5 Moving Tips For Busy Families

A few months ago, I was obsessively checking my Zillow app every night for houses for sale in our area. We weren’t necessarily ready to move, but I found the perfect house and before I knew it, it was ours! The problem? MOVING. The idea of packing up our house and moving with 3 kids, a dog, a busy life, and a full time job (plus being on-call as a doula) made me feel like I could easily lose my sanity in the process. I’m happy to say, almost 3 weeks out from moving day, that I haven’t. It wasn’t easy, but we did it. Here are my top 5 moving tips for your busy family.

1. Pack early and pack often.

Waiting until the week before moving day – or moving day itself – to pack your house makes organization impossible. Starting 3-4 weeks before your move, begin packing things you won’t use. Décor, vases, out-of-season clothing, any back-stock you have of toiletries or food staples. Make sure each box only has things from one room in it, label it well, and begin stacking them in a place that is out of the way – preferably somewhere like a garage where they will be close to where the truck(s) will be loaded on moving day. Packing 2-3 boxes in an evening is totally doable and will allow you to stay organized throughout the process.

2. Frogboxes!

Speaking of packing, I will never move again without Frogboxes. The concept is simple – instead of buying flimsy cardboard moving boxes (which you have to tape together, stack carefully, and be very cautious about how you pack breakables), RENT sturdy, easy to pack and carry Frogboxes. They drop the moving boxes at your house on the day you specify and you pack your whole house into them. They are all the same size and shape, sturdy as heck, and stack beautifully. They have solid handles that don’t cut into your fingers, you don’t have to tape them closed, and you can pack even your most delicate items easily and without fear. I packed all my wine glasses into one Frogbox, brought it to the garage, and forgot about it . It didn’t matter if it was on the top or the bottom of a stack, my glasses were safe and secure. After the move, I unpacked the boxes and Frogbox came to my new home and picked them up. No garage full of cardboard to get rid of, no piles of discarded tape, and not a single thing squished or broken. Bonus? I had extra motivation to unpack because the boxes needed to be picked up. I couldn’t possibly recommend this option more. Check out the bottom of this post for a Frogbox coupon code!

3. Purge. And purge again.

Everyone should go through their things every year or two and get rid of what they don’t use, and there’s no better time than when moving. It’s amazing how much more critical you are in your choices when you will be physically moving the items to a new space. Things you “maybe might use later” suddenly become very unimportant. Have an organized plan for this, a place for what you might want to sell, what you should donate, and what just needs to be thrown out. If you don’t already have a favorite place to donate household items, ask your friends and neighbors for suggestions and give preference to charities that speak to your heart.

4. Ask for help.

Moving is hard work, and takes a lot of time. When you have a family to think about, it’s worth the cost to hire help – professional movers are faster than your friends, take greater care with your walls and furniture, and know what they are doing. The magic Tetris game that is loading a moving truck just happens naturally when you do it 2-3 times a day. They have protective blankets, sturdy hand trucks, and are confident when driving that huge truck – which is theirs by the way, no renting required. I called in Seattle’s Best Moving, a local company with reasonable prices and hard workers. They arrived at my house early, got right to work, and had my stuff in my new house in no time. To make the most of their time, have as much moved to the entry-level of your house as possible, make sure everything is packed into boxes (see tip #1!) and stay out of the way! We had them focus on furniture and had some friends to help with the boxes and random things like yard toys. The time I saved not making 10 trips with friends I was able to use to unpack and get important things put together – like beds!

5. Give yourself some grace.

I really thought I had it all together with this move. I was super confident, loved the new house, and knew I’d been organized the whole time. Then I got to the new house and saw the giant mess of boxes that was my garage (we’d had Seattle Best Moving drop everything but furniture there to save money). In that moment, I almost lost it. What was I thinking? How could I have thought that I could handle this, with all of the other things I had going on? How would I EVER get everything put away and our lives back in order? When you have this moment of being completely overwhelmed, take a big deep breath, let your shoulders drop and tell yourself “just one box at a time”. You’ll get there, and it won’t take nearly as long as it seems. Focus on the things that will make your life easier to start, and do bits at a time until you’re done. You will continue to move the silverware for a month until you find the perfect place, and it may be a few weeks before you’re comfortable enough with the placement of the furniture to hang pictures, but it will all get done and before you know it, this new house will be your home. Give yourself a little grace when it gets overwhelming and take a break. It will all get done.

Moving is an exciting and wonderful time in your life, full of new possibilities and fresh starts. By following some of the tips above, you can accomplish it with less stress and more joy.

Have you been waiting for the Frogbox Coupon Code? Enter MWC10 when you reserve your boxes for 10% off your order! Find your nearest FROGBOX location.

What are your best moving tips?

A complimentary product/service was provided for this review, however, all opinions expressed are my own.  I was not compensated in any other way.  See Mommies With Cents disclosure policy for more details.