes with socks. 

I have some shoes that I really love and I really hate when my shoes get scuffed. But obviously I wasn't going to pack all my shoes in separate boxes. So luckily, I have a lot of old socks as well and just put them on the shoes to protect them. Not a (new) scuff in sight!

Use your drawers.

Breaking down our furniture would have been a real pain and it's likely that it would never come out looking the same, so we kept all of ours intact and used all the drawers. We put most of our fragile things like pictures and decorations in our sock drawers. Any and every drawer was used to its full potential. This saved us lots of time and money that we would have spent bubble wrapping everything.





There were some other things I learned that just can't be expressed in pictures:

• No matter how far in advance you plan, you will always be working until the last second.
• Making lists is the only way to remember to do everything
• Everything will go wrong (our sprinklers had issues, I packed my phone charger so couldn't use it, and the old tenants were dirty, so we had to deal with mice when we moved in...yikes!)
• Friends are priceless! We had so many people offering dinner, rides, use of their carpet cleaner, and babysitting. It was amazing. 

To-Do List Before the Big Move Part I: Food

Moving is not my favorite thing in the world. It's not even close. I don't think it even makes my top 100 favorite things. But it is a necessary evil, and one that our little family will have to do in a few months down the road. Even though I hate moving, I've done enough of it in my college days from apartment to apartment to know a thing or two about it.

Since it is still up in the air which state out of three we'll be moving to and it's still relatively far away, I can't plan renting the truck, buying the apartment/house, or too much of the actual packing... and it's driving me nuts! So I've decided to make a check off list for things that I can do months in advance. This is the first in a series of blog installments that I'll be writing as we get ready to head out.

Food Inventory

Our family falls under the poor college kids category and so letting food go to waste really brings me down. It is really hard to move with all of your things when space is limited and food is perishable, so our plan is to leave the house with as little food as possible in tow.

Freezer/ Refrigerator 
The freezer is the spot where most the food goes to waste in a move. We'll be moving at least a couple states away, so bringing all that food with us is just not an option. This is our freezer/ refrigerator game plan:

• Make an inventory of everything in the freezer/ fridge.
• Throw away everything that has been in there too long or has freezer burn.
• Create meal plans from now until a month before the move using as much of the freezer items as possible.
• Don't buy any freezer items or long term fridge items (such as large bottles of condiments, jams, and yeast) unless you can fit it into your short-term meal plans
• Keep freezer completely bare except necessities that will be eaten soon (chicken breasts, quick dinners for moving week, ice cream, etc.)

If it's getting close to moving day and we still have a lot of really good stuff, then we will give it to a friend in the area. I mean really good stuff. I'm not going to give away something that has been in there for so long that it would take weeks to thaw it out of the ice shell its developed. I'm talking freezer jams and unopened packages of ravioli or something. The other stuff should probably be dumped. If you weren't going to eat it, your friends probably won't want to either.

Pantry
The pantry is a little different as far as planning ahead because the items can last longer in normal temperatures, so you can bring a lot of the stuff with you. But if push comes to shove, you'll probably want to use the space for your clothes or furniture rather than your food, so this is all about compacting things!

• Again, make an inventory and create meal plans to use up a lot of the things in your pantry, especially hard-to-move items.
• Cans are easy to pack, but they are very heavy, so include this on your eating list even though they are longer lasting food items.
• In fact, try to eat everything you can and limit your shopping trips for more food. You don't want to use up all your space packing something like cereal. 
• Use this time to get organized! Flour or sugar packed in their normal bags run the risk of being punctured and spreading all over everything else, so you could invest in some dollar store containers. (Or if you're cheap and have a baby like me, just use old formula containers)

Other Things to Do Months in Advance (not food related)

• Collect and save boxes. Save everything that comes into your home in a box.  We have a nice pile of empty diaper boxes ready to be loaded. You can also ask nearby grocery stores for their extra boxes, or just go dumpster diving. This will save a lot of money in the long run, because, really, who wants to spend money on a cardboard box?
• Start packing away your winter (or summer) clothes. 
• Stop buying in bulk for cleaning, office, and kitchen supplies.