A couple weeks ago I was able to spend an evening out with the best group of ladies and talk all about moving with kids! If you are planning a move with kids of any age you are probably feeling the added emotoinal, physical and social stress of the logistics throughout the whole process. Northwood Realtors (fellow Mamas of kids of all ages) helped guide our discussions, answer our questions and provide their best inside information for us to share with you.
Home illustration done by yours truly.
1. Pack in small boxes. Even if you have a team of movers, friends and family helping, or don’t expect to have to physically move or lift boxes, I promise you that eventually you WILL need to move boxes even if it’s from one room to another or down to a basement. Make sure when you are packing that you don’t overfill boxes and only use boxes you can safely carry.
2. Use colored masking tape to identify boxes quickly and easily. If each room has a dedicated color of tape- you’ll be able to quickly direct movers, grab boxes, or find something you need without reading 100 small labels. Green for the kitchen, blue for the bathroom, red for the living room…you get the idea.
3. Explicitly label boxes with contents. This can get tedious but trust me it’s worth it in the end. “Kitchen stuff” isn’t helpful when you specifically need a lasagna pan and a coffee mugs.
4. Use large trash bags as covers for hanging clothes. Lessen your workload by slipping large trash bags over big groups of hanging items and simply move them from the old closet bar to the new one. Easy!
5. Wrap F U L L dresser drawers in plastic. Then you can carry each drawer one by one. And slide the full drawers right into place when the bigger furniture is moved. No unpacking or refolding clothes!
6. Mentally prepare to keep your kids stuff handy. Perhaps the best advice I’ve ever received- get your kids rooms set up straight away when you move before you do anything else so they have a comfortable, familiar and safe place to be while the rest of moving is going on. This helps so much with the transition!
7. However you end up packing and moving your things, load trucks and cars with container and box labels FACING OUT. This makes everything so much easier to spot.
8. For kids older than 2, try to let them pack their own belongings. Give them ownership of some of the process!
9. Plan an “essentials” kitchen box. Keep handy the things you’ll need in the kitchen immediately when you move. For us that meant the coffee maker (and mugs and creamer and sugar), a baking sheet for quick and easy dinners, and the kids no spill sippy cups.
10. Take advantage of PODS. You can order your pod to be delivered to your old house anytime, pack it at your leisure then have it picked up and dropped off at any date and time you choose. No coordinating with movers or friends and no tricky schedules trying to time everything against your closing!
11. Budget for extra expenses during the whole moving process. So many families forget to consider the extra costs associated with moving- many more meals eaten out or on the fly, extra gas, tolls (if you’re driving a fsr distance!), drive through coffee, packing materials. It all adds up quickly.
12. Create a deep clean box or bucket to have in your car ready for when you walk in the door at the new house. No matter how clean you think the new house is or will be, you’ll need to clean even if its only cleaning up after movers with shoes. Fill this bucket with window cleaner, disinfecting wipes, all purpose cleaner, dish soap, hand soap, a toilet brush and cleaner, paper towels and a few sponges. This should cover your bases for cleaning.
13. Keep your vacuum handy too!
14. Take photos of your kids in their empty old house AND their empty new house. It’s really fun for kids to be able to look back on how both they and their spaces have and will change over time. While you’re at it- take pictures of all of your new spaces. Eventually it’s cool to look back on where you started and how your home has changed.
Our kitchen (above) through various states of the Reno process. So much work. Oy.
And the olden kitchen that we turned into my office! Love it.
15. Consider boarding your pets during the actual moving day(s) so you have one less thing to think about during the chaos. You can’t board chickens unfortunately and they were hands down the most stressful part of our move!
16. Hopefully this one’s obvious but purge while you are packing! For the love of all things good in the world do not torture yourself by packing, carrying and moving things you don’t want to keep! Donate, give away and throw away as much as you can. Start fresh at the new house.
Hoprfully you’ve found some of these points helpful. And below are even more! Be sure to pin this graphic so you can come back to it later!
This post is brought to you via The Motherhood and Northwood Realty. All opinions and thoughts shared here remain my own.
Do you happen to be buying or selling in or around Pittsburgh? Northwood Realty Services, one of the regions largest real estate service service providers, can help guide you through every step of the process! Northwood has 39 offices in 30 counties in Western PA and even into Eastern Ohio.
Good luck planning your next move and be sure to share you own best tips tricks or advice in the comments! #movewithnorthwood
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