Unpacking Our Move: Things We Learned
our moving fits are linked here, sweat and tears not included.
We’ve been living in our new home for just under a month now and while I feel far from settled, I’m excited to share more about our moving process now that we’re on the other side of things. We’re about as close to moving novices as you could get, but we’ve learned a lot. If you or someone you know is in the process, maybe some of our learnings can benefit. After about a year and a half of searching, we finally found our home. To anyone beginning or currently deep in the home buying process, my thoughts are with you. It was not for the faint of heart and truly such an emotional roller coaster of a journey. I do firmly believe that what’s meant for you, will not pass you and it will all be worth it in the end.
what we were looking for:
I’ve shared this briefly on IG but we were looking to move into a new space for awhile. We knew we wanted to stay in Buffalo, NY (where we’re both from and where our families are). Quarantine really highlighted the importance of our space and now that we both work from home, we were running out of it. As someone who is in front of the camera almost daily, natural light was becoming a huge issue (especially in the darker and colder months) so we needed to find somewhere that had a lot of that. Lastly, we LOVED our previous backyard so we knew we needed a yard / outdoor space that could envy that. We were lucky to find what we were looking for and while we've had to make some minor improvements to the house (more on that later), it’s really starting to feel like home.
LWH barely lifted a paw for this move
TIME TO MOVE:
We closed in July but wanted to have the interior painted and floors redone (highly recommend R&R Hardwood) before we moved in so we decided not to move in right away. The new owners of our previous home didn’t need to be in until late September so we had what I liked to call “the luxury of time.” I realize not everyone has this and looking back, I’m so very grateful that we did. Each day/week, we attacked one corner/drawer/closet at a time. My theory was to purge and organize as much as possible so that when it was time to move, everything could move “as is.” We were able to move non-urgent / needed items over slowly, one car load at a time. These blue moving bags were an absolute DREAM, I cannot recommend them enough. They are like a glorified IKEA bag, with zippers and a pocket for labeling. The bags were great for moving clothes, linens and even shoes. I would not recommend putting anything too sharp or breakable in them, especially if you’re having movers move them.
I receive an astronomical amount of boxes in the mail weekly due to the nature of my job so we were able to repurpose and recycle many of those but for kitchen items / breakable stuff, we LOVED using Banker’s Boxes. They are tape free and come together easily. They have handles and lids which made for easy handling. I also had mixed assortment of mismatched bins missing lids so we decided to start fresh with a matching set of Rubbermaid Storage Totes. It made me feel very ‘adult.’
I also discovered these label stickers which I placed on the tops and sides of each box. Once you close the box, it’s really hard to tell what stuff is where so these labels made it easy to identify items. They also came with blank stickers that I used to make more specific notes and used for the tote bags. On moving day, you can also use a piece of paper and place the stickers on them to mark each room so if you’re having movers move the boxes, they know where everything goes.
MOVING DAY IS HERE:
We were at the mercy of our painter’s job being complete so we mutually agreed on a date in September for us to move in. As you can see by the first image in our blog post, the painting was not complete on moving day. Due to upcoming work and travel commitments, we couldn’t push back our date any further so we ended up keeping our date and lived with our painter and electrician for a week. It wasn’t ideal but we rolled with it!
We used Zito Movers, our friends and family had good luck with them in the past and we also had a good experience. However, BK handled the communication with them and underestimated how much stuff we had so they ran out of time and space for all of our stuff… Can you tell we’re novices? We also didn’t realize that the movers wouldn’t touch any boxes that didn’t have lids on them or any loose personal items… This made sense from a being held responsible standpoint but it made it a bit of a chaotic morning. Luckily we were only moving 20 minutes away but we had to take quite a few carloads additional back and forth.
**BEWARE of mover scams, never pay a dollar to movers until AFTER the job is done.
I recently watched Chris Loves Julia’s post about it and it was horrifying.
Since we were dodging freshly painted walls as we moved in, we had no blinds up in the house. My dad was thinking ahead and purchased a bunch of peel + stick easy up paper blinds for us which we’re still rocking and were an absolute savior! HIGHLY recommend getting a few, even if you aren’t 1000% sure you’ll need them. You literally just peel and stick them, they come with clips so you can pull them up in the daytime and they’re easy to pull down for instant privacy at night.
The best advice I received was to pack an overnight bag with items you keep on you for moving day… fresh linens, towels, pajamas, toiletries and wine glasses (you know, the essentials) so you can easily access it immediately. This came in handy! We also dropped LWH off at Brian’s parents house for the day to stay away from the movers and out of the way, this was helpful for sure.
a few things i learned:
Moving is no joke… No matter how far or near you are relocating to, it is stressful. I have a newfound respect for people / families / careers that require you to do it often.
You can have a system and organized plan as much as you’d like but things may not go accordingly. I consider myself a fairly prepared and organized person but the last few days leading up to the move felt a bit chaotic. I had a vision / plan of how I thought things were going to go and they didn’t… but somehow I survived! It’s good to have a plan but it’s even better to be flexible.
Purge as much as you can BEFORE packing / moving. Brian didn’t fully understand this concept until the night before our move when he decided to make a donation pile (lol). It’s a pain to move things that you KNOW you’re not going to want / use anymore. There were some things we were on the fence about so we kept just in case and later donated once we were in the new house.
No matter how much you purge, you probably have way more stuff than you think you do. Better to overestimate than to underestimate, for the movers’ sake. *cough* Brian *cough*
It may take awhile to feel settled… and that’s okay! I think we both thought it would all magically come together overnight and that hasn’t been the case. It may take weeks, months, years… and the perfectionist in me is learning to become okay with that!
Are you moving anytime soon? Or maybe you just moved… do you have any tips or suggestions that you’d like to share or echo? Would love to hear! Thanks for following this process, excited to share more new home stuff soon! xx CMK