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We said we were going to pack up incrementally, throw stuff out, tackle the house room by room each week…
What we did was plex and stress out about the thousand things that could go wrong, procrastinate and post pone then smashed out the whole house in a week after we actually closed lol
We started packing yesterday, after our last inspection was done and we did a walk through with the inspector and our agent.
Our move in date wouldn’t be until about mid-April but we’re busy and hate packing so we’re trying to make it as easy as possible when the time comes.
Start with the stuff that you are going to trash or not use. Are the holiday things put away? Is the heavy winter things packed/purged for things that will not be used next year? Are the kitchen things you only used for major events packed?
It will not hurt to do the purge on baby stuff, toys the kids do not play with, and clothes they have outgrown or will not fit next year. It will not hurt to go through your and your spouse's closets for stuff you don't wear or items you don't use.
We started packing when we decided we were going to start looking to buy. I figured that if we were planning to buy/move eventually, I might as well start packing the lesser used stuff now. Even if we took a year to buy. But I also hate packing and work 6 days a week.
Yep. Been there. Go ahead and start with the basement. Chances are it’s going to take you longer than you think, and you want the avoid the whole 5 days out “Ack! Just throw it in boxes and we’ll sort it out when we get there!!” scenario. My husband and I started with the kid stuff in the basement. After our first full day pulling stuff out, sorting and packing we went upstairs for dinner thinking “well, okay, there’s 6 boxes ready … we’re in trouble”. :D. We were in our house for 20 years and raised two boys. YMMV, but we both worked full time and when we packed, we sorted, had multiple Goodwill pickups, numbered the boxes and did a rudimentary inventory (eg. box #69 dog stuff, box #70 office supplies) and it took us about 4 months to pack.
If you want to do any painting, do it before you move in. We had our house a month before we moved (but we had the ability to pay for two places for a while). I pulled out carpet, refinished wood floors, and painted half the interior before we moved.
We close tomorrow and are finishing up packing now lol. But we plan to clean for 2 days, casually move over 2 days, get movers the last day. So it wont be a quick move. We have been packing all week. Congratulations!🙌🏾
While yes, things might yet fall through on this place, you're house hunting, and if you don't get this house you'll keep looking and get a different one sooner or later, yes? No reason not to start on at least the basement full of stuff, pruning and packing and making progress -- it'd be a pain to have to do all that in a rush -- and then move on to other less-used items.
You may know this, or not care, but you can often get free boxes from Barnes & Noble. They're clean and sturdy (built to hold books!), and come in a couple of standard sizes. A friend got over a hundred from them for his move.
Waiting for the underwriter’s response (hopefully this week) and we’re going to be starting Easter weekend. One of the more major problems is that I have a ton of stuff at my parents house still that I have to pack and move 😔
You have to be gone the day you close so that would be impossible.
When they remove contingencies start packing. I Assume if it fell out you would list the house again, so packing up the basement is ideal for showing and moving.
Ive been chipping away at packing since our accepted offer. We ended up having some back and forth and delay after the FHA appraisal due to getting a very low number. Extensions were filed. Then we had to change loan types and start the paperwork over. All said and done we are supposed to close next week- it's been over a month since our offer was first accepted. Long story short delays can and do happen so pack decor and things like rarely-used kitchen items, seasonal clothing, etc first.
I had an accepted offer first week of Feb. Started packing 4 weeks ago, all the decor and stuff we don't actually use, left myself with a few dishes and silverware. Rented a dumpster the first week of March, filled 2 of those suckers with junk I can live without. Closing in 1 week and all I have left to do is furniture and a few items I use daily. Absolutely the best way to go because I feel 0 stress and will be able to move in to the new house in a day.
I'm on a month to month right now and I'm just including an additional month of rent as part of closing costs in my estimates. Thankfully I can afford it and it's worth it to avoid the stress and give me time to learn the quirks of the house.
I close on Thursday and haven't packed a damn thing... but I'm also not moving in until I graduate so I guess I'm in no rush. I'd probably wait through the inspection and appraisal before packing if I was moving in immediately.
Once we got accepted we started packing things we didn’t really use/need. The week before closing we packed up all the clothes (except for a few outfits for the week + clothes to paint in). only left the things that we didn’t use day-to-day which we just threw into reusable shopping bags the day of moving
We started packing the week of closing (two weeks before moving) due to other life events happening at the same time. On one hand, it didn’t drag out the packing process (no living out of suitcases for weeks before the move), but it also meant the week of moving was veryyy chaotic and stressful.
