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Monday, June 21, 2010

Moving hints, tips, tricks, and all around good ideas

If I've learned anything in the last 6 years of moving from place to place it's been never collect too much stuff and go vertical.


Let's start with too much stuff.
We have pared down to the bare bones.
Things we just thought we had to have to make our life complete becomes a heavy load when moving. Even if a company comes into the house, loads all your crap into the back of a truck and drives away you are still left with stuff.

Stuff that you can't seem to part with.
Stuff that seems to breed.
It breeds more stuff.
And that stuff breeds more stuff
And then more stuff
Until you have stuff you didn't even know you had.

I say; enough with all the stuff.

Our stuff has to meet a certain criteria in order to make a move with us or be brought into the house to begin with.
1. It has to have been worn, used, and/or purchased in the last year.
2. It has to have sentimental, family memento or antique value. This falls under the same category as; Is it replaceable?
3. It has to fit in a box nicely (with the exception of furniture).
4. Bring in something new, take something old out. If something new is coming in what am I willing to take out?

There are a whole bunch of clauses to these 4 rules but all in all they hold true.
Sometimes if I am being particularly ruthless an item can meet all four and still lose it's place in the household move. That is just the way things roll. The stuff doesn't care.

My second suggestion in placement within the new place. If you haven't got as much floor space. Go up. Shelving is cheap compared to renting or buying a place that is bigger.



We have lots of different kinds of shelving but I like the kind that breakdown into movable pieces. Looking nice is also good. Sorry about the blurring pictures. It was early this morning. Or maybe it was because I just found the camera. The camera I worried I wouldn't find until after my upcoming trip. The camera we just bought.




$30 shelving from Big Lots goes a long way to clearing floor space.
I could actually use one more of these units. One of the nice things about not spending a lot for shelving is that when you go to move again if it breaks you are not out a whole lot of cash.




Baskets and bins are your friends. We like to buy all the same type. They stack better and last longer. If you are storing things in your attic or basement plastic bins are wonderful.
I've almost got enough room to paint. One more set of shelves on the wall over there and I'll have enough clear space.
I'm giddy.
Can't you tell?



This set of brackets and shelf has made three moves.
When I first put it up it was in the foyer of our house. It made a great place to drop your keys when you walked in the door. The next move it found a place in the breakfast room. It held tea pots and pitchers. Now it is above my dresser. Just looking pretty.




My last moving hint is to give yourself one calm place among all the boxes, wrapping paper, and clutter. A place where you can put something pretty. A place where you can stop and smell the roses. (hey, you knew that was coming)

Got a great moving tip? Post it in the comments.

Love,
M

16 comments:

  1. Closets make great hideaways as well...trust me on that one. Cheers Michele!!

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  2. Would you be willing to have a talk with my pack-rat husband? I'd REALLY appreciate it.

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  3. I tend to buy all the stackable bins too. I love the ones with the pull-out drawers. They're wonderful in my scrapbook room for my supplies!

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  4. Home made shelves rock! I have a set made of recycled closet doors (they are really strong!) held up by patterned cinder blocks. Yeah, it's low/no budget grad school decor, but it works, it's cheap, can be painted any color(s) and I'd probably take it with me next (last!) time we move.

    Love the sailing ships painting! New?

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  5. I moved 18 times in a 20 year period. I hate moving. Most of the time I could pack everything I owned into a hatchback.

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  6. With all that beautiful artwork in your home, I doubt anyone will be looking around your floorboards. ;-)

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  7. Nothing like packing for a move to make you realize what you can do without. I remember packing to move here and around 3 or 4 in the morning it got really easy to start tossing things.
    Love the idea of going vertical with shelving. Looks great.

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  8. You did great establishing a sentimental rule since you can assign that to anything you want to keep but can't justify. "I just CAN'T get rid of this blah blah because it was raining the day I bought it and we all know I LOVE rain." Catchall.

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  9. Matt-Man: Closets are my go-to place when I'm readying the house for company.

    Jan: Sorry, I've got one of my own. Someday he'll decide that he doesn't need to drag dvd of movies his watched a hundred times to the next place.

    Blue: I know! Whoever thought of them should get a medal.

    Julie: The painting is new. I did it right before we moved. Sadly, I haven't painted a dang thing since.

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  10. I have the same rule as you. Helps that I rule the house and get to decide what stays and what goes. The ex was more of a pack rat but like you said, "if not used in the last year, it goes" and "goes" he did

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  11. You have great tips. I moved four months ago after spending 17 years in the last place. And I think you have it covered.

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  12. When we moved into our house, I had a massive garage sale and purged about half our junk. Now? At least half of it has mysteriously returned.

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  13. I live in a family of pack-rats, who take after their pack-rat daddy - so I got stuck on "Lets start with too much stuff."

    Currently sitting around our house are 7 CD players that don't work ("But the radio works." says HB. How many radios do we really need?" I ask) quite a few broken speakers as well as every mobile phone HB has ever owned, including his original "brick". Then there are the huge collections of computer magazine, 4WD magazines, photography magazines, car magazines etc which don't EVER get read more than once ...... I'll stop now and go sob into my pillow.

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  14. I'm with you on the plastic bins, they make it so much easier, especially when moving.

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  15. I go with the "everything in your home must be either beautiful or functional...preferably both" rule.

    I also moved a LOT at one period in my life so I have much less sentimentality about 'things' than I did in my youth. I can be brutal, and Freecycle is my friend!

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  16. I'm a horrible packrat. Since we moved into this house 7 years ago, my 'stuff' seems to have bred and multiplied several times over. I need to really focus and eliminate a lot of it so I'll be ready for the time we'll be moving in the future. It may not be for a couple of years, but it might take a couple of years to purge some stuff! ;)

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