I love the different seasons of the year for different reasons. With spring, everything starts to become colourful again after a cold and drab winter. Spring is apparently a good time to move house and that’s what we did recently. We were lucky enough to find something within a few weeks and not too far from where we were originally. However, we have children – and moving with children is NEVER fun!
We decided the best time to move would be when our kids were at school and day care – at least they’d be out of the way and we could get moving faster. Expect life has a way of not going to plan when you want it to. Our youngest managed to get conjunctivitis so he was at home. The removalist truck arrived except I’d ordered a 10 tonne truck, not a 4 tonne truck. And I thought I had decluttered – but the amount of stuff we had to unpack suggested otherwise!
Anyway after moving three times with kids, here are my tips:
- Have one or two boxes set aside that you take with you. In this box should be your valuables and things you are likely to need straight away. For us, it was jewellery/sentimental things, the kettle, tea bags/coffee, tea towel, school uniform/shoes/bag, paperwork etc.
- Pack the kitchen last. Sounds like a common sense thing to do but you’d be surprised
- Label every box so you know what’s in it. Again, sounds sensible but in the last minute rush you’ll forget to label the last boxes and most of it will be the kitchen stuff you need!
- Keep some glasses and cups out to offer the removalists water or tea/coffee (if they’re nice and helpful which ours were)
- Have back up plans if your original plans for the kids fall through!
- Set up the kid’s room first so they have a sense of familiarity when they come home/go to bed.
- Double check your booking with the removalists a couple of days prior to moving (lesson learned!)
- If possible, take a few days off after moving to try and get through as much as unpacking as possible.
- Stock the fridge/freezer with already made meals as you’re likely to be exhausted from unpacking to have the energy to cook
- I like to unpack immediately but life doesn’t stop just because you’ve moved so understand that it might take a few weeks to get rid of all the boxes and bags
I’m sure there’s more tips out there.
What tips would you suggest to add to the list?
Loopsy Mum 
they are some great tips and hope you have settled in to your new home! You are so good preparing meals. It was take away for at least a week for us! Help is always good. If some friends can help either with kids or just filling a car with the essentials you don’t want going on the truck that is always a bonus. 🙂
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A couple of more bits to put somewhere and then that should be it. I’ll put a disclaimer on the food – it was leftovers from the freezer mostly and hubby and I had a couple more take-aways than normal! Agree that any extra help is a bonus.
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A little bit of planning and neat, orderly loading solves the problem, saves you a ton of truck space and, quite importantly, ensures that the stuff you’re going to transfer will make the trip successfully, without any damages. For large or long distance moves, one should recommend getting an in-home estimate because this usually results in the most accurate quote. Don’t be afraid to get quotes from multiple moving companies and explore all of your options before making a solution. Make all arrangement required in emergency for the new place. Referrals for new physicians, maps of your new town and contact information for old friends are just a few more things that you may want to stash in your organizer. My friend has recently moved to new place hired (http://www.movingrightalong.com/moving.html)moving company new york city for his shifting procedures. Their way of working was very friendly and quality driven. My friend was very after moving, they help in all the ways and moving fragile stuffs carefully, etc.
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