Real life moving tips!

As you may have seen on my Facebook page, we moved the weekend after Thanksgiving.  I have moved before, but I have never moved with my family.  It is a whole different process when you have kids, pets, and it is around the holidays.  I did want to share some tips while they are still fresh in my mind.  We did our move primarily ourselves, but we did have some help.  We moved on a Thursday because of closing dates, but we were able to get in the night before with our first u-haul full of boxes.  We used a company we found through U-Haul, on a website called Moving Help.  For a much smaller fee than hiring a moving company, we had three men who came for approximately three hours.  They helped to load and unload the truck, along with delivering things to the proper rooms.  We rented a large truck through U-Haul, and packed everything ourselves.

There are a few things that I would have done differently, or tips that I wanted to share.  I hope this helps someone!  

• First, I had packed a suitcase for the night before the move, where the kids and I stayed with my parents.  I should have packed more!  What I would recommend is to pack at least 3 days worth of clothes and other necessities into a suitcase for when you move to your new house.
• Second, I would highly recommend packing a separate box of the first night necessities.  One set of sheets per bed, one set of towels per person, your toothbrush, shower supplies, etc.  Anything that you don't want to have to dig out of a box when it is bedtime.  Related to that, make sure this box is labeled in big letters, and make sure you know where it ends up on moving day. 
• Pack boxes based on their intended use/room instead of where they were in your old house.  For example, we have a first floor half bath in our new house.  I packed a box with hand towels, soap, all decorative items for that room and a couple of rolls of toilet paper.  It made that room usable very quickly and easily.  
• Clearly label your boxes.  Try to get the boxes to your intended room, or at least try to group them when you are putting them in your basement or garage.  It is much easier to find things if they are grouped by room.  
• Make sure you have plenty of help!  For us, this meant hiring extra hands, and having a friend watch the kids on moving day so we could concentrate on loading and unloading and getting situated.  If people offer to help, let them!  
• My last tip is this.  If hiring movers is in your budget, do it!   

Jennifer