Moving To Our First House...ouch

After ten years of renting, Myself, my wife and our 5 kids are finally buying a house! We are excited...and I am kind of scared. The last time we moved we fit everything we owned (all 6 of us at the time) into a 16 foot truck, and even having reduced our stuff it was still an incredible hardship. It took me two weeks to recover.

Does anyone have any tips for moving? The hard part is that the few days before are so busy that there is no time to rest up for the move.
I wish I could find a way to spread it out over several days.

I have to come up with a plan or else it will be another horrible time.

Congrats! We bought our first home a year ago. Luckily , we only moved two blocks away from our rental house of 7 yrs. The key for us, was having a lot of help. I confess that I didnt have to do a lot, as my job was the " the kid wrangler". From experience, if you have younger kids , try and get a sitter during the actual move if its possible. The older kids should be capable of helping out some. We didnt have a sitter and it was hard Our kids are 17,11,5, and 2.

Congratulations on your new house!!! I am so happy for you and your family. I agree about pacing yourself. I know it is going to be hard at this time, because you want to get this done as quickly as possible. Mark all of the boxes. Once you get them in the proper room, it will be a lot easier to unpack. I think you have gotten some good advice. Planning ahead really helps. Write thngs down. But most of all take frequent breaks. Again, congratulations!!!

Hugs, Karen