Moving Tips!

The big day is quickly approaching, we are doing our final walk through on Sunday, then Keys on Thursday. That's only  . . . . . . . . 6 days away! (commencing shrieking!!!!)
For anyone who is moving I compiled some of my favorite moving tips, tricks and techniques.
If you aren't planning a move, this post won't be of much use to you, Maybe pop over to one of the following blogs:
Layla from The Lettered Cottage has a fabulous Fall Mantle post today!
Janell from Isabella and Max Rooms has a beautiful DIY Bamboo light fixture!
Kate from Centsational Girl has a great pumpkin inspiration post "POSH PUMPKINS"
Julie from Knittlebits did a detailed DIY Pumpkin carving and stencils post!

If you're moving in the near future here's a fabulous Martha Idea for Handles on Boxes, perfect for those of us who might be lacking in the bicep department.
Also here's her moving checklist if your looking for a printout!

But in the words of Montel Jordan "This is how we do it"
~One month Before: Go through your stuff and sell, donate, or trash everything you don't want anymore. DO NOT move things you don't want! (seems like common sense but, there you have it) We use Craigslist or Kijiji to sell unwanted items. Ebay is good for smaller items, Craigslist for larger ones.

~3 weeks before: Gather supplies, tape, boxes, sharpie, labels, etc . . .
Pack up your storage areas, holiday decorations, the attic, memorabilia things that you don't need to function in your day to day life.
Start alerting services that your moving, Gas, Electricity, Cable, Phone.
File a change of address with the post office. We had our mail forwarded to our new address for 6 months, for $40, totally worth it! Not having to worry about who I didn't tell. Now if it turns out I forgot someone, I can just alert them after the move.

~2 Weeks before: The bulk of your items should be packed by the end of the 2nd week countdown. Our solution is to Pack for a weeks vacation one week before the move date, Pack a suitcase like you would if you were going away! It makes it really easy to keep out what you need and really easy to pack up the morning of the Big Move.

Here's where funny Martha Stewart comes in, She suggests at the two week mark to alert your magazine subscriptions that you are moving. So at our two week mark I alerted Martha Stewart Living Magazine that I was moving. At which point I was told that my change of address wouldn't be in effect until the January 2011 issue. I found that Kind of funny. Good thing we payed to get our mail forwarded for 6 months :)

~The week of the big move: Finish Packing! I plan on spending this time to clean the house as we empty the rooms. This should save me a lot of work and time on D-Day. Hopefully the day we move I will only have to Vacuum, sweep and mop under the furniture!

Couple of Bonus Ideas:
-if your hiring movers, you might consider documenting your valuables, just incase something goes missing you'll want to be able to prove you did own.
-Make sure to line up home insurance before you take possession. Have you policy take effect the day you take possession!
-Wardrobe boxes with the metal rod, make great containers for moving chandeliers, you can hang the chandelier off of the rod.

The A B C method of packing, we didn't do this but I could see it being very useful!
Not all boxes need to be un packed right away. Make each box with an A, B or a C. A being High priority unpack. Things you need daily, the toaster, clean underwear ;) B being important but not critical items and C being the decorations etc . . . .

Make a Survival Kit- We use our suitcase with our week's worth of "Vacation Packing" inside. Then at least for one week we know we have what we need! Some people might pack a box with the coffee maker, and other breakfast supplies. We however live in Canada and a Tim Hortons is never very far away, infact I think the closest Timmy Ho's is about a 1 minute car ride from our new house :)

If you're looking for labels, Martha has some printable labels very cute!!!

In my opinion the most important part of packing is LABEL, LABEL, LABEL. There is nothing like opening 10 boxes trying to find a bra, only to find the box with all your bra's in the kitchen a week later.
And bring a roll of toilet paper with you! Never expect the previous owners to leave you toilet paper!


I'll be back later today with a bonus post:
MOVING WITH DOGS!
Then I'll be gone for two weeks. Don't forget to catch us on Twitter, we'll be tweeting like crazy while suffering from blogger withdrawl :) Although I'm sure there is no way I'll be able to stop cold turkey. I'm sure by Wednesday I'll have a relapse :) and be back for a pop in, update!

Can't believe move day is finally here! Thank you so much to all of our fabulous readers, who have followed us through this down time, and shared in our joy! The day we announced our big purchase was the most comments we've received here at The Manor. I truly believe that our house is so blessed already having all the well wishes and sweet comments from our readers!
From our hearts Thank you again!!


~Ashli and Lee
and Max