Moving under a deadline, how do I do it fast?

start with the room that has the most in it.

Here are some great tips! I pack one room at the time, label and number the boxes and keep a master list as you go along. Also purge as you pack and have a trash bag and donate box.

We used clear sided crates... you can see the contents if you have to stack and unpack later...

Use kitchen towels to pack glassware, paper towels between plates

Leave clothes in drawers and cover with trash bags (pull out of the dresser for weight)

Pack one set of crates of a different color with things you will need right away such as coffee pot and supplies, towels, sheets and pack a suitcase with clothes, toiletries, etc... for immediate use in the new place.

Do one room at a time and don’t look any place else or you’ll feel overwhelmed. Keep only what you know you want or need. Yiu don’t want to move anything you will have to go through again at the new place. Do it while you’re in a frame of mind to donate and trash. Sentimental feelings will get in the way. If you feel that, walk away to someplace else and work on that area and come back to it. Also, remember the memories arent In the things, they are in you. They go with you. I took pictures of things I wanted to keep but couldn’t, even fanily heirlooms I had no place for or artwork my kids did. Trust me...no one else is going to want your old stuff and if they do they can take it now.

Box each room and mark the room on each box. Be sure everything that each person needs is in a bag or luggage for a few days....all they would need to get dressed, ready for work/school, and ready for bed too. Then when you move, tell your helpers to put the box in the room where it is marked "Markies room" for example they will know to put it in his bedroom and not set it down anywhere else. Also for the kitchen be sure to pack one box with everything you will need for morning like coffee pot, plates, few glasses, etc and mark it "Kitchen morning" . If you have a freezer, mark the freezer food as Freezer and tell the helper to unload it in the freezer not set it down. Same with fridge. Hopefully your new place of residence is already clean. Ask some helpers to vacuum and wipe everything down as everything is moved out so it is done when you get all the boxes out. Hopefully you have kept it clean all along. Those are just some ideas I have learned. Carry breakables, family heirlooms, or computers/printers/t.v.s etc in YOUR personal car to be sure they are not broken.

Call in folks to help you or get it done by the movers.........

If you are moving nearby, on my last move, I was painting new place daily for a couple hours, so I packed the car each night with boxes, clothes... and put it away in new house.... so when movers came they literally just moved the furniture. Label each box with room, contents on 2 sides of box. I never use boxes larger than an apple box.

On my last cross country move, I had to pick up a lease car in a nearby state, so I flew to pick up car, and drove to new city and checked into a hotel near my new home. Movers called to meet them over there, and made sure all labeled boxes had the contents facing out in the right room. I always have the movers help me set up the bed on the frame.