Moving Cross Country, Part 2 - Packing Organization

My own experience relocating as an adult has been:

 (A) from my parents' home to a studio apartment, about 150 miles away, when I was in college. I had a small stereo, a piano, a single mattress, my clothing (pretty minimal even then), very basic kitchen/ cleaning supplies & items, and a smallish dining set given to me by Dad & Mom.

(B) from the apartment into the 2-bedroom house of about 900 sq. ft. that my husband & I rented when we got married; same stuff moved from (A) to (B);

(C) from the 2-bedroom house into a newly built home that had approx. 2500 sq. ft.--we lived in that house for 32 years. By then we had a 5-year-old son and a bit more furniture, but it was a very easy fit, and we attempted to keep things pretty pared down through those 32 years.  But, there was still the subtle "collection creep" of held things that should have been let go long ago... 😏

(D) from the house of 32 years in SE Washington to a 2500 sq. ft. house in NE Florida.

When we moved into our first purchased home I started packing about 3-4 weeks early, and I don't recall that it was terrifically stressful. It's been 32+ years since that happened, so maybe my memory of the events is "calmer" than what we  actually experienced...or maybe it's just that I was younger. 😉

For this cross-country move, having already sold our residence, I didn't have the luxury of a gradual move of belongings; I knew...keeping it well organized was key for the least amount of stress. 

But THIS time, I had a smart phone, a boatload of experience helping my clients with decluttering and packing/unpacking, and a clear plan of action so I'd know exactly where all of our items were. I'd done my research about how to move successfully, cross country, and I used tips and lists like these:

Packing Tips for Moving Like a Pro

The Best Way to Label Your Moving Boxes

While my husband handled all the administrative details of the move, my main task and goal was to get it all packed in time, moved without breakage, and unpacked and back in order (and my personal goal was...within a week).  I know there are probably dozens of different apps one could use to do the inventory of goods, but I'm pretty low tech in general, and I chose this method:

• Load a box (more on boxes later)
• Number the box
• Write box contents on box top and at least 2 sides, preferably 3.
• If it contained glass, or fragile items, box was marked "GLASS" or "FRAGILE" (or both)
• Record the box's # and contents on a single, simple text note I kept on my phone (ColorNote app); boxes were listed under the name of the room in which they were packed, e.g., basement, master bed, master bath, living, office, guest, main hallway, etc.  
  

  Screenshot of a portion of the ColorNote packing inventory

• I placed a RED sticky dot on anything containing glass, and a YELLOW sticky dot on all kitchen boxes.  I also marked "Heavy" on any boxes I subjectively determined to be so (the determining factor was whether I could pick them up myself and carry them from basement to main floor without major difficulty).
• I marked with a big red star ★ any box that would likely be needed between moving out of the house and packing the moving truck, such as medicines, some daily personal care items, and some food items.
• We wrapped numerous items with packing shrink wrap: drawer sets with contents, furniture pieces, wall decor (cushioned with blankets, towels, or cardboard).  The shrink wrap was well worth the expense!!  
  

• BOXES:  Used both bankers' boxes and Home Depot boxes (HD), which I realized were sized so they stack together efficiently.  They were overall adequately sturdy for purposes intended, although I taped both directions on the bottoms of HD boxes that had a really heavy load.  Some bankers' boxes I also taped along the bottom if they had enough weight to cause any bowing of the box bottoms when I picked them up.
  

As the boxes were packed and recorded on my inventory note, we moved them to a 16x20' shed portion of our garage, where the buyers gave us permission to store things for a month after the closing of the house--thank the Lord, the move date came right at the end of that period, and the gift of free storage was an amazing blessing! During that time we lived with friends who lived fairly near the house, and we could just stop in to the shed occasionally to access a needed item. 

Having marked all the boxes so clearly made it easy those few times we did need to access something.  Hubby would ask me sometimes, "Hey, what box is ____ in?" And I'd pull out my phone, pull up the note, and say, "It's in box #__."  Getting to the box might be a little challenging, but we knew where it was!

We rented a 16' moving truck and a car tow trailer, and my husband had just two friends help him load the truck, realizing it was going to be an exceedingly tight fit and that it would require a very thoughtful and careful group to do it efficiently.  It was packed tightly, to the door. Looked like sort of a mess to us both, but it was ready to move.

When we arrived at the new house to unload, as hubby opened the back, it appeared that nothing had shifted, and I'm happy to report, nothing was broken in the process, although there were a few minor scratches on some items.

It was about a month before I realized there was a box missing, or rather, there were some items missing and I'm guessing they were all in the same package: a picture, a set of towels (used to cushion the picture), and a piece of metal wall decor. We're still clueless about where that package went, but, ya know what? None of those items are going to missed. Have more than enough. Of everything. 

I suppose you might be wondering what decluttering we did in the process of moving--after all, that's what I help other people do, right? See the next post...