packing boxes can be fun . . .

This is the beginning of the packing process. The mounds and mounds of packing, loading, and unloading that I am SO looking forward to. As we were getting the boxes out of the garage, the children wanted to use them to make houses. My initial response was no. Boxes all over the house, more stuff to clean up, an overall mess. After a few minutes of thinking about the original no, I realized that we need to make moving as fun as possible, and I could deal with a mess of boxes for a day or two.
This year the packing will go a bit easier since we are not trying to sell a house at the same time. In addition, we have some boxes already packed from last summer's move. We are working on making packing as easy as possible, so, we first started on packing all the books. From our earlier moves we have learned a few things about moving boxes from place to place.
1. Pack books in very small boxes. Even though you move many of them, they are easier to handle and don't fall apart.
2. Use blankets, sheets and towels as packing material. It's nice to keep things together, but when moving dishes and breakable things, nothing beats cloth to wrap them in.
3. Pack refrigerators and freezers with boxes. This saves on room when you are renting a moving truck.
Over the next few days we will take things off the walls, pack the clothes we are not currently using, break the beds down, and then pack the kitchen last. Hopefully we will be able to move all of it quickly and efficiently this time.