Virginia C says:

Hi, Sarah! I wish you much happiness in your new home! I like to look at wallpaper, especially if it is “old-timey”, but I would not want to strip it : ) Many years ago, my mom and I were renting a house, and we decided to look for a little home to buy for our own. We found one, three blocks down, and one street over. I say down because the rental house was at the top of a very steep hill. We had very little money, and we decided to move ourselves without hiring a moving company. We moved everything we could in my car, including our sofa. The sofa was strapped across the open trunk of the car, and it hung over on both sides. I was holding my breath coming down the hill that the sofa wouldn’t break loose and hit the bottom of the hill before the car did! We didn’t have the utilities turned on until after we had officially moved in to the little house. I told Mom that one of us had better stay in the new house, and one stay at the rental house until the move was complete. That way we could watch over things at both houses. I stayed in the rental house with no gas or electricity, and I had to wash in very cold water! We had a little beagle dog which I left with Mom for her protection. Sure enough, one night Mom was taking a bath, and our dog kept barking and coming to the bathroom door like she was trying to say something. Mom got out of the tub, pulled on a robe, and the dog led her to the back door. Mom hit the switch for the back porch light, and a man jumped over the porch railing, taking our fold-up lawn furniture along with him! That was one of the few times in my life that my mom told me I was right about something!!! (&)

Alina Duffer says:

Hi Sarah!!! Congrats on buying your house! Thats very exciting. My husband was in the Marine Corps so we did alot of moves! In the 10 1/2 years we have been married we have moved 8 times. But now that hes retired we are finally settled and we bought our first home 2 years ago. Like you I was totally excited to be able to do what I want with the house. But I have to admit even after 2 years I still havent painted anything. And I hate white walls! But having 3 young children doesnt make it easy. I hope to start painting this summer. We also have some construction we want to get done this summer. Only time will tell if it really happens, lol!

As for moving disasters, we always moved ourselves, even though the military would have moved us. I never trusted anyone else to not ruin my stuff. The hardest move we ever had was when I was pregnant with my second child. We had some guys who worked with my husband who said they would help since I couldnt, but they never showed up. So my poor hubby was stuck doing it all by himself. It was aweful! I felt so bad for him, but after trying for 3 years to get pregnant again he wasnt willing to let me do anything. I am very lucky to have him!

As for tips, lets see. Pack room by room. I know I always tend to walk through grabbing stuff and sticking it in to boxes, then I kick myself when Im unpacking for not packing better, lol! Careful packing dishes. Dont put alot of books in the same box. I learned that one the hard way when I couldnt move the box cause it was too heavy. And make sure you remember to label boxes. I really cant think of anything else right now.

Well hope you have a smooth move and enjoy your new home!!! (*)

Fedora says:

Wow, Sarah!! Happy packing and moving! I’m just not much of a mover–I’m a terrible packrat, and the thought of packing everything up to take it somewhere else is just overwhelming On the other hand, we did survive a kitchen and bathroom remodel a couple years ago, which went pretty well on the whole. We used the living room for our center of operations while our kitchen was out of commission and did dishes in the hall bathroom sink (that was a drag–I’d recommend paper, as much as I hate generating trash). Once it was all done and we were unpacked, we had the carpet cleaners come, and order was restored (even the huge spaghetti stain in the middle of the living room carpet came out :)) Best wishes for a smooth move and a smooth remodel!

Oh, and good luck with the wallpaper stripping; while I’m not against it either, we had a couple of pretty hideous ones on the walls when we moved it, so we had a couple of bouts of scraping too. I think the worst was one of the family room walls, which was done in what looked like a greyish multitoned corduroy… Now it’s a lovely milk-chocolate brown

Colleen says:

Oh boy, so much to do when moving…. sorting, packing, tossing, and then doing it all over again! We moved 10 years ago and I threw out a ton of stuff, some I wish now that I did not… I actually have stuff still in boxes… need more shelf space! Good Luck and enjoy your new home! (*)

Jane says:

Hi Sarah,
Good luck with the move and congrats on the new home. Never move in the winter. It’s hard to get a grip on the boxes and furniture when your fingers are frozen. I’ve helped my cousin and her friend move in the dead of winter in Michigan and it was not a fun experience. You should also make sure the sofa fits through the door before you waste your energy getting it out of the moving truck.

