Moving Organization

This is it. The week of closings and moving. Here's how I've been getting us ready ...

Basket of moving supplies - I found this idea at A Bowl Full of Lemons and it's been so helpful! I used a small plastic crate we already owned from the Dollar Tree. In it, I placed a plastic cup to corral markers, pens & scissors; printed box labels (see next item); and assorted tapes (packing & painters). It's easy to move around the house, easy to spot in it's bright green color and keeps all our packing supplies at hand as we fill those boxes.

Box labels - These are a free printable from The Nest Effect. I simply bought Avery labels and printed them out. Then made notes of contents and smacked the label on the box. Simple as that.

Moving checklist - Good reminder list of all the little things to do before a move here.

Donations - I realized last year that I still had a small amount of neon 8.5x11 paper from college. This has been perfect for keeping track of donations. I use a sheet each time I prepare a box or bag for donating. At the top I note the store name and date of donation. I then list each item noting quality when necessary to help me when tax time comes around. After making the donation, I staple the receipt to the sheet so I have it ready. Each year I choose a different neon color (currently using green) - it makes the sheets very easy to spot amongst our other paperwork. We have quite the stack of these sheets this year as I have been donating a lot of items I don't feel are necessary any longer and I don't want to move!

Moving Binder - I saw this idea in numerous blog posts. It has been vital to keeping us organized. I actually found an empty binder and dividers when packing up items to put into storage. Inside I have sections for our schedule (calendar with notations of all appointments related to the move); inspection and repair notes for both houses; loan documents; utility information; reference sheet of important contacts.

Plastic Zipper Bags - Ok, so this is the least "green" part of our move, but oh so helpful. I'm using bags in a range of sizes (snack, sandwich, quart, gallon) to contain various items such as hardware for shelving we're taking with us.

Plastic Reusable Food Containers - You have to pack them anyway so why not use a few to help contain smaller items for the move? The uses are pretty much only limited to the size of the container. One of the best ideas I came up with (in my own humble opinion, of course) was to put kitchen utensils and gadgets in them. They were all headed to the same room and it kept these items clean during the move so I had less to wash when we arrived.

Big Blue Ikea Bag - hands down one of my best Ikea purchases was this bag. It's been used so many times. Currently, it's holding a few "need immediately" items that we'll take with us the moment we first have keys to the house. It's easy to continue to add to, easy to spot amongst all the boxes and easy to carry.

And with that, I'm back to packing boxes. A few more to go. The finish line is in sight.