Before you fill up your new place with boxes, take photos of every room and space. Especially any damages or defects. If there are any damages you are concerned about you may want to take a photo with today’s paper to prove when you took the photo. If you are having a dispute with your landlord you may need to have that evidence.

If you’re lucky, you still have enough stuff to need a truck to move your stuff to your new home. Or, you just get to stuff your schtuff in storage and hope you can pay the bill until you can get it back out. Either way, there will be a Moving day (or days), when you rent/borrow a truck and move as much as you can.

I don’t pack my Crock Pot. I use it on the last day in the old place, and in the new place on truck day. Usually all you need to make dinner is the crock pot and either a can opener or a knife and cutting board. You can make things like Crock Pot Chili or Vegetarian Sloppy Joes. If you are not a fan of the crock pot you can also make sandwiches ahead like Pressed Italian Sandwiches or Mediterranean Pressed Picnic Sandwich.

You should now have a bankers box with important things for your main rooms, these will be the last things you load, or will travel in the car with you. I used bankers boxes because they were easy to keep track of in the sea of boxes. You can use whatever you want.

For the bathroom: a towel, a shower curtain and rings, soap, toilet paper, nail clippers, pain killers, bandaids (each person should have their own toiletries in their box/bag, if you are sleeping in the car they should each have a bag they can fit in a pocket to use in a public restroom)

For the kitchen: lightbulbs, a couple trash bags, a mug, dishsoap, baking soda and vinegar (for cleaning), sponge, kitchen towel, rag, snacks, instant noodles or some other emergency dinner, disposable silverware and paperware, bananas or other snack.
A good cookbook that has charts for cooking cuts of meat and different vegetables. A knife in a cardboard “case” to keep it safe. A small cutting board. Beeswax wraps I made that are fabulously useful. A manual can opener. A couple reusable shopping bags. Minimal measuring cups and spoons. More chocolate. There is some coffee solution in here like our single cup drip brewer or just a nut milk bag for coldbrew

For the bedrooms: sheets, pillow, sleeping bag or blanket, alarm clock for kids, small lamp if no ceiling lights

For the baby: sippy cup/bottle, formula, diapers and wipes, gate, outlet covers

For the kids: snacks, drinks, an electronic device with charger to divert the child when they tire

My special “last” box: the routines/schedules for my kids. A dry erase board with marker. The binder of doom that has all of our really important papers. The cord/charger for my cell phone. Chocolate.

My toiletry/bathroom bag: A nice barette in case of interview. A hair clip (I use these after the shower when my hair is wet). Pain killers. Basic makeup. Clear nail polish/top coat. Nail clippers. A hard case for my glasses. A trial size lotion. Birth control. The diaper cream my sister makes that is so awesome it works as a salve for just about everything.

Make up a printout that has important info for moving day on it, like the address and directions for your old house, storage, and the new house. Your storage unit number and who has keys for the padlock. Also your cell numbers. Make this available to any helpers you can recruit. Ideally message this info to all your helpers ahead of time.

If possible budget for pizza and beer, or their equivalent in your circles, since this is a common courtesy for your helpers. My local grocery store has decent frozen pizzas for $4 each. If you can’t afford it, let people know you are having a crock pot dinner or cold potluck at your house after the last box is removed from the truck.

If you have enough helpers, station a captain at each home and one at the storage unit, who has a key for the padlock. Explain what you need, where you want stuff, what the plan is, etc, and give them/message them the moving info. Let everyone know who your champions are so they know who to ask if they have a question. If you shanghai people early enough you can put their cell info on the moving day sheet, so people know who to call if there is a problem at one of your locations.

Last thing, after you clean up, take photos of the whole property, including any damages however minor. You don’t want the landlord or a contractor or the next tenant to “find” something they damaged and then try to take you to small claims court for it.

Next: Moving with Pets

Dire Straits Moving – Make a Plan, Stan – Moving Truck Budgetness – Preparation – Computery Preparedness – Binder of Doom – Organize, Sort, Declutter, and Otherwise Blow Your Stuff Up – What Do I Do With All This Junk I Don’t Want? – Needful Things for Packing – Where Do I Get Boxes? – How To Pack – Moving Tips – Moving Day/Stuffing all the Stuff – Moving with Pets (tons of cats for me) – Moving with Kids – How Do I DO Schtuff with No Home? – How Do I Eat with No Home? – Meal Plan for Dire Straits – I Moved and Now I Don’t Have Anywhere to Sit – Need Help?

We hope you enjoyed our Dire Straits Moving: Tips for Relocating in a Not-So-Pretty Situation – Homelessness and Other Hard Times Moves post