Look how sharp our house is looking these days:
With under five days until the big move, packing has proven to be no small task. We’re keeping our eyes on the prize—our new home—so we’re trying to stay upbeat, stay hydrated, and keep the music playing. The soundtrack doubles as entertainment for Clara; when the baby starts dancing, packing progresses much faster. We hunted down many of our moving boxes secondhand, which saved money and reduced waste. Craigslist and Freecycle turned up several great finds, and a kind reader even offered some boxes through Facebook that we picked up. When we ran short, we bought a few boxes at Walmart—no shame there; they’re made from recycled materials and we plan to pass them on when we’re done so they can get another life.
What we’ve finished
Our moving checklist has been intense, but we’ve made steady progress. Here are the major items we’ve crossed off so far:
- Removed every item from the walls and patched and painted all nail holes. A key trick: remove all nails first, spackle everything together, and then paint room by room. That approach saves a surprising amount of time compared with doing one room at a time for each step.
- Transferred all utilities so service will begin at the new house on move-in day.
- Packed the bathroom, leaving out only travel-size shampoo and conditioner, toothbrushes, and the shower curtain for immediate use.
- Packed frames, mirrors, books, ceramic figures, and roughly 80% of our fragile items. We still need to box the dishware, which feels like the next big challenge.
- Set aside a “vacation stash” of essentials: clothes, baby supplies, important toiletries, and a few comfort items we’ll need in the week around the move. Having those items easily accessible has saved us from opening every box to find basics.
Remaining tasks and moving plan
We still have several important items to complete before closing and moving day. Here’s what remains on our agenda:
- Finish packing the kitchen and about 20% of the other rooms that are still incomplete.
- Rake the yard so the new owners don’t arrive to a giant pile of leaves and feel like they’ve inherited a farm project.
- Supervise a few inspection follow-ups, including some flue work a pro will handle tomorrow.
- Arrange for the oil tank to be measured for closing. The buyers will pay for any oil left in the tank, which feels like a fair way to settle the account.
- Hand off our tan slipcovered Pottery Barn sofa in the den—someone from Craigslist is scheduled to pick it up at 4pm.
- Deep clean the oven and refrigerator. These tasks are best left until the last possible moment so they don’t get dirty again before we leave.
- Vacuum, sweep, and scrub the house spotless, then lock the door with a mix of relief and a little wistfulness.
Assuming everything goes according to plan, the new owners will close on our house Monday morning. Once those funds clear, we’ll close on our new place that same afternoon, which means there will be a few hours on Monday when neither of the properties belong to us. That gap requires a tight moving timeline: we plan to load a large U-Haul by Sunday night and pay to keep it overnight so it becomes a secure temporary storage unit on wheels until we can unload at the new place Monday afternoon. The alarm system installation is scheduled for the same time we arrive, so timing will be tight but manageable.
We’re doing this mostly ourselves with big help from John’s family for loading and unloading. We didn’t hire movers—partly to save money and partly because we enjoy DIY projects—so it will be a hands-on, family-powered move. Fingers crossed nothing breaks and all of our fragile friends make it to the new house intact. Here’s hoping this chapter closes smoothly and that unpacking in our new home feels as exciting as it should.