This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of CORT Furniture Outlet. All opinions are 100% mine.
We’re no strangers to buying, selling and moving – in fact, we recently sold our second home and purchased our third! One thing that has changed over the years, though, is the number of kids we’ve had while going through the moving process. When we bought our first home, we were newly married and the process was extremely simple, plus, we didn’t own a whole lot of furniture at that point. Things were a little more tricky when we sold our first home and had to pack up and move with a 1-year-old, and this most recent time, with a newborn, a 3-year-old and a 5-year-old! I’m partnering with CORT Furniture Outlet to share some of the moving tips and tricks I used this time around to make the process as smooth as possible.
Make the process exciting for the kids.
Younger kids may not understand what moving entails and it can rock their world. Our girls were very curious about what was happening as we were packing up boxes and they really wanted to “help” as much as possible. We made sure to include them when we weren’t boxing up fragile items and it made them happy! Bonus points for letting them help color code the boxes with fun tape!
Also, be positive and encouraging about what’s happening next – moving to a brand new place to create more fun memories. As parents, moving can be hard because we often associate our home with memories of our kids (trust me on this!), but try to keep a smile on your face in front of the kids to help them be more excited rather than sad or nervous to move on.
Buy more moving supplies than you think you need.
Most likely, you’ll end up needing the extra boxes and tape! And if not, you should be able to return them (depending on the store). After making one too many trips to pick up moving supplies with kids in tow, we decided we would just buy a little more than what we thought we needed to avoid additional trips and wasting precious time that we could be packing. In the end, we pretty much used every single box we had purchased, including the ‘extras’ – which we were glad to have on hand on moving day when things got busy!
Purge before packing.
After living in our home for over 3 years, we had collected a lot of ‘stuff’ that didn’t necessarily need to make the move with us – namely, old papers, outdated electronics, some of the kids’ artwork (because you really can’t keep it all!), and some outdoor items that were no longer in great shape. We decided to purge things before we packed up, rather than moving additional things to our new place that we would end up throwing away or donating anyways. We also had a few pieces of furniture that we didn’t love, so rather than take up precious space in the moving truck, we figured it made more sense to go ahead and sell or donate it.
Make a plan for arranging furniture in your new home.
You may not know exactly where you want each piece of furniture to be placed, but drawing a basic floor plan can help you optimize your space and pick the best arrangement. If you can do this a few days ahead of your move, it can save you time and trouble on moving day when movers are asking you where you want each piece to be placed in the house!
Often, a move is a good time to start fresh and you might find that selling some of your old furniture and replacing it with something different works best in your new space. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that CORT Furniture Outlet sells beautiful furnishings – both new and previously leased (for model homes, movie sets, corporate apartments, etc.) – for a fraction of the retail price. I am definitely going to check out CORT’s furniture selection to see if I can revamp my girls’ room and our guest bedroom with some newer, high-quality furnishings! PS – check out the CORT Blog for lots of great moving tips and home décor ideas!
Label your boxes properly.
There are so many different methods for labeling moving boxes, from color-coding to writing room names, etc. The most important thing is to find a system that works for you and helps you easily identify what stuff goes where in your new home or apartment. When you have movers bringing in box after box and asking you where things go, being able to easily point them in the right direction can save them time and save you money!
Keep essentials separate.
One of the last things you want to be doing after a big move is digging for things you need right away, like clothing, toiletries, the kids’ favorite stuffed animal that they can’t sleep without – you catch my drift. One of my favorite moving tips and tricks: we chose to pack up things we’d need the first few days in our new home separately, either in suitcases or in specially marked boxes, and we put these items in our vehicles rather than on the moving truck. This is a huge help when you’re exhausted after a full day of moving and desperately need to find pajamas and your toothbrush before bed!
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