Can You Really Stay Sane While Moving?
Moving sounds exciting — fresh start, new space, new possibilities. But the reality? It’s also messy, emotional, and completely exhausting. Between packing boxes, forwarding mail, and trying to keep track of the scissors for the tenth time, it’s easy to lose your mind somewhere between the living room and the moving truck. After going through planning for our own move (with kids in tow), these are the things I am taking with me throughout the process hoping it will bring a little less chaos. Will they work? Still yet to be confirmed but while we wait and see, I wanted to at least share with you all some strings I am pulling on to attempt to stay sane while moving.
10/18/2025
First on the list is to declutter like I have never decluttered before. There’s no point moving things I, my husband or my kids don’t love or use. To keep this process tight, I am first going to walk through each room with a donation bin and do a first pass. If I wouldn't be excited or want to unpack the item when I am in the new house then it is not coming with us.
My thought here is, fewer boxes and clutter the happier I will be.
Second up in this trying not to loose sanity is to be very organized and clear in all my packing. I'm labelling all my boxes by room and priority. (“Kitchen – open first” or “Kids’ room – bedtime stuff”). For anything we will need in the first few days, I'm going to use laundry baskets or clear bins — towels, chargers, snacks, and coffee. (Always, always coffee.)
Now onto the next keep sane tip, say it out loud with me, moving week is not my Martha Stewart week, I will not be cooking homemade meals or making the most cute school lunches. Think: freezer meals, slow cooker dinners, and paper plates. Between that, calling on family to maybe bring some meals, takeout and some PB&J sandwiches, we will be more than good-to-go.
Another huge piece I I need to remember throughout all of this is also the huge feelings that are attached. Moves are hard on everyone — and if I feel it then I can only imagine how my kids are feeling. I'm going to go-in expecting some extra emotions (and maybe a few meltdowns). I am going to make sure that throughout the newness, the move, the uncertainty and I can carve out moments of normalcy to ground them — bedtime stories, family movie night, or a walk. It may not be the golden ticket to an easy process but it certainly can't hurt.
And lastly, my goal is going to be to celebrate the little things and the little wins. I am not waiting until my whole house is unpacked and things put away to pop the champagne or be happy for it all. So the plan is- unpacking one room? Win. Finding the remote? Win. Drinking my first coffee in the new kitchen? Big win. Moving isn’t about perfection — it’s about progress. I'm going to take pictures, laugh through the chaos, and remember: it’s temporary. The calm will come.
We're building something new — and that’s worth celebrating.