Moving to a new house - PANIC!!

Catcher

Thu, Jan 29 2015, 12:58 am

We are moving to a new house in a week and havent't really been able to do much packing. We managed to box up some books last night. I am beginning to panic and getting to the point where I feel immobilised by fear.

I need some advice about how to pack up a large house in a very short amount of time in an organised and logical fashion. TIA

imasinger

Thu, Jan 29 2015, 6:42 am

Abby is right; you will get this done faster with help. You can ask friends, or call the moving company and pay for their packers.

Either way, I have found that spending half an hour or so on lists before you begin is helpful.

What do you own? Where do you want it to go in the new place? Go room by room. Get it all written down. For ex: dairy dishes, kitchen, new house, kitchen top right cabinet. Knicknacks, dining room shelf, new home, living room.

A lot of time, movers will not require you to empty dressers. And they can give you wardrobe boxes for your hanging things, and packing paper for your dishes. It's worth finding out.

Have multiple rolls of packing tape and permanent markers available. If you have help, you act as supervisor, letting others pack, while you direct and label.

Also, if you get others to help, be very specific. "I want you to pack all the items from this cabinet into those dish barrels, wrapping them carefully. Call me when it's done." Otherwise, you may find yourself removing 3 week old kitchen garbage from a very smelly box.

Remember that you can always reorganize on the other end. You should not realphabetize your books now. Get them in boxes, and fix them later.

Make this your top priority. Eat takeout or frozen pizza, accept Shabbos invitations, use paper. Challenge yourselves to see how much you can get done in an hour, then try to beat your record. Put on music. Get the kids to pitch in packing their toys.

Hatzlacha!