If there’s one thing I am experienced at over the past five years, it’s moving! For better or for worse, we have just completed our third move within five years (with two kids and pets!).
In this post, I will teach you everything I have learned about how to pack, how to move efficiently, and settle into your new home quickly. We’ll also cover budget tips and pointers for making the transition smooth for children.
I also have passionate feelings about the best packing supplies that streamline the process—especially if you are doing all the packing yourself!
Related: What I Learned Moving With Kids and How We Prepped Our Home To Sell.
We chose to pack our own boxes because we wanted to take advantage of the chance to declutter and donate items as we packed.
I see the obvious benefits of hiring a mover to pack all your belongings for you, but I would at least consider doing it yourself if you feel you have a lot of clutter to get rid of. We spent time packing our belongings on nights and weekends.
Throughout this process, we saved thousands of dollars in moving fees and we were able to donate a lot of stuff instead of moving it and then donating it later. Here are my tips for doing your own packing:
After reading our friend Julia’s moving fraud experience, we decided against a moving broker or a full service moving company. I am sure there are many reputable options out there, but after reading her story we felt safest with a simple POD moving option.
Having used a POD in the past to relocate across state lines, we knew what to expect and felt good about the option.
The biggest difference between a POD and a moving truck like U-Haul is that you don’t have to drive to POD yourself. So once it is packed and locked up, you can drive to your new home (or even fly) with minimal belongings and you know your POD will make its way to you in a few weeks time.
The way our POD experience worked is that we booked an exact day that our POD would arrive—about a week before we departed from our home in Tennessee. Once the POD arrived, it sat in our driveway for around a week.
You can choose to pack the POD yourself or hire a local mover to help you pack it. We chose to do a hybrid approach. We packed the majority all our boxes ourselves over about a month’s time before the POD arrived.
On the day the POD was dropped off in our driveway, my husband loaded the majority of our boxes himself. He wanted to do this because he was meticulous about putting all the heavy boxes at the bottom. He packed each row all the way to the ceiling so there was almost no wasted space.
The next day, a moving crew arrived and helped us move large and heavy items into the POD that we couldn’t have done on our own. Since we sold most of our furniture with our home, we only had about 10 big and heavy items to move and it took less than an hour.
Once that was completed, we used every inch of the remaining space to fit more stuff into the POD. We ended up using 100% of the space within the POD and were able to fit almost everything we wanted into the space. What we couldn’t fit, we squeezed into our cars or donated before moving.
Why we like PODS – First of all, PODS are affordable. I haven’t found a more affordable option for moving across country. I really like that you have up to a week to pack so there’s time to get it just right (most of my mistakes in life are a result of rushing).
The POD system is extremely simple and straightforward. We felt protected from fraud and we saved a lot of money on the move overall. Our move cost under $4,000 total, which is a big savings on what it would have been with a full service option.
Cons of PODS (be careful for these things) – The biggest complaint that I hear from people who have used a POD for moving is that a lot of stuff was broken or damaged. You are basically packing a small semi truck back and then you don’t see it for about two weeks when it arrives in your new driveway.
What happens to them during their journey? This is unclear, but it seems like they maybe go to hell and back. Haha! OK, but really—you have to be very strategic in your packing! It’s up to you to make sure furniture is sufficiently padded and secured.
Assume that the items in your POD are going to have a VERY rough trip and pack accordingly.
There are several things we would NOT put in a POD and instead kept in our cars that we drive. One was very expensive equipment like computers, frame TVs, and my husband’s music gear.
Another thing is plants. I personally would not put plants in a POD unless you absolutely had to because they may not make it.
The last thing to be careful about is anything that can melt or freeze. Depending on the season, be careful and remember that this POD is not temperature controlled. I would not put candles and things like that in the POD as they could melt and make a mess.
The last con of moving with a POD is that you don’t know the exact day it will arrive at your new home. You will be given a window of time. So you have to be flexible and able to live without EVERYTHING in your POD for up to a week or two extra.
To make up for this, we made sure we packed two weeks of clothing in our cars and you’ll want to pack other essentials (like maybe air mattresses to sleep on) until your POD arrives.
Note: If any part of you feels guilty buying moving supplies instead of procuring freebies and cast offs, here is my pep talk. Most importantly, uniform boxes and bags will make your moving truck packing more tight and professional.
And remember—you can pass ALL of these items along to the next person you know who is in need of moving supplies. Nothing needs to be wasted. Almost everything can be used again.
Here are some ideas for your pre-move checklist:
These are the supplies that I personally used. It’s very annoying to have to run to the store for simple things like more boxes or tape, so stocking up before you begin packing is smart. I reordered a few things as we began to run low.
Strategy is everything when moving across state lines with children and pets. Since the majority of our belongings were in our POD on moving day, we stuffed our vehicles with everything else we could fit.
Unfortunately, we ran out of space and had to give some items away at the last minute. This is common, so plan for it by packing your top priority items first.
On our moving day, I had the car with our dog and two kids, and my husband drove our other car, which was way more stuffed with belongings.
I’ve moved several times with our young children and we get a lot of questions about how to make it easier on kids. The truth is that leaving your school, the comforts of the home, neighborhood and town your child knows is very scary.
For our children, the big feelings seemed to come in waves and the worst of it was weeks after we moved when the dust began to settle.
In addition to the comfort boxes, which we talked about above, I have a few tips for navigating a move with children.
Moving with pets. Our dogs have tended to be pretty flexible in all our moves. My suggestion is to give them a few extra treats, extra walks, and a consistent place to sleep from the first night. I have heard that moving with cats is more of a challenge, so if you have had that experience I’d love to hear your learnings in the comments.
If you have any tips for moving, packing or navigating change, I’d love to hear them in the comments! Love, Elsie