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I bought several colors of duct tape and assigned each room a color, then put the corresponding color on the corner of each box. So it was easy to know what box got hauled into the kitchen vs the bedrooms, etc. We’ve also had lots of boxes in our basement being stored while we remodel, so it’s been helpful to narrow down which boxes to dig through when I need to get something

We packed up a LOT of toys and just had a small basket. I’d say at least half our toys are still stored so I’m tempted to get rid of them, but my boys ask about particular ones sometimes so maybe not haha.

Moving sucks. Good luck!

First up: Hire a sitter, get the kids out of the house, rent a dumpster and do a GIANT PURGE. sell/donate/trash. Everything. Show no mercy.

agree with above, get a storage unit. Of the things you didn't put in the dumpster, put the other half in a storage unit. Everything personal.

Do a massive deep clean. Pay someone if necessary. Agree with YoungHouseLove tips!

As for the move. I just moved with two young kids. I honestly am not sure if I would have been able to pack myself. My husband travels. I would have had to hire a sitter and that would have cost as much as a full-pack. So we did the full pack. And it was 100% worth it.
As you pack, label things with where you want it to end up, not where it is now unless its a like=like location. We have several new rooms with this new house: playroom, laundry room etc. So I had to move or label things where I wanted them to end up

Pack a few go-boxes, things you will need the first 24-48 hours.
If possible, try to get the kids rooms set up before you actually move unless you are moving/closing on both houses the same day.

Good luck! And congrats on the new house

We moved 5 years ago (and are getting ready to move again) with kids in preschool. I would make sure your real estate agent has a home stager that they work with. Our stager came in and told us where to move furniture, what to remove, what to add, what our closets should look like, what kind of towels to hang in the bathroom, etc. I'll be honest, it was overwhelming. We chose to do a lot of what she suggested, but we also said that there were some things we weren't willing to do. We needed new carpet and paint in some rooms and we just left that up to her. I would have a stager come out earlier rather than later, I think they would give you direction in what you need to do to be ready to sell. Real Estate agents can also give you tips on what to do if they don't have a stager. We're looking for an agent now and won't consider anyone who doesn't do professional pics or has a stager. Our last home sold in 2 days so all the hard work was worth it to us. Good luck!

We both work full time and we moved over the summer with a 5yo and two 13mos (twins). It was awful. I floated the kids while my husband packed. He did not have enough time so he did not purge anything nor did he organize or label the boxes clearly. It is six months later and we are still dealing with the fallout from that.

We did not list our condo to sell until we had already moved out. Then the sale took two months (plus an expensive construction project not to mention several condo association disputes) longer to close than expected because of an inspection issue. (We thought a leak was fixed but it wasn’t!). So that was extremely expensive, distraction and stressful.

I really wish we had paid for more help around packing and unpacking but then again those services are usually a fortune. Ugh. I hate working full time with three kids.

Before we had kids we moved and tried to do it in stages as described by OP. Honestly I don’t really recommend that because it made the process feel really dragged out.

We did do a “pre-move” after we closed on the house and before we moved out of the condo. Basically we identified all of the non day-to-day items and moved them to the house so that we could have a shot at staging the condo before we moved out. But honestly it was too hard with the small space and three kids.

I am really glad we are out of that condo, and we really needed to move out before we could list, but I think this is the most stressful period of my life. It just ended and I feel numb. It was not even cathartic. Just numb.

There are a ton of great tips on here. We moved last summer and one of the best things I did was call around to a few moving places about partial-packing services. I ended up finding a place where 2 women came over to our house while we were at work and the nanny was there to supervise while the kids were in school, and in something like 90 minutes they had the kids' playroom and our kitchen completely packed. Those were the two areas I was most dreading and it was so nice to have it done. We did this weeks before the move, and had set aside critical toys and kitchen items for everyday use. To me, kitchen and dining room are sooooo obnoxious to pack because of all the wrapping of fragile items; playroom was also surprisingly annoying because I tend to overthink their toys/books and get sentimental or want to get all organized - it was totally worth it to have someone else handle this! When I came home that night and everything was boxed up, it was like a giant weight was lifted from my chest.