Lyn says:

Good luck for your move. Its been a few years since I moved (but I know that I will me moving in about 18 months). I agree with the tip to label boxes. Sometimes I find not just by room, but also what in the box can be helpful.
As someone else said – don’t take the clutter with you. Even with non-clothing items, if you can’t remember the last time you used it, then you probably don’t need it. If you’ve already started packing, which with the move being Monday I’m guessing you might have, during unpacking is just as good a time to do this.

My mother used to love DIY renovation while I was growing up, so I learned very quickly the best way to stay sane during renos was to remind myself that it would be finished eventually.

Laney4 says:

I enjoyed reading all of the above tips and concur wholeheartedly. Not only should you label boxes with the rooms, but ensure they are the NEW room names. It’s obvious with kitchen, for example, but perhaps you have two bathrooms now (or three?) so you should have boxes for each bathroom, rather than lumping all your current stuff into one label. Sometimes people go from having a living room and rec room to having a den thrown in there too, so again label for three rooms instead of two.

You can pack up all the “not immediate stuff” just fine, but again label boxes of stuff to be used immediately in a different manner. I wrote “USE” on the box and had those items stored closer to the door of each room, whereas the other stuff was packed skyhigh along the walls.

Write KITCHEN or GREEN BEDROOM or whatever in big print on all the boxes on the one side. Include a brief list of items in the box, and tell all helpers to pile the boxes so that those labels clearly show in the same direction — toward the door so it is easily read from afar. If you have the space, have them pile the boxes in rows so that you can walk (with difficulty, but you can still do it) along to read each box later.

Don’t forget to pack a cooler with cold drinks and snacks for all the helpers. Since it’s winter there, perhaps you’ll have to pack the coffee maker or kettle with appropriate coffee/tea stuff, as well as enough cups/plates. In our household, beer was the most important “ingredient” for a good move. And make sure it’s cold.

If you can’t sort out food ahead of time for your first several meals, at least write out what you’d like to make/order so that you don’t waste time later thinking about it. Keep these meals in mind when packing the last of the food items.

As for the renovating, my story involves painting woodwork and walls. I was 8 months pregnant and latex painting many moons ago (before it was poo-pooed by professionals) and found that every time I painted one side of a door frame and turned around to do the other, I ended up wiping the previous paint off on my butt. It was hard to get ahead when I kept wiping it all off! It got to the point that my husband pushed me out of the room and did it himself one last time, even though I am the one who has the attention to detail for fine edge painting.

We have painted all of the rooms in our house several times. We wallpapered our master bedroom probably 28 years ago and still haven’t replaced it. My thought is, “It ain’t broke so don’t fix it.” It isn’t peeling off and looks fine (especially from the doorway, LOL). I probably SHOULD replace it, but there are other priorities in the meantime. Besides, I like the pattern and it matches our decor.

I find that the older I get, the more I do things when they need to be done rather than when I want them to be done. Kinda like dusting, vacuuming, painting, lining shelves, etc. There’s much more to life than all these things, so “don’t sweat the small stuff!” Good luck!

Laurie G says:

I’ve moved several times. I agree with labeling everything with the room and items within.

I also now go through everything as I’m packing and say does this fit, do we need, will we ever use again???

I wish I had been more thorough going through the stuff we’ve acquired over the years. We have a lot of old books and magazines I’ve been saving forever. HEAVY to move!
Best of luck!

We remodeled after all our pipes froze while we were on a 2 week vacation. Electric heat / faulty thermostats. We came home to a flooded basement and broken pipes. It took around 10 months before all the renovations were completed. I had two young children 4 & 1. The kids had to bathe in the kitchen sink. We loved how everything turned out but what a headache to live through the dust, noise and debris!

Best of luck with your move and your writing too.