This, my friends, may be the simplest moving strategy ever. And I love simple.
As much as I had planned to research “How to Organize a Move” tutorials on Pinterest, like this one or a checklist like this one. When it came down to it, I didn’t have time for much prep or even reading tutorials for that matter. A complete house remodel will do that to you.
As much as I wanted to spend a full weekend getting planning and packing, I didn’t have a weekend. And I mean NO weekends. We were even scrambling to install our cork floors the weekend before our moving date (hence the blurry picture).
The weeknights were spent tiling and installing toilets to get our bathrooms functional. With so many other projects on my mind, I knew I needed to keep the move as simple as possible.
So how do you make your move go as smoothly as possible without a lot of time to organize? Most important, to avoid winding up with the boxes you packed first (the ones with knick knacks and other lower priority items) somehow being the most accessible and easy to find. The last boxes packed are filled with the necessities, the things you need up until the last minute. And without making note of these boxes, they can wind up being on the very bottom of the piles in your new home. Then you end up searching through all the boxes just to find a band-aid!
I came up with a simple strategy that does not take extra time or supplies. Number the boxes in the order you plan to unpack.
First Step
I guesstimated about 5 phases of unpacking with 1 being the most important and 5 the least important. There is really no science here, I just thought that numbers 1-5 would be a nice manageable set of numbers to work with.
Packing
As I packed a box I thought about how soon I would use/unpack the items and assigned that box a number. Each box got a big number scribbled on the top and side. In smaller print I labeled the place it would eventually belong. The big numbers on the boxes helped readability since I reused boxes from craigslist.
Here is how the number system shook out after packing.
1: These boxes were the most important and would need to be unpacked right away. Things like kitchen necessities and toilet paper that would be needed on day 1.
2: Contained the second most important things like some office supplies, secondary kitchen supplies etc.
3: These were mostly clothes, extra towels and sheets that were not included in the #1 go around.
4: included all the random things like winter coats, craft supplies, books etc. Everything you have hidden away in your cabinets and hardly use.
5: was reserved for the very last things I would need to unpack, home decor items. I knew I wouldn’t feel like decorating until everything was unpacked.
Moving Day
Since we were fortunate enough to have family and friends helping us on moving day I wanted to keep everything low key and simple. Moving is stressful enough and I wasn’t going to always be there directing traffic at the new house.
The basics– If a box had a #1 on it, it would go right into the kitchen since that would be ground central for the 1st day or two. All other boxes went into our spare bedroom. Since our house is small this worked for us. If it was larger house I can understand directing boxes right into the room it belongs from the beginning.
For me, I love having only the big furniture in the rooms, leaving plenty of space to rebuild or move big items around without having to shuffle boxes.
Our first dinner (2nd night) in the house.
Unpacking
As I expected, unpacking was a slow process. The first week we had some finally prep at the condo before the new tenants moved in. Then I wanted to paint a few closets at the new house before unpacking items.
When I had time I would bring boxes into the rooms to unpack in number order. The numbers ended up as a good road marker as I trudged along the unpacking road. I was able to break the monumental unpacking task into smaller, and more manageable chunks. Plus it was like a little party each time I finished a phase of unpacking. Whoot, whoot!
Hiccups
This wasn’t a no -fail system. The printer did unexpectedly run out of ink while trying to print a lease agreement and since I didn’t list out what was inside of each box I had to open a few “desk #4” boxes to hunt it down. Luckily I remembered the ink was in a box labeled with a 4. Despite this little hiccup, I still felt the ease of numbering outweighs the time and effort of labeling what is inside of each and every box.
Extra tip- Pack a suitcase
I also packed my girls and I a suitcase as if we were going on a week-long trip. All the necessary toiletries and shoes were there and I didn’t have to worry about hunting things down during that first, chaotic week.
Extra tip-Get organized
Of course this is a lot easier said than done, but I was happy all my 10 minute organizing sessions paid off when it came time to begin packing up our home of 7 years. The easiest space to move was the girls’ closet.
In fact most of their stuff didn’t have to be packed in boxes. This is how their closet looks for now.
If only all unpacking was this simple!
Do you have any time tested moving tips? What do you think of the numbering system? Think it could work for you?
We tend to unpack by room or zone, kitchen, living room electricals, bedrooms, etc. Necessary paperwork and any really essential items are packed all in one bag or box and moves with us in the car, along with a box of essential kitchen items – coffee and tea stuff and some basic crockery and utensils – those last things in first things out items.
Decor is the only thing that we don’t pack by room – because I have never used things in exactly the same way in different properties, so I will grab all those things and put them together over the weeks before a move and pack them together – pictures, vases, lamps etc – it doesn’t take long, I will clear a room of those things in 2 minutes while I am passing through. they aren’t a priority to unpack, but sometimes it is nice to unpack them early on to fill blank spaces and make the place feel lived in.
I totally agree with you about decor items. They are always the first thing I pack. It is funny how they never end up in the same place. Thanks for sharing your tips!