Making a Low-Stress Move: 2 or 3 Weeks Out

Here we go. We made our “days until we pack the truck” chain today (I’ve been promising the boys we would for a week now) and I am aghast at how short it is. Clearly it is time to kick it into gear! Here’s what you can do at this point:

BEGIN ACTIVELY USING UP FRIDGE AND FREEZER FOODS

We had breakfast for dinner the other night. Pancakes with blueberry syrup. (Blueberries were in the freezer.) Bacon. (It was in the freezer.) Eggs. (We have too many in the fridge right now.) The last thing you want is to have to find a home for a hundred dollars’ worth of frozen meat and produce on the day you move because you just didn’t eat it in time. Get creative! Plus, it’ll save you some money on your grocery bill, which can only be a good thing. Have you seen gas prices this week?!

PACK. SORT OF.

Today we pulled out suitcases and packed up the clothes that the boys will get to keep out for the move. We probably have about a month before we get there, get into our house, and get anything unpacked, so we kept out a solid weeks’ worth of outfits, socks, and underwear for each boy along with clothes for sleeping, church, and the (comparatively) cold weather we anticipate in Missouri. Having fewer outfits to choose from won’t kill them, it’ll limit the laundry I have to do in the next few weeks (GREAT!), and that allows us to pack up the rest of the clothes.

We’re doing something similar for toys. We’ve been packing lesser-used ones for weeks now, a few at a time, but pretty soon we’ll have the boys pack the ones that are just for the trip and box everything else up.

Tommy found this hat while we were emptying Charlie’s dresser. It seems like such a long time ago that I made it for Max, to keep him warm when we moved from hot Texas to cool Japan. It’s a bit of strange déjà vu to see it on another little head as we prepare for another move from a hot place to a cool one. (He’s adorable, by the way. Just adorable.)

LOOK UP INFORMATION FOR DISCONNECTING UTILITIES AND SERVICES

Hoo boy. This is one we need to do this week. Fortunately all we have to cancel is water, power, and internet service. All of our other services are either portable or internet-based, so they’ll travel with us. This is definitely on the “list,” though.

PREPARE TO CHANGE YOUR ADDRESS

In the past this would have been a time to go pick up the forms, but you can now change your address online, so you don’t need to actually do it until closer to your moving date.

BEGIN WASHING THE HOUSE

I’m sure there are some people to whom this does not apply, but we’re in a rental and we’d like to get our deposit back, thank-you-very-much. I have crayon marks on the walls and some raisins smashed into the carpet, and my fridge needs cleaning and there’s something burned onto the bottom of the oven. Don’t try and do all of that the last day. I’ve done that before. It’s hard and it’s stressful. Space out some of the harder tasks (like deep cleaning kitchen appliances) so that there’s less to worry about on moving day.

That reminds me.

GO BUY DISPOSABLES

Anything you can. Buy disposable dishes, paper towels, sponges, food storage containers, whatever you can manage! That way you can both free up things to be packed AND cut down on the amount of cleanup work you have to do. This is priceless, and disposables are cheap. Go for it.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go clean up, because our house is being shown today, two and a half weeks before we move out. I am so ready to be done renting.

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