Moving's the Worst, Part 1
The last time we moved I had four kids, ages 9 down to 2 and was a month away from delivering my fifth. It was the worst, although I really shouldn't complain because a few days before my seriously amazing sister, her daughter, and my mom cleaned, packed and unpacked my kitchen for me, which is by far the most time consuming part of moving for a kitchen hoarder like myself. My dad was there too helping out (with vertigo!) and the day of the move we had a ton of friends and family to move boxes and furniture. But it was still the worst.
In our 15 years of marriage we've moved 6 times, which isn't anything compared to some, but it's WAY more than I ever wanted to. Our moves have all been mostly happy ones, and only two have been moving to a different state, but dang, it's just a lot of work.
EVERYTHING in and out of the house has to be packed up, the current house cleaned, and usually the new house cleaned before moving in, then you can unpack, finding the perfect location for each and every item. And that's not saying anything about prepping and showing the house if you're selling or any updates you're doing for the new place to fit your family. Oh yeah, and this all happens while you're still managing schedules and keeping all your balls in the air.
I think it's pretty rude that we have to still 1. eat and 2. need clean socks because who has time or energy for cooking or laundry?! Even buttered noodles are WAY too fancy at that point.
Even if you are one of those Chosen Ones who miraculously have movers come and pack it all for you, it's still no cake walk.
I fully recognize this is a 1st World Problem and I really should be grateful for the blessing of having so much. I truly am thankful for the abundance we are surrounded by, but it can be a bit tricky to keep that in perspective when you're living in a sea of cardboard, running low on sleep and high on junk food, doing your darnedest to not Lose. Your. Mind.
We have our 7th move coming up here in a while and I'm trying to mentally gear up for it. While I won't be pregnant this time, I will have a crawler/probable new walker and that brings it's own sets of joys. This home will be a fabulous situation for our family, and one that we've been praying for since before we moved the last time so we're grateful and excited. But we have to get out of Here and into There.
It's funny. We're 6 weeks away from the move and it seems both forever away and also like it's coming up so fast. A month and a half is a long time to live in chaos so I really don't like doing much packing this soon.
Why Not Pack Now?
I'm lazy. Without fail, whatever I pack up is what I need 2 days later and then I have to dig it out.
As much of a pain as it is to move, it's also crazy unsettling to little ones. Pulling pictures off the wall makes the home just feel like a house. Plus those glass covered frames are MUCH safer right where they are on the walls for now.
But there are things that I've found are perfect for me to work on this far out, things that are my Kryptonite in everyday life, things that make the whole moving process go so much smoother.
Here are my PrePacking Tasks:
1. Organize. Finally put away those outgrown kid clothes. Get the witch's legs INSIDE the dang Halloween box, forheavensake. Collect all those Skipbo cards strewn out in the game shelves back into the blasted box. While some of this could be immediately undone thanks to little helpers, this is the stuff that, if not done, makes packing and unpacking horrible. Both loading and unloading random junk sends me over the edge, not that it takes that much to do that to me at that point.
2. Dejunk, Dejunk, Dejunk. We have seriously moved a broken broom before, no joke. I'm not pointing any fingers here, but it wasn't an inside broom. Between all the kids' clothes both current and binned, and the toys, and the books, and the hobbies, and the food storage, and the tools, and the kitchen, and every darn thing else, we just have a lot of stuff.
I swear this stuff multiplies in the night while we're sleeping.
I really do my best to go through everything before we go and pass on what we don't need any more. It does take a bit to do, but every item I donate is one less thing to pack, move, and find a place for. And it IS pretty nice to be streamlined after the move.
That being said, I did just spend some time at Target last night after Matt got home and came home with a few bags, so...
3. Clean Up. Do the deep cleaning that has to happen so that it's just a matter of quickly wiping down when it's time to go. Yes, I'm talking to you, garage fridge.
Between those 3 things, I've got plenty to fill up my days in the next few weeks before I do any serious packing.
Dang it.
We'll see how far I get and what I actually get done in the little windows of time that is my life, but that's the plan.
hooray.
Moving's the Worst, Part 2 is here, where we talk getting free boxes, prepping the new house, moving truck trauma, and more.
