I also used freecycle to give away things I didn’t want to bring with me to the new house.

Then, the first night in the new place, when everyone is tired from all the unloading, the kids are cranky, and you have no idea where everything is, everyone will at least be able to quickly make beds, take a shower and drop into bed.

We had started off writing on the boxes but in order to make the most of the room in each box we weren’t always putting related things in one box, so the list would get too long.

So I came up with the inventory system, and even though I felt like I was probably being a control freak about it at the time, when we got to the new house it worked perfectly, we were using the printout of the inventory to find things while we were waiting for work to be done on rooms before we could unpack properly. When a box was emptied and flattened I’d cross the number off the list.

It made things a lot less stressful. I also did a rough schedule of what needed to happen on moving day and when, because we couldn’t really think straight on that day through nerves, so it was good to see everything was going to plan, and that we’d done the final things we needed to.

You always need more boxes than you think you need. uhaul is nice cause they will buy back so buy more than you think you need – chances are, you won’t need to send them back, but they will take them if you do.

I used color coded paper for different categories, not just rooms, since I have TONS of kitchen gear, but very little bedroom stuff. My categories: Bedroom/Bathroom; Media; Knicknacks; Kitchen Tableware; Kitchen Cookware; Storage. I labeled two sides of each boxes and wrote details on the sheet. So it would say: Media – Fiction Books or Kitchen Tableware – soup bowls, small plates.

I just moved two weeks ago, and we’re still unpacking. We merged two households, and I’d give an 80% to one end and a 35% to the other end. Here’s what worked and what didn’t work:

I started collecting free boxes as soon as I knew we’d be moving, about 6 weeks in advance. The result was that I had enough boxes to pack 95% of my things. He spent $50 and bought a stack of boxes about a month ahead, that wound up being enough for about 1/3 of his things. The result was that it took an extra week, making a 40-mile trip each day, to collect the rest of his things. We had to make one trip back to my place with some hurriedly emptied boxes – mostly for cleaning supplies!

I made a goal to pack a box a day for the 4-5 weeks before the move, then set aside the day before to finish. He wasn’t quite so organized, and went out of town the day before. The result, again, was that I was 95% done and he was less than half done. I started with the fragile items, while he saved them for last, adding to the problem of estimating how long packing would take.

I started labeling all my boxes with a piece of paper with the room they belonged to and a rough list of the contents. Somehow the box with the silverware and the kitchen utensils missed getting a label, and it took me three days to track it down, but otherwise that worked well.

What didn’t go well on my end was the final cleaning. I put off cleaning the oven until the day I was supposed to return my keys. We were also supposed to wash the windows inside and out, but I hadn’t read the note thoroughly enough and missed that until the last minute. If I had it to do over again, I would have scheduled out the big cleaning chores, and maybe just planned to eat microwaved food for the week before the move so I could have done the oven the previous weekend.

To sum up, I am mostly organized and my honey isn’t. There turned out to be a vast difference between my move (couple of “whoopses”) and his move (total disaster). The moral is, buy twice as much tape as you think you’ll need, anywhere from 10% to 100% more boxes than you think you’ll need, and no matter how well organized you think you are being, there is pretty much no way to overdo the planning and preparation.

Label your boxes well–really well. You WILL NOT remember what’s in them after a few days.

If you have small children: “Mouse Moves House” is a great book about moving. The Bearenstain Bears also has a book about moving.

Also, be sure to let your children help you pack their things. I’ve seen more than one child worry they weren’t coming.

When moving, people should also close accounts that will no longer be needed: bank, cable, landline phone, power, etc. As to the accounts that will continue to be open (credit card, cell phone, car mortgage, etc.), people should change their address with those account holders.

Also, notify your automobile insurance company that you are moving. If moving out of state, get a new policy in that state.

In addition, get a new driver’s license and automobile registration.

If you work at a large company that goes through a lot of paper, you can also see if you can snatch the boxes that carry 10 reams of paper. They’re great for packing because they’re sturdy, easy to carry, and even have pre-made handles!

In the week of the move, I pack up essentials like clothes, personal care items, dishes, etc., leaving just enough to last until moving day.

@OogieM: I recently moved my two parakeets across several state lines. I didn’t even think of vaccinations, etc., when I did it. I did remember to make sure that they weren’t illegal though, as some species of birds are.

Also check to be sure your pet is legal in the new place, ferrets and some rodents are often problems as they are outlawed as pets in many states. If you have an illegal pet, find a home for it before you move.

They have many other items that simplify the moving process, and everything flattens out and gets stored for my next move (which I have done about 30 times in 45 years).

I pack as much as possible in small boxes, because it is easy to overload the larger boxes, making them too heavy for me to handle.

When loading the moving truck, load all the boxes first, followed by the furniture. When unloading the truck, unload the furniture first, assemble it and put it directly into place in the correct room of your home.

Then unload the boxes, put them in the centre of the correct room (or in a spacious unoccupied corner). You can then sit comfortably in your assembled home while unpacking the boxes.

The alternative – loading the furniture first and then the boxes – results in all the boxes coming out of the trucks first and lining the walls of every room. Then the furniture comes out and is stacked in the centre of each room in a big tangle. You have nowhere to sit until you unpack all the boxes – nowhere to sleep, nowhere to eat.

Now that I use a moving service, I insist upon this. It saves days and days of setup time in my new home.