Moving the 1st of July/Order in Which to Pack Things

[PoetryLover]

We plan to move to a bigger place the first of July. I'll be about 8 months pregnant at that time and want to take full advantage of the second trimester. Plus, my older DSD will be visiting from the end of May until the end of June, and I don't want to spend a majority of the time she is with us packing. I'd like to pack everything I possibly can before she even arrives. I have about two months.

Does anyone have any advice on the order of which to pack things and time frames? Is it realistic to have a lot of our home packed up so far in advance? I was thinking of starting with our books and maybe knickknacks. I welcome all suggestions!

Thank in advance!

[MariaMadly]

Yes!  Knickknacks and books are a great place to start.  If you have more than enough dishes and bedding / other linens, I packed mine too and used a smaller inventory for a few weeks.  Pictures were a huge time sink, too, and very nice to get out of the way.  Good luck!

[OkiMom]

Id start with books and knicknacks (unless theres something special you want to leave out, we have a plate that is the last thing packed and first thing unpacked when we move so it hasn't been packed yet). Then if theres anything holiday wise you have Id pack that. Things that you have that are seasonal or not used on a regular basis (for example seasonal clothing, camping gear etc) Id pack that as well. Non maternity clothing can be backed, any clothing that the child(ren) have outgrown, homeschool items that you aren't using etc. Basically if you can do without or don't use on a regular basis Id pack. Good luck on the move! Moving while pregnant can be hard. Make sure not to overdo it.

[beebalmmama]

We'll be moving the first of July too, or sooner if we buy a house and close beforehand. I haven't really started packing yet. But I've started by putting all our winter wear up and other seasonals that I know won't be used until we're in the new place. I'm downsizing the boys stuff and trying to eliminate toys as ds 2 grows past them. I've been purging our house for a couple of months now and will probably have a small yard sale in another month or so.

Next on my list is books and extra toys that I rotate downstairs. The linens ar a good suggestion, I can definitely pack up all of my flannel sheets and extra blankets. I don't have a whole lot of knicknacks, there hasn't been room in our current rental and so most of it is packed already. I'm probably going to attack my kitchen and downsize my pans and bakewear which don't all get used regularly anyway. I know pictures are a good idea because they do take time to pack. But once I take stuff off the walls I feel like I'm in the middle of moving and so I don't usually do this until the month or weeks before.

[ArtsyMomma]

We will be moving the first of July also! If all goes well, we close before memorial day. We aren't moving far, maybe 20 minutes away. We plan to keep our apartment through June, the older kids are in school and it would be a hassle to drive them 25 minutes each way every morning and afternoon. I also babysit a 17 month old, and I am sure our new place will be too far for her mother to drive her (It would add almost an hour to her am and pm commute....). The little girls father is a school teacher, and she isn't coming over the summer. So I will have a month after the closing to pack and do a bit of redecorating before we give up our current place! It seems like a good set up but I'm getting a bit anxious. I'd like to start packing asap. We have 6 people in a 2 bedroom apartment and are moving to a farmhouse on 3.3 acres, so I imagine almost everything will be coming with us. I try not to keep things that we don't use or love.