The holidays are always a crazy time of year, but apparently I like to shake them up a little more than normal. How? By moving to a new home, of course! Here are 4 tips for moving during the holidays. This post is sponsored but all opinions are my own.
Life is an adventure!- at least that’s what I keep telling myself. Over and over again as I made the millionth trip with a car full of household goods last week.
Yep, we moved. If this sounds familiar to some of you, well, it should be.
We’ve moved a few times since I started this blog and for some reason, we like to do it during the holidays.
My moving box “Christmas Tree” from December 2016.
Once at Christmas and twice just afterward.
Counting back I think my husband and I have made something like 14 household moves over our 25 years together. This seems a tad excessive, but each move had a purpose and an experience we wouldn’t have otherwise.
I’ve picked up a few tips on the moves that might help you if changing homes during the holidays is on your to-do list soon!
4 Tips for Moving During the Holidays
These tips could be applied to moving any time of the year, but during the holiday season, I think they are especially important.
Self-care during a move is especially important; mommas, I’m talking to you!
1. Manage Your Expectations for Moving During the Holidays
Simple fact: you CANNOT have it all. No matter what the motivational poster from the 80s tried to tell us.
It lied.
You cannot attend all the holiday get-togethers, cook the fantastic desserts, decorate your house inside and out AND move in the same week.
And if you can do it? Well, I’m gonna need to see the receipts and your golden lasso because you must be Wonder Woman!
My point here: be honest with yourself based on what time you have to commit to the process of moving.
New home? New throw pillows from Walmart. Had to be done!
Can you move from point A to point B in an 8 hour day? Depending on your pre-packing skills and your ability to adhere to Tip #2, it’s possible.
But for most of us, I’d say it’s not bloody likely.
So take your ideal amount of time and double it. That’s probably truer to the actual timeframe you’ll need when making a household move.
And those fun holiday parties at school or scouts? Those might have to be skipped if the timing interferes. Ah, the joys of moving during the holidays!
2. Purge the Stuff When Moving During the Holidays
I cannot stress this enough. Purge, purge and purge some more.
Be vicious. If you haven’t touched the contents of a box for over a year, I bet you don’t need to move it to the new house.
Donate or trash as needed.
Of course, this takes time and some discipline. Both of which I am always lacking!
File this under do as I say, not as I do.
I’ve been moving the same box of Dungeons and Dragons magazines at my husband’s request for the last 25 years. Just sayin: don’t be me.
3. Self Care Is Important When Moving During the Holidays
Take some time out during the move to rest and reset.
It’s easy to get caught up in the to-do list and forget that your people need a break!
My husband and I took some time out on the new front porch for some snacks and some laughs as we reflected on past moves.
I made sure to pick up some Sour Punch Bites from Walmart (Rob’s favorites!) when I was out shopping for the new house necessities.
He likes them all, but the Ragin Reds seemed to go down first. With watermelon, strawberry, cherry, and raspberry sour candy goodness, who could blame him?
So while we ate the Sour Punch Bites and took a moment to breathe, we suddenly remembered our favorite moving story.
Guys. This one had us in tears of laughter!
Pre-kids, we left Savannah, Georgia and moved to Clarksville, Tennessee with three dogs and a reluctant cat named Tiger.
That cat had a sweet gig going on with the neighbor across the street who liked to feed him: we watched Tiger share in coffee, ribs, and tuna with Nate the Neighbor.
When it came time to get into the car and leave, Tiger wasn’t having it.
So I put on yellow rubber dishwashing gloves, dove into Nate’s bushes to retrieve Tiger (who clawed the heck out of those gloves with his hind legs!) and dumped him into my car.
Through the open sunroof.
Mission accomplished.
Yeah, moving. It’s a (literal) trip sometimes!
Rob and I hung out for a bit, sharing Sour Punch Bites and memories before we jumped back into the work of the day.
4. Get Help When Moving During the Holidays
Family, friends, church, work… I mean, there are people in your life who are probably willing to pitch in on some level.
Don’t be afraid to ask.
We had neighbors offer to watch our youngest kiddo and get her out of the way for a bit. She was thrilled, we were relieved, and everyone was happy on moving day.
Our friends with trucks jumped in to help make a few trips to the dump when we finally got that garage picked up. Well- in process. We’re still working on that part as I type!
And don’t underestimate the value of paying for professionals. We knew the U-Haul days were behind us once we hit the 2nd kiddo.
Since then, we’ve budgeted for a professional crew of movers, and they’ve been worth every cent!
So here we are, settling into the new home. Remember when I mentioned expectations? Yeah, it’s going to take a little bit longer than I wanted to get everything in its place. But we’ll get there.
And I can always go back out to buy some more Sour Punch Bites if we need a break during all the unpacking!
We’re hoping THIS IS IT. For now, anyway.
The move to Virginia has been such a positive one for us, and hopefully, we’re here long enough for some of these kiddos to graduate from high school.
No promises, kiddos, but we will do our best!
Patty Holliday is a Marvel loving, Disney obsessed wife, and mother of four. She’s a travel agent specializing in Disney & Universal vacations- and loves a candid confession. Find her in Virginia (or anywhere frequent flyer miles or her trusty minivan takes her.)
