The 16 Steps of the Moving Process

This is another delightful year of moving for us.

We’ve only moved a billion times, but it still feels like a daunting process. Any large task HAS to be divided up into smaller, more manageable steps for me. It helps everything, even moving, feel more doable. It’s that whole eating an elephant one bite at a time thing. What a gross example though…

First, there are the sixteen steps of moving out. Then there are the sixteen steps of unpacking and settling in. Today I’m only going to worry about the moving out part, as it comes first.

Tackle one problem at a time, right?

We are currently on Steps 1-6 of our summer move.

You could also say that we are stuck on step one. Or it could be argued that we are on step 6. What are the steps anyway? I made these steps up to help me visualize and plan.

Here are my self-proclaimed 16 steps of moving.

Moving Step 1: Accept that you are in fact moving. Begin the prepping process for getting your current house ready to sell.

This step will take you from when you begin until the day the first person looks at your house. Even then, you might still be working on that whole “accept that you are moving” bit.

Get yourself a small tool bag. Put a box cutter, packing tape, a label maker, post-it notes, a sharpie, and plenty of hair ties in there. You will need these things as you sort and label your stuff. I carry that tool bag to whatever room I’m working on, so I’m not constantly hunting for things.

The hair ties are because I personally can never get any serious work done without my hair in a ponytail.

Step 2: Say lots of prayers.

Moving is stressful. Every stress related health article I checked lists moving in the top 5 of stressful life events.

Expect this to be an emotional year. Pray for wisdom, strength, and as little personal growth as possible. Ha! Okay, just kidding, sort of. They say hard times grow a person, but the growing part is not so fun. You do want to grow from it though. At least that is one good thing that will come from all the stress.

No, but really. Things are going to happen that mess up your plans. Planning is everything, but the plan is nothing. It will change. The whole year will be an emotional roller coaster. Give yourself grace in handling it all.

Step 3: Comb through the house trashing and donating as much of your stuff as possible.

I have written articles about the lengthy process of decluttering the basement here and here. We are nowhere near finished with this step. Yes, I did finally finish cleaning out that basement.

I make a list of every room in the house and focus on one room at a time.

After the basement, I did the younger boys’ room. That was a month ago. If you looked at that room now, you’d never know that I had it looking perfect just a few weeks ago. It looks like a properly played in and messed up children’s room again.

After the boys’ room, I cleaned out one teenager’s room, the kitchen, the dining room, and now I am working on the office. Since I have not done any filing or keeping up with paperwork since before the whole virtual school disaster, the office is going to take me a LONG time.

I will be working on this whole decluttering thing until the day we open the house for showing. I still have a long way to go on this step.

So far I have filled up three minivan trunks full of Goodwill donations, and Alan has made two trips to the dump.

Step 4: House Hunting and Finding a realtor

I’ve already notified our realtor here that she is going to get to sell the house she sold us three years ago. She seemed pretty happy with that. Then a month later I notified her that we are pushing the whole move back a month. She was cool with that too.

So realtor, check.

We also found a house in our next town, but we are having to wait for the current tenants of that house to work our their moving plan. For now, we are tentatively planning to move into a lovely Dutch colonial house in August.

So house hunting, check, sort of.

Click here to see my tips for house hunting. This is a rough year for it.

House hunting is sometimes fun and exciting and other times a nightmare. Either way, step three usually leads to step 5.

Step 5: Stress Eating. Maybe even crying…

Or insert whatever maladaptive coping mechanism you personally might enjoy…Maybe you know how to handle stress in a healthy way. If so, maybe you could tell me about that.

I personally get so stressed I eat. Moving also involves my least favorite concept of all: waiting. Waiting makes me edgy. Crying also happens more often.

Maybe you will be lucky and feel less emotional than yours truly.

Step 6: Beautify your current home so people will want to buy it.

All this work you have to do will help take your mind off all the uncertainty and the stress. Plus, you will feel all accomplished when rooms go from messy to lovely.

We know you have to make the home look furnished and lightly decorated but not lived in when it’s time to sell. However, with four children, that is sort of torture, so I’m putting off the whole shove most things into a storage space bit until it is closer to time. For now I’m focusing on what I can trash and donate.

But hey! We did paint the kitchen cabinets and mulch the flower beds!

And by we, I mean Alan. Ha! He did a great job. Nonna and I did get to help with the mulching.

We are going to wait and see if our realtor says we need to paint the walls or not. I mean, yes, it would look better with new paint. But that’s an awful lot of work and color decisions for a seller’s market where they might just change the paint colors as soon as they move in.

Step 7: Ask the realtor to walk through the house a few weeks before listing to let you know what you need to do to get the house ready for your local housing market.

Last time we sold a house, our realtor Jeannie thought of things we would not have, like fixing some rotted wood on columns that we had not noticed. This is an important step. Realtors deal with inspections and buyers everyday. They know what the must-dos are much better than we do.

Step 8: Celebrate the relief when you finally have a lease signed.

Praise the Lord, Hallelujah! Can we please fast forward to this step?

Throw a family pizza party. Hug everyone in sight, and drink all the Coca-Cola you want. This is a happy day.

Step 9: Create moving files.

We always have a little portable file box to keep with us that has the vital records we cannot lose and need during the transition. This is mostly all stuff that has to do with registering the boys for their next school and any health forms I have to have for school and sports.

Copies of orders and moving paperwork goes in there too.

Step 10: Kids’ Annual Physicals and Shot Records Ready to Go

I go online to the school that we will be arriving to and download their registration packets. Then I take anything that has to be signed by a doctor and have them signed before we move. This cuts down on the overwhelming amount of office visits I have to make at the new town, where we don’t even have a doctor yet.

I also obtain new copies of everyone’s shot records and make sure everyone is up to date.

Step 11: Book Movers.

You can do this as soon as you have orders, actually. We have waited a while this time, until we know more details about our move.

Step 12: Take some extra walks to make up for the ongoing stress eating.

They say walks are extra good for mental health, so I try to take them regularly. I just want to re-emphasize here that moving is STRESSFUL. You may find yourself struggling with all the emotions, schedules, and anxiety of it all.

So yeah, take some extra walks.

Step 13: Stash the Extra Stuff. It’s time to show the house.

Two weeks before the house goes live, I will go through the house and start stripping it down to bare essentials. Toy boxes will move to the attic. Medicine bottles go out into drawers. All surfaces get cleaned off.

Bathrooms are bleached. Not so much as a toothbrush gets to sit on the counter. You get the idea.

Last time, the good Lord was looking out for us. He knew I couldn’t keep that house cleaned for weeks on end. We took a two night trip while the realtors showed the house. Then we came home to an offer, which we accepted right away. Phew!

Let’s pray for that to happen again!

Step 14: Line services up for the new house.

So many things have to be transferred or hooked up: electricity, trash, water, internet, school, kids’ sports sign ups.

Step 15: The No Pack Zone

We always have movers come and pack us up. Usually, we set up one room as the “no pack room.” Everything we do not want the movers to pack, we throw in that room.

Then in the kitchen, I usually have to set up a no pack area in there too. One time I forgot to put my coffee maker in a no pack zone. That was a sad faced day.

Step 16: Actually Moving

Yeah, eventually we will get there. Once it’s all done, it’s such a relief!

Then you move on to the sixteen steps of unpacking and settling into a new home. Ha! But that is a post for another day.

If you are moving too, virtual fist bump here from me. You will make it, and we will too.

Please comment below if you are moving or have moved recently. I would love to hear from you.