MOVING DAY: DO OR DIE!
The toddler is fussy, your middle-schooler seemed to think one final sports-injury- related ER visit was needed, and your husband is laid out flat on the floor of an empty room, dehydrated from the stomach flu, while you waddle around eight months pregnant. Yet moving day is here! Perhaps you’re moving from one overseas location to another while your spouse is deployed (or several of the above-I’ve been there, too!). Some spouse-tested ideas to make moving day easier:
1) Keep your sense of humor.
The best-laid plans will come unglued. Best to expect it and then laugh!
SPOUSE TIP: Bette Sedona says: “Murphy’s law may very well come into effect-‘if something can go wrong, it will’… it will all pass in time and you will soon be laughing about the stress of the move.”
2) Create a “don’t pack” room or space.
Clear out a room for luggage, papers, jewelry, medication, purses, electronics; mark it “DON’T PACK” and shut the door. And on that note…
3) Mark an “unpack first” box.
Pack together and clearly mark a box or two of necessities you won’t want to hunt for in the new house. Include whatever you’ll need for sanity: shower curtains and rings, broom and dustpan, towels, sheets, air mattress, coffeemaker, paper towels and plates, plasticware, a couple of pots and pans, and wine glasses-I mean, the baby’s sippy cups.
4) Color code it.
Use color- coded labels or tapes to mark boxes. On the receiving end, use the same labels to mark rooms to place boxes/ items. This will reduce a lot of the “Where does this go?” questions.
5) Feed your movers.
A fed mover is a happy mover! We provide pizza or big sub sandwiches and a cooler of sodas and water bottles.
6) Keep a watchful eye.
While you can’t be everywhere, walk around and keep an eye on packing as it goes. Speak up if you don’t feel items are being handled correctly. You might avoid having heavy weights packed in the bottom of an antique china cabinet or glassware thrown in a box with no packing materials (now that was fun to unpack after said box wended its way across the Pacific Ocean). Empty your trash cans and don’t leave dirty laundry in hampers! Some movers will quite literally pack everything. Remind me to tell you the story sometime of friends whose pet turtle was accidentally packed…
7) A place for everything.
Screws and bolts for beds, cribs, shelves: ask movers to tape hardware to the piece of furniture it corresponds with.
8) Pack the beds and blankets last.
A must if packing will take several days-even one last night in your own bed is a godsend. I also request that a couple of chairs be left out till the end so I don’t have to stand all day.
9) Take a picture in front of your old house.
Make time for closure for your family, whether you loved the station or not.
(continue reading for tips about settling in at your new location)