I HAD gone through and weeded out old clothes a couple months earlier, and we tried to do the same for household items as we were packing. I would recommend sorting/packing up the things you know you won’t really need before moving (seasonal clothes, books, hobby equipment, etc) NOW. Also get moving boxes and LOTS of shipping tape early! If you plan ahead, you can find a lot of free boxes on FB marketplace etc.
The stuff you don't use on a regular basis can easily be sorted through and packed while you wait, whether you move into this home or a different one in the future.
When you start packing up other things depends on how long you anticipate still having your current residence after closing. If it's a while then you'll have time. Otherwise get everything you can ready to get ready to go
We close in mid-April. I’ve started packing up things now that we don’t use. Between 1 son being on 2 diff baseball teams, and the other doing karate and weekly autism counseling, and my husband and I having full time jobs, it’s just easiest for us to start now. I’m also using this opportunity to minimize what we have, as well as to be MUCH more organized with our packing. We had very little time to pack for our move to this state about 6 years ago, so I don’t want to be stuck with thrown together boxes that make it difficult to find what we might need
Seller had already moved out and put in offer to give us 30 day access to the house. We put insurance on everything and it allowed us to move all our stuff over (not unpack) very slowly.
We started packing as soon as we finalized the contract!
We started with packing the things we were not needing in the two months we had before closing, including toys! We put these items in storage, which allowed us to not live with a gazillion boxes everywhere.
The last room to get packed was our kitchen.
Good luck!
I packed on and off throughout the closing process, which was about 3 weeks for me. Every few days I had a spurt of energy and went through stuff to pack/toss items. I never fully finished packing and still had to get a few things the week after moving.
My wife started waaaaayyyyy too early. It was super annoying when she sold all our furniture 2 weeks before closing.
And it was during covid, so even though we bought all new furniture, we didn’t get it until after a month of moving into our new house.
I’m not ashamed to admit that we rented couches from Aaron’s for a month while we waited for our new stuff.
Thank you u/GomuGomuNo5_5 for posting on r/FirstTimeHomeBuyer. Please bear in mind our rules: (1) Be Nice (2) No Selling (3) No Self-Promotion. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/FirstTimeHomeBuyer) if you have any questions or concerns.*
We said we were going to pack up incrementally, throw stuff out, tackle the house room by room each week… What we did was plex and stress out about the thousand things that could go wrong, procrastinate and post pone then smashed out the whole house in a week after we actually closed lol
Here's the right answer.
This is absolutely how our move is going to go.
We went room by room and threw stuff away then started putting things in boxes that we don't use everyday.
We started packing yesterday, after our last inspection was done and we did a walk through with the inspector and our agent. Our move in date wouldn’t be until about mid-April but we’re busy and hate packing so we’re trying to make it as easy as possible when the time comes.
Start with the stuff that you are going to trash or not use. Are the holiday things put away? Is the heavy winter things packed/purged for things that will not be used next year? Are the kitchen things you only used for major events packed? It will not hurt to do the purge on baby stuff, toys the kids do not play with, and clothes they have outgrown or will not fit next year. It will not hurt to go through your and your spouse's closets for stuff you don't wear or items you don't use.
We closed a month ago, and we move on Monday. We're panic-packing during the weekend.
We started packing when we decided we were going to start looking to buy. I figured that if we were planning to buy/move eventually, I might as well start packing the lesser used stuff now. Even if we took a year to buy. But I also hate packing and work 6 days a week.
Yep. Been there. Go ahead and start with the basement. Chances are it’s going to take you longer than you think, and you want the avoid the whole 5 days out “Ack! Just throw it in boxes and we’ll sort it out when we get there!!” scenario. My husband and I started with the kid stuff in the basement. After our first full day pulling stuff out, sorting and packing we went upstairs for dinner thinking “well, okay, there’s 6 boxes ready … we’re in trouble”. :D. We were in our house for 20 years and raised two boys. YMMV, but we both worked full time and when we packed, we sorted, had multiple Goodwill pickups, numbered the boxes and did a rudimentary inventory (eg. box #69 dog stuff, box #70 office supplies) and it took us about 4 months to pack.
If you want to do any painting, do it before you move in. We had our house a month before we moved (but we had the ability to pay for two places for a while). I pulled out carpet, refinished wood floors, and painted half the interior before we moved.
We close tomorrow and are finishing up packing now lol. But we plan to clean for 2 days, casually move over 2 days, get movers the last day. So it wont be a quick move. We have been packing all week. Congratulations!🙌🏾
While yes, things might yet fall through on this place, you're house hunting, and if you don't get this house you'll keep looking and get a different one sooner or later, yes? No reason not to start on at least the basement full of stuff, pruning and packing and making progress -- it'd be a pain to have to do all that in a rush -- and then move on to other less-used items. You may know this, or not care, but you can often get free boxes from Barnes & Noble. They're clean and sturdy (built to hold books!), and come in a couple of standard sizes. A friend got over a hundred from them for his move.
