Moving is overwhelming

Hi there,

Well, DH and I move in 10 days and I'm in the midst of packing. It's overwhelming me. How do you guys go about systematically packing up a place?

We're in a small apartment, but I cannot believe how much stuff we have. What we've been doing so far is cleaning a room, taking lots of pictures of it, then taking it apart and packing it up. We've done the bedroom and bathroom so far, but haven't tackled anything else. I feel very overwhelmed by it all. We already have 12 boxes and I'd say we've only packed maybe 1/12 of all our stuff. Any packing tips?

[Stella]

Well, since I'm also packing, I can tell you what I'm doing.

I am moving from a two bedroom two bath apartment with a basement to a small one bedroom with a mini-loft above the closet for storage (i.e. NONE), so I've had to be very systematic so far with what I pack.

I have been going room by room packing the things I don't use regularly, like books, photos, etc. I put each type of thing into a different box. I have a box for crafts, decor, linens, sports equip., etc. and then I go through the box and decide what I use and what I don't and everything I haven't used in the last year goes to yard sale (or if you are short on time, craigs list or goodwill). Moving is the best time to downsize on the amount of stuff you have and to realize that there was probably a lot of stuff you didn't even realize you have because you never even use it. I've made $300 in the last two days on stuff like that!

So then, I repack the boxes as neatly as possible and mark the box with the room (preferably by color) and the importance of unpacking it (1, 2, or 3). That way, when you move, you will know that your bedding is in a Blue (for bedroom) box marked with a 1. It's OCD, I know, but it works for me! (I also label the contents of the box so I don't have to play guessing games.)

Hope that helps! Moving is such a drag!

[Auspicious]

Try this:

http://www.packingkits.com/packingcenter/index.asp?a=6

(especially helpful to me in packing up fragiles/dishbarrel)

We packed from least-used on through to most-used stuff, rather than room-by-room.

[Sheherezade]

How are you doing now? Is it going any more smoothly? We've got a ton of moving experts on this site to talk you through it if you are still freaking out. You would not believe how many times jloreine has moved!

[Stella]

I'm on number #22! I've moved every 6 mos to a year for the past 6 years!

[Sheherezade]

You win! Want to be the new site moving expert? I don't have 22 moves in me. You must be part Gypsy!