Well, we made it. Nice to meet you new home. From telling friends and family that I didn’t get to see our house until after the closing, I found out that this is not really the norm for most. People were appalled. What if you don’t like it?! Let me say this. Jon, you did a spectacular job. I mean it. In choosing our “forever house” (more on that later), organizing our cross-country move, and lifting all the boxes. Poor guy. I’ve told you before that moving is a major cause of the dreaded D-word. For us, it’s a form of marital therapy. Now listen, I’m not saying it’s all unicorns and butterflies. Certainly not. This was actually the most stressful move in the history of the #NixonPack. I told Jon I was writing this blog and asked if he had any advice for people about to undertake such a challenge. His answer? Don’t. OK, so he’s still a little sore. Here’s what we came up with after a few Coronas minutes of reflection on the moving process from Chicago to New York:

Get ALL the help. Jon is anti-moving company because we’ve heard our share of horror stories and had a few bad experiences ourselves. So for the past few moves, we have been at the mercy of family. For our biggest move to date, we had a skeleton crew. It was quite literally Jon, my step-dad and my little brother. That’s it. If you are lucky enough to have friends and family offer to help, take them up on it. Don’t feel like you’re putting them out. They are offering because they care about you. Your muscles and mental well-being will thank you for it.

Organize and Discard. Something we pride ourselves on is not being attached to “things”. I have just a handful of material possessions that I would go back for in the event of a fire, and it’s because they have an abundance of sentimental value. We’ve never needed a lot of storage and when something was no longer used, we either tossed it or donated it to a good cause. Something must have changed since having a baby. Why, oh why did I move 14 boxes of baby things. Did you read that? Fourteen. Are these things he currently uses? No. They are filled with clothes he’s outgrown, toys he no longer plays with and teeny tiny sweet baby nonsense I cannot part with. Now that we’re in the house and up to our eyeballs in unpacking, I’m all, whatonEarthwasIthinking?!?! You need to free up that space, both in the moving truck, and in your head. So please, discard before you drive it to the new place.

Day Planner. Back to your muscle (wo)men doing the moving. Or even anyone helping pack, unpack, watch the kiddos, clean the house, etc. Be very clear about a start and end time and how (get specific) they can be most helpful. This was Jon’s biggest regret. We saw the importance of this little nugget on two separate occasions. The first was in Chicago when they were loading the moving truck in hail and freezing drizzle. Yuck. Jon worked them ragged and he told me later that night, when they stopped talking, he knew there was a problem. They were overworked, overtired, and hangry. But there wasn’t time to eat when there was so much to be done he said. Well, you have to make time or you lose the morale, and the muscle. We noticed it again when my family was kind enough to come back over to the new house (after unloading for hours the day before and driving 12 hours the day before that) to help unpack. We weren’t really clear about the tasks we needed to accomplish that day, or the time they’d be released from duty. Seriously, Team Family is the best. It led to a lot more beer drinking than doing and not much was crossed off the list. You know on second thought, maybe that was what we all needed.

Don’t Sweat the Big Stuff. No matter if you’re moving one mile or one thousand, things are going to break. They just are. It’s a fact of moving. That being said, you can do everything in your power to minimize the damage. We bought the entire shelf of bubble wrap at Home Depot. They even have perforated rolls now to make things so much easier whether you’re wrapping a large mirror or a coffee mug. We over-wrapped and I was elated to find that not one single glass broke. We only have one gift left from our wedding day. It’s a beautiful glass cake dish and it’s made it all six moves. Every time I hold my breath when opening that box and yet again, it lived to see another house. We used everything we had for cushion – towels, bedding, even toilet paper wedged in the corners. So nothing small broke. YAY! But guess what did? My custom-made concrete dining table. Sigh. (It should be noted, it was 700 pounds). All the moving blankets in the world couldn’t save that little darling. It’s OK. It really is. It’s no one’s fault and I can’t be mad because why? Stuff happens. And dining room picnics are way more fun anyway.

What moving mistakes have you made? Share with us below!