Duck Brand sponsored this post. All opinions are mine alone
We have officially been in San Diego for 2 months!
Honestly, I can't believe how fast the time is already flying by and how quickly everything happened when we were moving.
I absolutely hate moving. It creates clutter, it's difficult to find anything, and figuring out which things should go in which boxes is annoying!
We knew moving while Hunter was in the middle of working two jobs and finishing college finals would be crazy but throwing a crazy toddler and a tiny baby both with colds in the mix made it pretty much impossible ha.
Most nights we stayed up til 1 or 2 am just trying to get things done while both girls were asleep.
This was our first time ever doing a "big" move instead of just across town or something, and to be honest, we felt completely clueless!
I kept calling my mom for advice and we kept learning the hard way how to pack up our lives smoothly.
So, I have decided to create this post to help any of you first time movers have a slightly smoother experience than we did ;)
Here's a few tips and tricks that will help if you plan on doing it all on your own.
Tip 1) Use quality packing materials! Since the entire process was stressful enough, we wanted to make sure our packing materials held up well so we had one less thing to worry about. We chose Duck Max Strength Packaging Tape to ensure our boxes successfully made it from one state to the next in one piece! I was so worried about boxes opening when the moving truck went over bumps or that everything would fall out the bottom when people were carrying boxes to and from the truck. I know that stuff is just that, stuff, but I just wanted to make sure we weren't going to have to replace a million things after this move. So why did we choose this tape over others? Well, it is 100x stronger than acrylic tapes for maximum adhesion and we definitely noticed this to be true! Since we aren't currently in our own place, we have been storing our boxes and opening them to find things we need constantly. It is so nice to be able to re-seal them since it is ideal for heavy duty shipping, moving and storage applications. We were also trying to move on somewhat of a budget. We weren't able to throw thousands of dollars into this move so it was awesome knowing we could get a Value-8 Pack of heavy duty, clear tape for under $20 at our local Sam's Club in the office supplies aisle! Hunter luckily worked for a moving company so we were able to find quality boxes but that is huge too! Make sure those boxes are firm and stiff so your valuables don't get smashed by other boxes. We used plenty of bubble wrap, packing paper, and cushion foam as well! All of this combined with the Duck Max Strength Packaging Tape, made for a smooth move.
Tip 2) Let people help you! You guys, I had so many people reaching out to me asking if I needed help with the girls, help packing, help cleaning, etc... and I kept turning them down because I didn't want to be a burden. That created a lot more stress on me than I needed and a lot more work for me. I kept complaining about how difficult it was and it wasn't until I let others help me that I realized how much smoother it could have gone. So when someone offers to help, take them up on it! Trust me, it'll help a ton.
Tip 3) Stop trying to wait until the last minute to pack your kitchen stuff. Oh my gosh, packing a kitchen is a complete nightmare! I was beyond annoyed trying to make dinners and realizing I had already packed something I needed. Or, just leaving things out that could have fit in boxes because I wasn't sure if I needed it. Just do away with the guessing games and pack that kitchen up. We ended up getting plastic cups, spoons, forks, and knives, and paper plates to use the last week so we could pack our dishes. We also got a lot of frozen microwavable things or things that didn't need to be heated up to save the trouble of waiting to pack pots and pans. I tried waiting as long as possible, but once we decided to just pack the kitchen, it made a huge difference. We had the whole thing completely packed and were able to clean it ahead of time.
Tip 4) Make a plan for moving day. Oh moving day, it's the worst. Basically, just don't plan a single thing other than moving on that day. Trust me haha. Find someone to watch your kids or they will be running mad. We finally just gave in and let the iPad babysit Oaklyn and Cam was little enough to just lay in the swing most of the day. I had wished we were more prepared when things started to get crazy and I could feel myself getting frazzled. Plan which boxes can be taken out first and which furniture can be taken out at which times. Instruct friends on what you need help cleaning and when. Look over your cleaning checklist and make sure you plan appropriately. (we forgot that we needed to run the self clean on the oven and it took several hours, oops!)
Tip 5) Be prepared when everything is gone! Oh my gosh this was comical! We had so much on our minds that we completely forgot we still had to sleep in our empty apartment one more night. Luckily, we had little portable beds for the girls and I kept all of their bedtime stuff out to ensure they were comfortable, but we managed to forget that we had to sleep that night too! I ran out to Walmart and had to get an air mattress, we each had one little blanket because it was all we could find, I was holding up a towel while Oaklyn showered because we didn't have a shower curtain, Hunter had to attempt to fit in the bath, oh it all was just getting to the point of being hilarious. So basically, if you plan on staying another night in your empty house/apartment just make sure you're prepared!
I'll definitely be using these tips for moves to come, but luckily I think that was our biggest move we will have.
We are still unpacking and repacking boxes as we need them and I can't tell you how helpful it has been to have Extremely thick tape for heavy-duty box sealing on hand.
Make sure to head to your local Sam's Club to purchase your Duck Max Strength Packaging Tape!
So, what are your best tips for packing??
I'd love to hear!
All my love,
Aleigh Joy
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