Staying calm is hard to do when you move. So hard.

I refuse to stress.
I refuse to stress.
I refuse to stress.

I keep thinking rainbows, unicorns, and bubbles because those things make me happy. I saw my daughter this weekend walking around with her unicorn backpack on, blowing bubbles and it instantly made me happy.

I know myself, I’m the kind of woman who normally stresses over everything. I’m normally a nervous nelly, it’s who I am… and I’ll always be this way. But when it’s coming to moving, I’m trying to stay calm in the eye of the storm of moving.

7 people to move.

12 years in one house.

Lots of stuff collected throughout the years.

It’s not easy.

The second I found out we were moving, I started asking my friends (who have moved with a family) for their best advice. This is a move that I sparked and spearheaded for our family, so I didn’t want to make it extra stressed for anyone. I just wanted to make it seamless and doable for our entire family… and I didn’t want them to see me overwhelmed with the added craziness of moving. I wanted them to see me staying calm. The BIG thing with moving is that even though you’re completely changing your life, everything else – work, schedules, activities – stays in the same. It’s this weird seesaw of keeping things normal, but having things be chaotic, too.

Advice on Staying Calm During a Move

So what kind of advice did I get from friends?

1. Start packing little by little. Don’t go crazy the week of the move. Start with one room and pack away items that you know you won’t need immediately. This helped me with staying calm immensely because I really took this advice to heart and started packing mid-June. It’s not nearly as overwhelming right now with our official move-in date just 9 days away.

2. Label each box ridiculously specific. I have literally labeled boxes, “2nd shelf on TV stand” – just so I know exactly where things go.

3. When I’m attacking the rooms for packing, I’m not packing ANYTHING I don’t want to unpack and find a place for in the new house. I’m purging while I go… I won’t be purging when I get there.

4. We rented a dumpster. Best. Decision. Ever. There’s nothing more freeing than tossing things out you don’t want anymore. If it can’t be donated, it’s tossed.

5. As far as donation goes, we’ve set up a donation truck to come to the house each week. Getting the donation boxes out is an incredible feeling. Seeing all that extra stuff we never used go away made staying calm so much easier.

6. Take help when it’s offered. That’s a big one for staying calm. I had my mom clean my daughter’s closet! I had my sister pack up the boys clothing. I had my dad fix the banister. My in-laws came a few weeks ago and did odd jobs around the house. I’ve had neighbors volunteer to watch the kids. Help is help. And help is needed. When you get it, take it.

7. Here’s the ugly truth – staying calm doesn’t mean you’ll always be calm. You will get stressed, you will get overwhelmed – but I’m trying to embrace as much as I can knowing full well that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. Moving is nothing compared to problems that happen in the world. This is a drop in the bucket. It will get done. All the boxes will get out. And the house will sell. These are truths that I need to know, remember and keeping telling myself!

OK… so here’s to finding a unicorn backpack in my size and a bubble gun!

Happy Friday everyone!

Video updates coming soon of the progress on the house!