Moving Day Doesn’t Have to be Crazy

As a member of the military, over the years, I’ve developed what I consider a foolproof plan to move an entire household with very little stress. Yes, very little stress. Most military families get 90 days’ notice when deployed to a new base. I start the ball rolling the day we get the notice. First, I alert the “box brigade” and from day one, everyone is expected to bring home at least three boxes each day and stack them neatly in the garage. Day two, I take inventory of each room, making notes like “lots to throw away” or “everything goes” or “sort through carefully.” Each day, even when the move is still 3 months away, I do one task in each of the family-shared rooms – and assign each child a chore in their own room - maybe sorting, packing up seldom-used articles that won’t be missed, throwing out accumulated junk. We make a little progress each day, and on busy days, I assign small tasks. What’s important, we do something everyday, and we make every day count. If you have a plan, and do something each day – no matter how small or unimportant - it all adds up, and moving day, that dreaded, stress-filled day, is often anticlimactic. All that’s left to do on the big day is carrying out a lot of well-packed, well-sorted, well-labeled boxes. Everyone is calm and rested, and that sense of chaos that often pervades and sometimes takes over on moving days is absent. On our last moving day, we started at 6 a.m., made a 3-hour drive, had a leisurely lunch and dinner, and were unloaded, mostly unpacked, and ready to relax by 9 p.m. that night. Now, that’s planning!!
Moving Day Doesn’t Have to be Crazy. As a member of the military, over the years, I’ve developed what I consider a foolproof pl...