How long did it take you to pack? (questionaire) (packing, movers, truck)

[Lionsdale]

Number of Rooms:

Number of People Packing:

Hours per day:

Extra Tips: (example: Pack Kitchen last/last-day? , What did you eat last when you did not have any Microwave?,
things like that).


Thanks, starting Monday I will have all of my packing supplies and begin. Just wondering, as I have ~3 weeks for a 700-800 sq ft 1 bedroom apt.

[hothulamaui]

I could pack 700 to 800 sq. feet in 3 days easy. start packing away all the things you don't need at hand. throw away everything you don't use. do not take it with you. just start packing the least used things first until you are down to just an overnight bag.

[Lionsdale]

Thanks Hothulamaui,

I also have to do some dismantling of furniture, bubble wrapping of glass etc. And plastic wrapping of sofas, plus factoring the fact that I have to go down a few flights of stairs to go outside. Do you still figure the same amount of time plus or minus a few days?

Thanks again.

[hothulamaui]

yes, do a bit at a time if you have all that time no need to rush really. I will say that no matter how much or little time I have had to move when it comes time to be out the door you are still rushed for some reason. I wouldn't bubble wrap everything if it is a small move. dismantle only what you have too. don't make it harder than it has to be. if you can get help with the heavy tuff that would be great

[Happy in Wyoming]

It took three months to pack, and after eighteen months I'm still not unpacked.

When I had no microwave or stove or toaster oven I drank tomato juice at home and drove eighteen miles to town for solid food. It was heaven, especially since I was up here quite a bit before I moved, overseeing some construction projects.

[camrynh]

I was able to pack over a month or so. It still meant a scramble the night before the movers came, because I'm a procrastinator.

My biggest tip is to pack things that only belong in the same room together. If you finish a room, say, a bedroom, and have extra room, don't put anything else from another room in there. If you have the boxes labeled for the rooms they belong in, and only have items that belong in the labeled room, it will speed up the unpacking process. When my DH and I moved from our 900 sq ft townhouse to a 1400 sq ft house, it took me one evening/night to unpack the entire house. When we moved from 1400 sq ft to 3200 sq ft, it took me about 4-5 days to unpack the entire house (but that's with a 3 year old and 6 year old "helping").

[Prple]

You and a spouse could probably get it done in one busy day (excluding loading a truck). Organizing and cleaning before packing helps packing go smoother and also helps minimize the inevitable odds and ends and left out belongings that belong in a certain box. When I pack, I try to label things for where they are going to go in the new house. I even go as far as to label a box something like "Family Room-black bookshelf, second shelf", kitchen island or upstairs closet. It makes it a lot easier when you unpack things if you (or the unpackers) know exactly where to put it because unpacking takes a lot of time too.

[StarryEyedSurprise]

I have always taken the time to do a little bit of packing each day - you really don't need knick knacks and stuff like breadmakers or serving platters to be accessible right before you move. Otherwise, I make sure everything is done but the bare necessities (some towels, toiletries, extra clothing) two days before the move, and pack the necessities up in luggage when it is time to go.

However, if you are using movers (and even if you aren't) I would discourage you from labeling boxes with stuff like, "China," "Jackets," "electronics," etc. Do you really want strangers knowing what you have in which boxes?

My husband and I made an Excel spreadsheet using numbers, and explicitly listing what was in each box, such as:

1-5. China
6. Board games, chess set, blank CDs
7. Cookbooks, Kitchenaid mixer
8. Technical books, desk items
9. Scarves, gloves, sewing kit

And so forth. Then you just label all sides of the box with the appropriate number, and keep a print out of the spreadsheet so that only YOU know what corresponds to each box. If you have movers, you simply stand by, tell them where to put each box as it comes in and you consult your spreadsheet, and check off to make sure each one arrives (hard to do if you aren't tracking your boxes).

I should have my closing date this month (underwriters seem to be bogged down), so I have already packed all my books (I have enough for a library) except for the ones I know I will be reading for the next month or two, all of my servingware, china, appliances I can live without (breadmaker, mixer, crock pot, etc), winter clothes, any "dust collectors", and so far *including some stuff I never unpacked for a year since this was a temporary move* I think we have around 40 boxes. At least 15 of those boxes were packed over a very casual three days (a few hours here and there), and they are well packed - my husband worked at Mailboxes Etc when he was in high school I anticipate we have about ten hours remaining of things to pack, and I'd like to get that down closer to six.

[sskkc]

I have always taken the time to do a little bit of packing each day - you really don't need knick knacks and stuff like breadmakers or serving platters to be accessible right before you move.

This is how I pack too. I do a little bit each day. After I get the kitchen down to just what I need for the next 3 weeks, I'll finish up the basement and then the kid's rooms. Our plan is to allow the kids to move down into the packed up basement (they're always begging to sleep down there anyway!) while we clear out and repaint their rooms. I've got the pictures off the walls and packed up already, same with the knick knacks. I use towels, sheets & blankets for packing my small appliances, of which I have a LOT.

I take my time moving in somewhere new too. But I have my boxes labeled so I know which ones I packed last... which of course are the ones I will need unpacked first at the new place.

This week, I will finish all the "preliminary packing", meaning the stuff I don't use regularly will be all packed up. Then we'll clean out the rooms, one by one. As one is finished, the door gets shut. The only items going in after that are possibly packed boxes that don't have another place to go. The last couple of nights, if I do this right, the kids will be sleeping in the family room and dh & I in the master. But we'll be living out of laundry baskets by that point... kind of like backwards packing for a 2 week vacation.

[7G9C4J2]

It takes us a loooooong time to pack.

We're pack-rats, you see, and so the first stage of packing is always going through all the junque that has accumulated to get rid of anything we don't want badly enough to pack, haul and unpack. That takes a while just by itself. And the fact that we both hate moving, so we do it as seldom as possible, means that there's lots of time for stuff to accumulate.

And then we start with the actual boxes. Like others, we always start with holiday decorations, off-season clothing, pictures and decorative items, small appliances that don't get frequent use, and the like. But what really bogs us down is when we start emptying and packing the bookshelves. The last time we moved, we had over 80 boxes of just books, and that was after combing through and dropping off several hundred volumes at a nearby nursing home.

When we moved across the country a decade ago, I started sorting and tossing about six months before our planned departure. Three months before leaving, I was working on the first of the boxes. And right up until the moving van arrived, I was still packing boxes, numbering them, logging the contents into the master list, and taping them shut. And it took me over two years to get them all unboxed, sorted and put away in our new home.

Moral of the story: if you're a normal person, you can pack in a few weeks. If you're a pack-rat, plan on half a year.