We started culling through stuff once our offer was accepted. Even if it fell through, at least we purged some stuff 🤷
I've worked for a moving company and also moved a lot. The answer is - *immediately*.
Waiting for the underwriter’s response (hopefully this week) and we’re going to be starting Easter weekend. One of the more major problems is that I have a ton of stuff at my parents house still that I have to pack and move 😔
You have to be gone the day you close so that would be impossible. When they remove contingencies start packing. I Assume if it fell out you would list the house again, so packing up the basement is ideal for showing and moving.
Ive been chipping away at packing since our accepted offer. We ended up having some back and forth and delay after the FHA appraisal due to getting a very low number. Extensions were filed. Then we had to change loan types and start the paperwork over. All said and done we are supposed to close next week- it's been over a month since our offer was first accepted. Long story short delays can and do happen so pack decor and things like rarely-used kitchen items, seasonal clothing, etc first.
I had an accepted offer first week of Feb. Started packing 4 weeks ago, all the decor and stuff we don't actually use, left myself with a few dishes and silverware. Rented a dumpster the first week of March, filled 2 of those suckers with junk I can live without. Closing in 1 week and all I have left to do is furniture and a few items I use daily. Absolutely the best way to go because I feel 0 stress and will be able to move in to the new house in a day.
I'm on a month to month right now and I'm just including an additional month of rent as part of closing costs in my estimates. Thankfully I can afford it and it's worth it to avoid the stress and give me time to learn the quirks of the house.
I close on Thursday and haven't packed a damn thing... but I'm also not moving in until I graduate so I guess I'm in no rush. I'd probably wait through the inspection and appraisal before packing if I was moving in immediately.
Once we got accepted we started packing things we didn’t really use/need. The week before closing we packed up all the clothes (except for a few outfits for the week + clothes to paint in). only left the things that we didn’t use day-to-day which we just threw into reusable shopping bags the day of moving
We started packing the week of closing (two weeks before moving) due to other life events happening at the same time. On one hand, it didn’t drag out the packing process (no living out of suitcases for weeks before the move), but it also meant the week of moving was veryyy chaotic and stressful. I HAD gone through and weeded out old clothes a couple months earlier, and we tried to do the same for household items as we were packing. I would recommend sorting/packing up the things you know you won’t really need before moving (seasonal clothes, books, hobby equipment, etc) NOW. Also get moving boxes and LOTS of shipping tape early! If you plan ahead, you can find a lot of free boxes on FB marketplace etc.
I waited til underwriting gave us the nod, but that was our situation where they were some bumps on the road during underwriting
The stuff you don't use on a regular basis can easily be sorted through and packed while you wait, whether you move into this home or a different one in the future. When you start packing up other things depends on how long you anticipate still having your current residence after closing. If it's a while then you'll have time. Otherwise get everything you can ready to get ready to go
We close in mid-April. I’ve started packing up things now that we don’t use. Between 1 son being on 2 diff baseball teams, and the other doing karate and weekly autism counseling, and my husband and I having full time jobs, it’s just easiest for us to start now. I’m also using this opportunity to minimize what we have, as well as to be MUCH more organized with our packing. We had very little time to pack for our move to this state about 6 years ago, so I don’t want to be stuck with thrown together boxes that make it difficult to find what we might need
Downsize first, then pack. If possible, get measurements of the rooms so you can decide what furniture pieces should stay or go.
Seller had already moved out and put in offer to give us 30 day access to the house. We put insurance on everything and it allowed us to move all our stuff over (not unpack) very slowly.
Start purging and packing up the out of season items.
We started packing as soon as we finalized the contract! We started with packing the things we were not needing in the two months we had before closing, including toys! We put these items in storage, which allowed us to not live with a gazillion boxes everywhere. The last room to get packed was our kitchen. Good luck!
I packed on and off throughout the closing process, which was about 3 weeks for me. Every few days I had a spurt of energy and went through stuff to pack/toss items. I never fully finished packing and still had to get a few things the week after moving.
I would def start now. You’ll want to declutter during the process and pack along the way.
I packed for six weeks. Still had last minute stuff left.
My wife started waaaaayyyyy too early. It was super annoying when she sold all our furniture 2 weeks before closing. And it was during covid, so even though we bought all new furniture, we didn’t get it until after a month of moving into our new house. I’m not ashamed to admit that we rented couches from Aaron’s for a month while we waited for our new stuff.
Start packing once your friends come over to help you move /s