Gearing up for a move soon &&& have no idea where to start?! Neither did I!! I went and bought the boxes and tape and came home and literally stood in my living room just looking around saying “What did I get myself into?! Where do I even start!?” I looked on Pinterest! My GO TO for any ideas!! I could barely find any packing timelines, so I figured this out and made one to help others! Here is the order I’m going to pack our home and a few tips and reasons why!! Remember this may need to be changed slightly to fit your needs or how long you have to pack up and move!

Let’s get started:

1. Decorations off the wall!
2. Toys but we left the box open so it’s easy for baby to still play with and easy enough to throw everything back in! But helps get it out of the way! Go ahead and pack up any puzzles and board games too.
3. Books! Put them in you suitcases so you can wheel them! Books are heavy and now you won’t hurt your back or waste boxes! Don’t forget the cook books and photo albums!
4. Movies/DVD’s! 
5. Serving dishes and kitchen pieces you don’t NEED to use over the next week or two!
6. Pack up those extra knick knack decorations too that are on the bookcases, dressers, and shelves.
7. Craft & Office Supplies
8. Storage Closets for any of your extra towels, sheets, holiday items.
9. Go ahead and put your cleaning supplies in a box so it’s packed and out of the way but don’t close it and put it to the side so you can clean your current home if needed before leaving.
10. Under Sinks
11. Electronics – TV, Cable box, DVD player, etc
12. Bathroom Items – these are the extra things! Obviously leave your tooth brush and daily items out on the counter!
13. The rest of your Kitchen Items, use paper plates and items for a few days if needed so everything can be packed!
14. Roll the rugs up!
15. Take your beds apart. It may stink sleeping on the mattress on the floor but you’ll need to have everything ready to put in the moving truck and this can be time consuming if you haven’t done this before!
16. Pack a suitcase or bag to last you the first 2 nights in your new home or until you can start unpacking your boxes!
17. Jewelry 
18. The rest of your Clothes & Shoes
19. Curtains and Blinds (Do this the day you move out! You still need your privacy and don’t need people knowing your house is boxed up and an easy rob if you are at work or running errands before you actually move!)
20. Food! Put any dry foods in a box and as you leave, if possible, bring any cold items straight to the new home.
21. Bottle of Champagne! You’ll need that out and ready to pop at your new home to celebrate!!!

Fun little break: I am finding the most random items in boxes! Penelope keeps “helping” me pack by putting her toys and even the remote in boxes around the house! It’s going to be very interesting to see what I find when unpacking!! The joys of having a 1 year old running around!!

Extra Tips:

• Start an open box and make sure it’s LABELED: Donate! As you pack, go through and throw out and donate items you don’t need anymore!
• Use extra bags like carry on bags to pack items in! You don’t waste boxes packing them and easy to throw them on your arm and carry more in one trip!
• We moved the furniture around in the living room so I had a large corner to just start stacking all of the packed and ready to go boxes in! It helped keep it out of the way to get the other stuff pack!
• We bought a small storage container when we first moved in to keep our important documents in. Such as our birth certificates and contracts for things in case of an emergency we can grab it and go! If you have something like this, make sure you keep it in your car and not just packed in a moving truck or thrown in a box randomly!
• When taking furniture apart, put the nails and pieces in a bag and label the bag and tape them to the larger pieces if possible!
• Fill your crockpots and large pots with your spices to save space.
• Put a little square of cling wrap under the lids of your liquid items when packing to help avoid them spilling! Such as your shampoo or cleaning supplies!
• Don’t forget to tape up your mirrors!!
•  Use socks in your breakables, like put a sock in between your plates so you don’t waste newspaper or have ink left on your items!
•  Put knives inside your pot holders for extra cushion and you’re less likely to cut yourself when unpacking!
• Put your jewelry in Press n’ Seal Wrap so they don’t get all tangled or mismatched in the move!

Packing is my least favorite thing to do!! I’m ready to be in our new home and start unpacking and setting up life for new memories!! It’s going to be hard leaving this home though! We made so many memories here!