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As the movers are filling boxes, let the children draw pictures of what is in those boxes with markers. That way when they are unpacked at the new house, they can tell what is in the box. It gives them a sense of understanding that this box was at our old house, it has my stuff in it, and now it is in my new house. If mom’s like to color coordinate, they can give each kid a different color marker. ONE MAJOR FACT!If you request a full unpack when the movers arrive to unload, they are bound to do so. DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING until you are satisfied. Once you sign something, they are legally released and don’t have to finish. Mine tricked me by saying, “Well, we get paid for unpacking even if we just take the packaging out of the washer.” Well, they did remove that packaging, so I signed on the line he pointed to. But they didn’t unpack my boxes like I wanted. In our first move we unpacked boxes for weeks, and then had a mountain of boxes and paper that was miserable. We really wanted the boxes emptied so I could put things away faster. I got lucky…the manager came by the next day and I told him I had requested a complete unpack. He got on the phone and made the movers come back to finish the job. They didn’t have to do that. When you see someone moving in/out, bake them a batch of muffins for breakfast and take over a few paper cups and some milk/juice. It is hard to think about fixing breakfast when your movers arrive at 6 am, for either loading or unloading day. A dear friend actually went the whole nine yards for me the day we loaded to move away: She baked 2 kinds of muffins, cut up apples and bananas (knowing we had no accessible silverware), made two cups of coffee (and flavored them just the way we like them…we were very close). She had napkins, milk, paper cups and plates. It was like having a picnic…our last meal in our special house. I repay it about once every two weeks, but sadly not in such detail…usually as I mentioned in the first line. Try to get all the unpacking done in the first 3 weeks. That way it won’t be a long-term battle that you dread. Having it behind you ASAP relieves you to go out and play, learning about your new area.Also, paint. Many don’t know it, but you can paint quarters. You need to get permission, and they will always want you to paint it back before you move out, but it adds such a touch of personality and hominess to the place. Even a dull floorplan can be spiced up with some color! If you’re looking for a great comforting color, look up “Contemplation” by Behr! It literally relaxes me! Get rid of as much as possible on the packing end. The less you take to the new place, the less you have to store away. Learn that “things” are not your memories. If you are ultra sentimental about all those boxes of baby clothes but don’t plan to have any more kids, tell yourself to pair down to one box. For those semi-sentimental clothes, take a digital picture of each outfit and save to a CD. You might have 250 pictures of semi-sentimental clothes, but they all fit on one tiny CD. Then, give the clothes to either a friend who could use them or donate them to a women’s shelter. (I did this, and then lost the CD in the move…once you take pictures you really want to keep…be careful with the CD! Now I don’t have the clothes or the CD!) This particular idea works with any kind of item: furniture, toys, cars, you name it. If you don’t want to lug it around but want to remember it, pictures are great!(I am about the only one so attached to her baby’s clothes that she would admit to taking 250 pictures of them and then put them on CD…no one else would claim this one…but they just might do it!)