Lessons Learned - My Own Move

First, let me say that I love working with clients who are moving. I find all stages of a move to be fun, from the initial planning of dates and inventory all the way to putting away the contents of the last box. So when our family made the decision at the end of 2019 to remodel a smaller home and downsize from our current home, I was eagerly anticipating the move! Afterall, I’ve tons of experience and this should be a breeze, right? Read on for some humble pie and tons of tips to keep your next move as stress-free as possible.

The Situation: 

I remember not even worrying about the actual move. To be honest, suddenly there were PLENTY of BIG things to worry about in 2020! Packing and unpacking was somewhere at the bottom of my concerns, far behind my family’s health, missing my son’s senior year events, and the sale of our existing home. Of course, moves are difficult and considered one of life’s big stressors. I have always been extremely empathetic to my clients - I know that moving can be exhausting and overwhelming! I just didn’t expect for ME to be as exhausted and overwhelmed! I’m finally sitting in my office chair in the new house, and I’m going to share with you WHY the whole experience felt overwhelming for a professional organizer, what went well, and what could have been handled better.

What Could Have Gone Better:

The Remodel

We already owned the house we were moving to and had started the remodeling process. Even better, our existing house sold quickly. Too quickly. Much too quickly. In a perfect world, the remodel would finish before we needed to move out of our existing house. We missed that deadline by two weeks. We ran into every possible remodeling complication, including a major structural issue that called for jacking the house up and installing a new load-bearing wall in the basement. The week before our scheduled move, we realized that not one single space in the new home--not even a coat closet--would be ready in time for move in.

The Move Plan Changed

The move plan was for a local move. I’ve done so many of these that I even had a spreadsheet template in place to organize what and when to pack, move, and divest. These are the less difficult moves--many items can be taken over in stages in fast pack boxes or bins, and we use movers for the final boxes and furniture. 

Usually, we don’t have to formally ‘pack’ many of the denser spaces in the home, like closets and pantries which makes the unpack process far simpler. On move day, many of the necessary items and systems are in place, allowing us to focus on the placement of furniture and final unpacking.

Due to the remodeling delay, pretty much everything we owned needed to be packed and moved to storage units. Items were then moved out of storage units and unpacked as spaces of the house became ready. A simple move became a series of moves and stages of unpacking.

The Pandemic

There is almost always something that happens in a move that we can never plan for. I’ve had a client who fell and required shoulder surgery. I’ve also had a client with a family medical emergency that called him away the critical week prior to his move. Something always (ALWAYS!) happens that you can never plan for but the scale and the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic was exceedingly difficult. Many of the avenues I use to help clients downsize were unavailable to me. No donations, estate sales, or consignments for the stuff we were downsizing. And, oh boy, were we were downsizing--the new house had ⅓ the storage of the house we had spent the last 20 years in.

The Family

This was the biggest issue. Don’t get me wrong….the husband, 21-year-old daughter, 18-year old son, and 3-year old dog were pretty amazing. They dealt with chaos, packing, provided much of the muscle in the move, lived in a hotel for 10 days, lived in a construction zone for weeks. It’s been a tough time and they were awesome. However, even the most awesome family is going to have some meltdowns and really bad days. When I work with clients in this situation, it’s easy to de-escalate the situation because I’m not emotionally involved. I can suggest a cooling off break or mediate more difficult decisions. When you are the mom, it’s not as easy to stay professional. You know the old saying--you are only as happy as your unhappiest kid? Double that for a move!

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What Did Go Right:

Project Management

I had a project timeline in place with critical milestones, and a very good understanding of the ramifications of any missed milestone. As we started missing dates on the remodel timeline, I could give the movers the heads up that the number of boxes would be much higher than the original estimate. It also meant that, working with the mover, we reserved the necessary amount of storage ahead of the move. Time is the biggest constraint in any move. Make sure you have your timeline in place so you don’t run out of time.

Packing

I have a labeling system which really paid off. The top and two sides of every box are labeled with the Room/Area the contents came from, a description of the contents and the unpack priority. I don’t always use an unpack priority for small moves but my system (A - unpack first, B - unpack next, C - unpack last) allowed us to easily pull out of storage the most important things and stage the unpack without being overwhelmed by Christmas decorations or crafting items. Create an inventory for all items that are packed and identify the unpack priority..

Materials and Professionals

We used new moving boxes. Yes, they are more expensive, but they are also clean, strong, and consistently shaped. Because they are stronger, new boxes will stack higher in trucks and storage units. I mentioned that our move was staged over a series of weeks and those boxes were moved multiple times in humid conditions. Because I used good quality boxes and made sure that boxes weren’t over packed, my boxes didn’t break down. My movers have an excellent reputation, and they added to that with their advice, cool heads, and problem-solving skills. Moves can be expensive but the best way to save money is to reduce the volume of items being moved. Don’t cut corners on boxes or movers.

Knowing What NOT to Pack

My family has medical conditions that require daily medications and treatments. A two-week supply of these items was packed in suitcases and stowed in our cars before the movers arrived. Clothing for two weeks, valuables, important documents, cash & checkbook, medical records were also packed by us and stowed in our cars. It’s always chaotic on move day and you don’t want medication or important documents to end up in a box on the moving truck. Keep essential items in a safe place under your control during the move process.

Decluttering

No one should move the stuff they don’t love, need or use. We do a good job of decluttering on an on-going basis. There wasn’t a lot of unloved, not useful stuff lying about. However, downsizing means that you must cut deeper and make those tougher decisions. Also, we were packing at a time that donation centers in Illinois were closed. When we were unsure or unable to donate, we packed those items in boxes labeled “Donate/Sell”. As we unpacked, it was easy to review those items in the ‘Donate/Sell’ boxes and let them go on to charity. Recognize that the declutter process in a move happens in stages and create a process to declutter in all those stages: pre-packing, packing, and unpacking.

New Systems

I mentioned that we moved into a home that was still under construction. There were no pantry cabinets, no finished office or mudroom in place. The garage was full of construction materials and the two small storerooms in the basement were full of HVAC guys, electricians and plumbers for weeks. To provide desperately needed storage for most used items like food, cleaning items, and pet food, I invested in 4 sets of metro shelves on casters. This was the best money I spent. Metro shelves gave us temporary storage systems that were accessible. It saved my sanity to have a place for everything I needed most and made all the guys working on my house happy that these items could be safely rolled out of the way when they needed to get in a space to work. Make it a priority to have key storage systems up and running quickly for the most needed items in your household.

The Family

During all the days of this long, stressful move we did keep each other centered. There were some tense moments, not going to lie, but we pulled together. My kids reminded me to take time to relax or play cards with them, my doggo reminded me that morning walks are the best way to start the day. We made the most of our hotel stay and made new friends with all the guys working in our house. It’s so very easy to be overwhelmed by the stuff in a move. Don’t forget the most important task of any move--creating a home. Focus on the relationships and share memories and make some new ones as you create that new home. And, of course, my best advice...hire a PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZER to deal with the moving stuff so you can focus on the home and the people in it!