Your best moving tips

Chayalle

Mon, Aug 01 2022, 12:27 pm

As you pack, label each box with (preferrably color coded) labels that say where that box is going and what's inside of it.

When you move to your house, put a sign on the bedroom doors labelling them so movers know which bedroom you are talking about.

Dishes - Kitchen - main floor
Pots - Kitchen - main floor
Games - Playroom - basement
books - bedroom #1 - upstairs
clothes - master bedroom - upstairs
cosmetics - mater bath - upstairs
shampoose - girls' bathroom - upstairs
detergents - laundry room - main floor

etc....

The day of moving - take each child's bedroll, roll it up, put it in a box or a garbage bag that clearly identifies it as non-garbage (so it doesn't get thrown out by mistake), label it. When you get to your new home, you can quickly and easily make the beds. Leave changing the linen for a different day, before or after however it works out. Put pajamas for each child into that bedroll, so you don't need to start unpacking looking for it.

Have a meal plan for your moving day so everyone has what to eat. If possible, plan on going out for that Shabbos (we got invited to aunt who lives in my new neighborhood) and that made the stress considerably easier.

In terms of movers, post your location so people can recommend.

tweety1

Mon, Aug 01 2022, 12:32 pm

Color code every room with every box. It made it much easier for my movers. I bought colored tape on amazon. Each box and each room got a different color. The movers just had to match the color box to the color room.
Books and seforim don't go in boxes. I bought the large saran wrap by home depot and wrapped in the that.

amother

Mon, Aug 01 2022, 12:40 pm

tweety1 wrote:

I was thinking of using that saran wrap, but I heard it's very hard to use. Did you find that?

Amethyst

Mon, Aug 01 2022, 1:03 pm

When we moved I packed a suitcase with 2 or 3 changes of clothes/pajamas for everyone so I could use those until I had the clothing boxes unpacked. Depending on what your clothing is in, it could be it will all be where it needs to go once the movers leave... For example, our movers told us at the time that if just clothing were in the drawers we could leave them in there...

We used smaller boxes for books and seforim so they were not so heavy. Someone we know had a lot of smaller size boxes so we were able to use those.

We borrowed large containers from a g'mach and were able to take some boxes from there too.

We used Virgil and were very happy with them.

Amethyst

Mon, Aug 01 2022, 1:07 pm

Aside from color coding the boxes, I found it helpful to write briefly on the label what's in the boxes. For example, weekday dishes, shabbos dishes, tops/skirts, tichels/belts/handbags, toys from living room closet or drawers, etc., so that when looking for something it will be easier to know which box to start looking in.
Unless you have the time and ability to unpack things very quickly!

DustyDiamonds

Mon, Aug 01 2022, 1:12 pm

tweety1 wrote:

I did the same thing with numbers.

Even if the movers have workers who don’t speak English, everyone can read numbers!

As I packed, I kept referring to the “key” on my phone, and I also hung it on the fridge, so the kids could access it:

1 Basement
2 Kitchen
3 living room
4 master bedroom
5 One of the kids’ rooms
6 another kids’ room
Etc

Then, the morning we moved, I wrote a huge number from 1-10 (forgot how many rooms I did this for) with a sharpie on a piece of printer paper, and hung it up with painters tape on the doorway of each room.

It was very simple for the movers to put a box labeled 7 in the room with the prominent 7 hanging in its doorway.

Chayalle

Mon, Aug 01 2022, 1:20 pm

I also borrowed these large grey rubbery bins from a gemach, and I moved dishes by myself. IIRC I had 3 of them, and I loaded all my dishes (meat, dairy, china) and pots into these. I honestly did not wrap my dishes at all - I just loaded them snugly into those bins. shlepped them to the back seat of my car, drove to new house, and unpacked them (except the China, which I store in dining room breakfront cabinet, and I had to wait for that to unload). B"H nothing broke! So when we moved, the kitchen was mostly unpacked already. Back in old house, we used papergoods and disposable pans until the move.

I remember one day I had to be in the new house for a while because appliances were being delivered/installed. I came with loaded bins and while they were working, I unpacked.

Once the bins were empty, I took them back home and reloaded with more stuff.....

I had made several one-pan types of dinners (like lasagne, or pan with chicken and rice, meatballs and spaghetti, etc...) for suppers for the week before the move, so that I wouldn't need my pots and could just pop dinner into the oven.

Amethyst

Mon, Aug 01 2022, 1:26 pm

Chayalle wrote:

We also brought some of the more delicate items ourselves, and used those big bins for dishes too.
And also whenever we needed to go to the house for something before the actual move we would try to take boxes or stuff with us.

Op, if you want the name/number of the person who has the bins you can PM me and I can try to find it for you.

LK1

Mon, Aug 01 2022, 1:28 pm

I did the color coded stickers and it was AMAZING!!

I bought https://www.amazon.com/Misofuk.....ss_tl this and had a color for every room. The movers put everything in the right place and it was a pleasure when they left.

Also, any notes I wanted to keep in mind when unpacking I wrote on the box. If a box was not such a rush, delicate, the kids could unpack it. I wrote all over them and it was so nice that I didn't have to open any boxes to see what's in.

chanchy123

Mon, Aug 01 2022, 1:35 pm

I yes to the color coding -
However, I numbered all the boxes and had a Google sheet with a catalog that was also color coordinated accordingly. I only listed the number, room and a very brief description on the box on all sides (e.g. #4 kitchen dairy dishes) but included a detailed description in the catalog.

amother

Hibiscus

Mon, Aug 01 2022, 1:58 pm

I've moved many times. The best advice I can give is to purge and organize before moving. It will be so much easier to pack and unpack when you don't have a million extra things, and everything could be packed in their designated box.
This is also very helpful when you feel like you want to pack early, but don't want to live with boxes all over your apartment.

Once everything is organized, use the ideas above with color/number coded boxes and lists to pack.

I like to unpack my kids rooms and kitchen first. My kids felt much more settled and were calmer when their space was set up.

Good luck!

amother

Mon, Aug 01 2022, 4:02 pm

LK1 wrote:

I love these! I was going to do colored masking tape, but this is easier, I think.

renslet

Mon, Aug 01 2022, 5:26 pm

I made a box of my leichters, and silver stuff, important documents and jewelry and put it in the car.
That way with people coming in and out of the house, movers builders etc, I wasn't worried about them getting lost stolen or replaced.
Bedsheet hack has already been written, was a major lifesaver.
I also packed as if we were going on vacation for a week, complete with toiletries into two or three suitcases, that way there was no need to unpack straight away.
Make a box of stuff to open straight away, bits and pieces that you use every day.
Numbering boxes and putting the same number on the doors worked really well.
I hired help to unpack, was 8 months pregnant and got it done quickly, I would have gone insane with boxes everywhere, was worth every penny.
I asked a few friends to send dinner and the day before the move when the house was upside down, the kids went straight from school to eat dinner at a friend. Came home and went to bed.

fatso gal

Mon, Aug 01 2022, 5:56 pm

Declutter before starting to pack. It is a lot harder to do them together when you just want to finish packing. Lable everything clearly and with what room it should go into. I found it helpfull to leave the clothes in the drawers (they wrapped it before it went into the truck) so the kids felt that their room was a setttled as it can be. Its hard enough thag they are in a strange room.

sub

Mon, Aug 01 2022, 6:20 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

I was thinking of using that saran wrap, but I heard it's very hard to use. Did you find that?

Just tie them with string. We bought a huge box of white twine. We started wrapping with plastic wrap. Not worth it. Unless you’re planning to leave in a garage or basement.
Take smaller boxes from your grocer for small sfarim like siddurim.