Last week, I shared a bit about our cross-country drive with 1 dog, 1 cat, a 26’ truck and a Mini Cooper. Today, I’m going to share some moving tips, and some of the logistical details of the trip, just in case you are thinking about moving cross-country too!
Moving Tips
Here are just a few tips that I came across while packing.
- Tie hangers together to avoid the jumble of hangers you can’t get apart. No one has time for that or the patience!
- Pack a bag or box of cleaning items for when you arrive at your destination. No matter how clean it seems, I always like to do my own wipe down, plus you may want to wipe down items that come off the truck. Recommended items for your box:
- Paper Towels
- Cleaning wipes
- Multi-use spray
- Glass spray
- Trash bags
- Scissors
- A few hand towels to lay clean items on if hand-washing
- Dishwasher Detergent
- Dishsoap
- Sponges
- It is also smart to keep your vacuum and mop supplies close to the back of the truck.
- Have bed frames packed last if possible, that way they can come in first and be set up before the mattresses are unloaded. This is especially important if you are short on space in your house (like we are). Also make sure to have your bedding packed in an easy to find bag for your first night, no one wants to be digging through the sea of boxes and bags looking for it after a move day (or days) 🙂
- Leave no space un-used. If you can use the space inside a bowl or whatever…do it!! This will save you on boxes and space on the truck in the long run. I put a few spillable items in the empty storage containers for added protection (make sure to bag anything that could spill though…don’t count on the container staying closed). You can always use the baggies again for non food items once you reach your destination.
- Buy twice the number of packing pads you think you need.
- Supervise, supervise, supervise the movers. You have to watch everything they do and be right there to interject with instructions.
- Finally, moving across country is a bit different from across town or even across state. Just keep in mind how much bumping and jiggling your stuff is going to encounter. If you leave too much space in your boxes, then that is space your stuff can bump up and down in. Wrap and stuff your boxes full.
Here are some other ladies with moving tips:
- Shannon from Brass Honey shares Tips for Moving Out of State
- Stephanie from Not Entirely Perfect shares Best Packing and Moving Tips, she has a nice list of tips plus additional resources
The Route
We chose our route to keep our drive around 8 hours a day. We booked all of our hotels in advance through Hotels.com (that way we got points). We mostly stayed at La Quinta since it is a pet friendly chain with no additional pet fee. We found two great websites to help find pet friendly hotels petswelcome and bringfido. We looked for hotels that were close to the interstate, as we didn’t want to drive too far out of the way. All the hotels below were in convenient locations.
As I mentioned in a few other posts, the animals did amazing. Eddie stayed in his carrier which sat in the front seat and Sam had his bed in the back. We didn’t have any issues. Here is my road trip packing list, it could be a good starting point for your list. I used tubberware containers for their food which was great so I could just pop the lid on in the morning (genius!).
Day 1: Raleigh to Asheville, NC
Stayed at this Red Roof Inn: It was surprisingly nice, and very clean. The room even had laminate flooring instead of carpet! There was fast food within walking distance and a Cracker Barrel right down the road.
Day 2: Asheville, NC to Memphis, TN
Stayed at this La Quinta: It was disgusting, I think this was the worse hotel of the trip. It was also tight on parking, and hard to get the truck out of the parking lot. I would not recommend staying at this hotel. I do not know how it got such good reviews on tripadvisor.
Day 3: Memphis, TN to Oklahoma City, OK
Stayed at this La Quinta: This one was so nice!! I highly recommend it, it was clean and the front desk was so friendly. There was plenty of parking as well.
Day 4: Oklahoma City, OK to Albuquerque, NM
Stayed at this La Quinta: Not as bad as Memphis but I would not choose to stay here again. There was plenty of parking, but not a good area to walk the dog.
Day 5: Albuquerque, NM to Phoenix, AZ
Stayed at this La Quinta: It was ok, but not the nicest of the trip. I think you just have to do what you have to do when you stay with pets.
If you are planning a similar move and have any questions please feel free to email me or leave a comment below.
What moving tips do you have to share?
One thing I do is use Pringles cans for packing knives. The length accommodates the blade and handle and the cardboard container keeps you safe from reaching into a box and cutting yourself. When we moved from California to Sweden we had to ship our stuff via cargo ship and they packed it all so they would have an accurate manifest and it was the best thing ever!
I’m from Albuquerque originally so I know just the La Quinta you stayed in, I think!
First off, I LOVE your new design! Did you make it yourself? The social media buttons are so cute!
Second, these tips are gold. I have never had to move an entire household, just a few smaller moves, but it seems very daunting. You were super-organized!
Wow Mariah this sounds like the most organised cross-country move ever! Well done! These are great tips! Though I think we’ll be flying to our next stop in Oz, a whole other kettle of fish right? Ha.
ROAD TRIP! My tips: bring some delicious food, your phone charger – so you can call lots of people and use your map quest without worrying about losing battery, a fun road trip buddy, your wallet (LOL), and your caffeinated self! 😉
first of all, i love the new layout 🙂
hell yes to the cleaning supplies. we have never moved cross country but i have moved about 3 times and we have our packing down to a science 🙂
great tips!! supervising the movers one i neglected when we first moved into our house.. and they left a huge gash on the hardwood floor moving one of our big appliances and told us that it was there before when we clearly knew it wasn’t bc we just got them put in a day or two before that.. was so frustrating!
we made all those same stops!! minus memphis. and i think it’s best to go through oklahoma and the top of texas.. cuz once you’re going through the bottom you never feel like you can get out of texas. haha
these are such great tips, even for moving in general – especially the one about using every available space (bowls and such) really helps!
ps love the new look around here!!
Great tips! Especially on the cleaning supplies and ease of reach. I like to get my kitchen set up first so I always make sure that’s the first stuff that’s moved in.
Amen to the cleaning supplies! We always stock up on those first thing, because every place we’ve moved in to, even if it had been cleaned before, had accumulated a lot of dust and stuff between renters/owners. And some of them hadn’t been cleaned so well.
I’m all for beds going in last – along with kitchen stuff. To me, I’m not home until I can use my kitchen, so I want to be able to get to my kitchen stuff and my bed and bedsheets first (after they go through the washer). The rest, eh. It can wait.
The biggest thing we wrestle with every time is how to accommodate all our hard drives. Between my photography and Scott’s digital effects, most of our resumes/portfolios/life is on our hard drives – not to mention all the important documents and records we have scanned. I finally broke down and bought a carry-on duffle just for those.