Packing to move

@jakill (835)
June 14, 2009 10:21am CST
They say that moving house is second only to coping with the death of a loved one (or is it divorce) in the stress making leagues. Anyway it's just starting to feel like it. We still don't have a completion date and the contracts didn't get exchanged on Friday as we hoped. I didn't want to tempt fate by starting to pack before the exchange of contracts, just in case anything went wrong. But I haven't been able to hold my hubby back. Every spare minute he's wrapping something in bubble wrap and dumping it in a box. We are surrounded by empty shelves and filled boxes. Today we started again on the junk in the garage and did two 10 mile round trips to the tip. And I have taken all my market research magazines to the paper bank. How have you coped with the run up to moving?
4 people like this
7 responses
@jillhill (37354)
• United States
14 Jun 09
Luckily I haven't moved in quite a while...but I would pack up everything that I didn't use on a daily basis and leave the rest for last minute....Hope everything goes well with your move!
1 person likes this
@jakill (835)
14 Jun 09
Thanks Jill. That's what we're doing really.
@clutterbug (1051)
• United States
14 Jun 09
Hi jakill, I think my hubby and I may have another move in our near future, so we've been selling some stuff on Ebay, and giving things to Goodwill Industries to make our move a bit lighter. We have moved a few times before, and it was a royal pain to drag all our stuff around. So we thought this time, "What are we keeping all this stuff for?" When half of it isn't really needed or wanted. We really don't need a lot of things to survive, and in this process we are finding that we're much happier living a more simple life.
@jakill (835)
14 Jun 09
That is such a good idea. We are weeding a few things out as we go, but if we can't decide on anything, it will go with us and we'll have to make the decision at the other end. I'm determined that nothing comes out of a box until it has a home.
@cher913 (25782)
• Canada
15 Jun 09
yup, i have to agree with that for sure! the last time we moved, i had two young kids under foot - one was a newborn and the other was 4! my goal was a box a day but i started months earlier before we moved.
@jakill (835)
15 Jun 09
I did that a couple of times too, but it was so long ago, I can't remember anything about it. Blocked out the horror I imagine.
@derek_a (10874)
15 Jun 09
Oh yes, I can identify with this having just successfully moved house after having a sale fall through at the last minute at the start of the credit crunch, losing the house we had decided upon, and then waiting over another year to find another buyer. The stress was unbelievable and we had all but given up when a someone put in a offer, and what's more, because of the credit crunch we found a much better house! So things are not always as they seem. But we could still have done without the stress! - Derek
@derek_a (10874)
16 Jun 09
Oh yes, I can understand what you meant there. We have had to be absolutely ruthless at de-cluttering and getting rid of stuff that we have had for years. We soon forgot about it though, once they were gone, they were gone. - Derek
@jakill (835)
15 Jun 09
Good to know there are some happy endings, Derek. Hope mine works out as well. And hope you are now having a relaxing time in your new house. I'm just off to the charity shop with a load of bits and pieces, including some books I would never have dreamt of offloading in normal circumstances. They still pull at my heartstrings. But needs must.
1 person likes this
@ladym33 (10979)
• United States
14 Jun 09
I think it is fine to pack all non essential stuff. But leave all the essential stuff out until official decisions have been made. It has been a long time since we have moved, but it was very stressful. Packing delicates is the most time consuming as they all need to be wrapped individually. I would work on doing that in my spare time. Best of luck to you.
@jakill (835)
14 Jun 09
Thanks for the advice, ladym. It sounds very sensible.
16 Jun 09
Hi Jakill, When I was moving I couldn't wait to get out of the place we were in, it was a rented place and I hated it, once we were given a moving date it was full steam ahead, that was 24 years ago, we bought our own house and now its only a few months left and the house will be our very own, the mortgage will be paid in full, yesss!!!! Tamara
@jakill (835)
16 Jun 09
Isn't it a great feeling. That, and a pension lump sum, is what has made my dream of moving to the sea come true.
@Jenaisle (14078)
• Philippines
14 Jun 09
I've moved thrice (in the same locality) and I know how difficult it is to wrap and unwrap things. I have broken fragile things in the process. Good luck to you and I hope you'll be settled in your new home in no time at all. Cheers and happy myloting.
@jakill (835)
14 Jun 09
Thanks Jena. It's twelve years since we moved here from London. Hard to remember how we did it last time.