Lessons Learned from Managing 55,000 Sq Ft of Moves this Summer
If you would have asked me back in January what summer would feel like for TBM, I would have said that it might be on the slow side. You see, when the kids are home from school, we find that organizing projects get put on hold. And as moms ourselves, we totally get it.
So when we started getting calls for concierge moves in April, May and June, I polled the team’s availability and we jumped at the chance to help these families.
As construction pushed two back and one forward, we ended up having three moves in three weeks. And then a few more after that.
Needless to say, it was time to get our best practices dialed in and our running shoes laced up, because this was an absolute marathon of a summer. Over the course of 5 moves, we unpacked 55,000 sq ft of belongings.
And we learned so much about what it takes to execute a flawless move (or five flawless moves in our case). So why not spill all of the secrets to you, internet friends??
If time is on your side, EDIT. We loved having the opportunity to schedule one or two editing days with our clients prior to their moves. This includes getting rid of the obvious (expired food, medicine, clothes that your kids have outgrown), but also provided us with time to go through the bins in the basement and garage that had been sitting untouched for years.
If you plan to change out hangers, do so before the move. For the ultra-organized clients, we had additional time on the front end and knew how chaotic the week of the move would feel. We ordered our favorite uniform hangers and switched over every single hanger for their family of six. This is going to make laundry day a breeze at the new house!
In the same vane, if you are considering putting any type of drawer liners in to protect your cabinetry, reach out to The Baer Minimalist first. We are definitely biased, but our luxury custom fit liners are one of the best investments you can make to protect your cabinetry for years to come. If you are moving into an existing home, they are also a nice way to cover up any lingering “gifts” that the former homeowner may have left for you (after a really good scrub of the cabinets, of course). If we measure early enough, we can install prior to a single item being put away. Ahhh…the freshest of starts.
Wait to purchase any other organizing product until you’ve moved in. This is always part of our organizing process with clients. Edit, then organize and finally, go purchase product. You don’t know where items will live until you unpack and in order to really maximize your space, it is crucial to see how your existing product functions and what gaps you have.
Have a Pack Last bin on each floor of your home. Fill it with the items you actually need to survive on a daily basis (and nothing more):
Kitchen Items: Sponge, Dishwasher Pods, Paper Towels, Hand Soap, Supplements/Vitamins, Plates, Cups, A Limited Number of Cooking Utensils/Pots/Pans
Bathrooms: Extra Toilet Paper, Hand Towel, Soap
Primary Bath: Clean Towels, Daily Essentials
Laundry Room: Detergent, Dryer Sheets
Moving Supplies: Contractor Trash Bags, Colored Tape, Sharpies, Gallon Ziplocs, Moving Blankets
When you pack, put painters tape on each cabinet door or closet that is cleared out. This saves your brain - we promise. As someone who obsessively goes back to check over and over, the bright splash of green painters tape across the front of a cabinet door was a signal to me that this had already been done.
Take Photos of the insides of your closets, cabinets and drawers (including your nightstands). Things don’t always translate from one home to another, but it is so helpful to have photo evidence of how your belongings were laid out without having to spend a lot of time thinking. (There is a definite theme here and it is “think less.") For us, these photos are critical to set our clients up for success, ensuring nightstands, dressers and bathrooms have a similar flow to the last home.
Create Signage to help guide the packing process. We utilize signs like these to label every room in the current home, notifying packers (professional or your own children) of the destination in your new home. It doesn’t matter what room it is in at your current house, only where it should end up at your next home. We also keep our painters tape handy so that we can label every piece of furniture with a destination and denote items that are staying at the house or being donated.
Don’t forget to label rugs and know where furniture is being placed in your new home. A hand-drawn layout of the rooms showing rug placement, bed orientation and where each piece of furniture is going is EXTREMELY helpful to movers. These don’t have to be fancy…but if you’ve ever tried to move a rug after a bed is already placed on top of it, you’ll understand the importance of this step.
On Move Day, dictate a central area for broken items. This allows everyone to place items in a central location for the movers and the homeowner to review together. Take photos of the items in their boxes, so that you have documentation for the movers as well. Luckily, with our preferred movers, we made it through five major moves with very little mishaps. Curious who we love locally? Send us a message and we will share our favorites!
Rather than buying new boxes, use moving totes. We had the privilege of using Bin-It Indy totes for a couple of our moves. These are economical and so much easier to use than standard boxes…but also, they save the environment. If you don’t have a resource like this locally, consider looking on your local Buy Nothing group for someone who is offloading their moving boxes. It is possible to utilize boxes more than once (but we would recommend not more than twice).
Hire help early. Life doesn’t slow down when you move, in fact, it generally feels nuttier than normal. If you anticipate needing support, reach out early to ensure you have an A-team on your side. We work with clients on moves where we handle EVERYTHING (from overseeing the movers, to unpacking every box, sourcing product and labeling every last bin), but also support clients with moves where we focus on Key Spaces. Learn more here.
Moving is one of life's most stressful events and we certainly hope that these best practices ease the process for you! Curious what clients have to say about the impact of our move services? Check out our most recent review here:
“I’m in awe of the organizational transformation the Baer Minimalist team accomplished throughout our move into new home.
Maria and her team of pleasant, warm and thoughtful professionals took a would-be stressful move and turned it into a calm and tranquil experience.
Every nook and cranny, every small detail, every piece of our new home feels deliberate, usable and organized. Her team labeled everything, added perfectly procured bins and containers to all spaces, purchased lovely bowls and decanters and changed out all hangers in every closet of our home to match and lined every drawer, closet, console and hutch (and it’s all in alphabetical and rainbow order!!!). What an incredible feeling to know our family is set up for success. The blessing the Baer Minimalist has given us is well worth the money spent.
I will always recommend this team and will use them again for our office and future added home spaces. Finally, their team orchestrated the movers we hired, including pre-move editing, labeling for packing, on-site unpacking and post-move editing. They even took items to donation centers and a consignment shop for us. We’re still receiving checks from the consigned goodies.
I’m more than pleased. I’m ecstatic!!! All the 💚 to TBM.”
The Baer Minimalist helps busy families create ORGANIZED + STYLIZED spaces throughout Indianapolis. To keep up to date with all of the tips, tricks and inspiration doled out, subscribe to our newsletter, The Minimal-List, here.