Moving Children

Moving with children definitely deserves some careful planning.  Here are some great resources I want to share with you.  If you have additional thoughts or resources please leave them in a comment at the bottom of this post!

Introducing and processing the move together:

Understanding Children, a publication from Iowa State University

Preparing your Child for a Move, Kid’s Health, Reviewed by Dr. Jennifer Shroff Pendley

Moving is Tough for Kids, by Dr. Nancy Darling

Children and Family Moves published by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

PBS Supersisters offer six tips

Education:

Brief Explanations of traditional school alternatives that you might consider for your children in your new home

A few good tips from 123 movers

Military Families:

Military Children and PCS

Care.com

http://www.militarychild.org

Long Car Trips Between Homes

Tips from Tsh Oxenreider-Who believes a passport is one of the world’s greatest textbooks

Ideas from Make and Takes

Baby Center

Brilliant Ideas From Parents All Over the Country, #3 is My Personal Fave.

Helpful Write-up by a Collection of Authors–  I especially appreciated their links

Insights from The Mother of All Trips

In addition to these resources my family found a few other ideas to be helpful.

1.  While you pack, if there is someone you trust who loves your children, set up childcare.  I found three hours per morning for two weeks before the take-off date allowed me to do a lot of packing and running errands without the girls.  We still had enough time together the rest of the day to keep a pretty normal schedule.

2.  Can’t bring the pets?  Be honest about saying goodbye to pets and allowing them to grieve the loss of that companionship.  If you think it would help, take them to visit the pet’s new home before moving.

3.  Pray for your children!  Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me.”  Matthew 19:14.  He cares about the desires of their hearts as much as he cares about ours.  I’m praying that we’ll have a cherry tree, and chickens in our next home for my oldest daughter.  Right now we’re renting so it’s not an option!

Let children help pack

Cook something delicious in the new kitchen

Find the nearest park

Live like the locals- ISU football game!

Find a local toy store

Found it! It’s a combination baby/child/maternity consignment store.

Discover museums, botanical gardens, or other special attractions in your new home.  Reiman Gardens in Ames is a favorite of ours and it’s just a couple blocks from our house!

Moving Companies

We’ve used several different moving companies. Here is an example of the services and expenses for a hypothetical move from Ft. Collins, CO to Ames, IA- moving a 3+bedroom house in a 22, 24 or 26 ft. truck.  All prices reflect you loading and unloading the truck yourself.  The first three, Budget, Penske, and U-Haul are more typical choices if you want to drive the truck yourself and pull a vehicle.  The fourth option is for U-Pack and it’s the company we actually used for our recent move from Ft. Collins, CO to Ames, IA.  This is a great option if you don’t want to drive an enormous truck, but you’d like to save money by doing the packing/loading work yourself.

After reading many reviews on each company, I would have to say that none of them are perfect, but building a day or two of flexibility into your schedule will definitely help you cope with this physical and logistic challenge!

Budget

They suggest renting the truck for four days, but you can reserve it longer for an extra fee.  This scenario requires you to pick up the truck in the city you’re leaving and drop off the truck in the city you’re moving to.

$549.55 for unlimited miles in a 24 foot moving truck, a car dolly, and a hand truck (dolly)

This is ideal for people who don’t mind driving a huge vehicle and don’t need to accommodate children with car seats.

Penske

Like Budget, this arrangement is for those movers who are able to drive their own truck.  Penske requires you to pick up the truck in the city you’re leaving and drop off the truck in the city you’re moving to.

$928.72 for a 22′ truck, hand truck (dolly), and minimal personal and towing insurance ($65.22).

U-Haul

U-Haul also suggests renting the truck for four days, but you can reserve it longer for an extra fee.  U-Haul requires you to pick up the truck in the city you’re leaving and drop off the truck in the city you’re moving to.

$1084.00 for the distance from Ft. Collins, CO to Ames, IA with a 26 ft. truck (they didn’t have a 24 ft. option), a car dolly,   a hand truck (dolly), and a damage coverage fee.  I selected the minimum damage coverage for both the truck and car dolly.

What I love about the U-Haul option is they provide a listing of local companies at both your departure and arrival locations during the reservation process, in case you want to hire extra help loading/unloading on either end.  One negative I’ve experienced with U-Haul, and I’ve heard from other DIY movers as well, is that sometimes the truck you reserved is not available at the time you reserved it.  This can add a lot of stress to your moving process!  I’ve heard from others who have also experienced this.

ABF U-Pack

Youtube on how U-Pack works

Unlike Budget and U-Haul, ABF U-Pack delivers the trailer to the home you’re leaving and drives it to your new address.  They suggest a 17 ft. truck for a 3 bedroom home and unlike U-Haul and Budget, the price includes gas, and a driver.  The down-side of going with U-Pack is that you have to call a few days before you want the trailer delivered to the home you’re moving from to confirm, and again call to confirm a few days before you want it delivered to the house you’re moving into.  We went with this option when we moved from Colorado to Iowa and they didn’t get the trailer to us the night we requested it, even though we had confirmed ahead of time.  Thankfully the trailer was delivered to the house we moved into the day we requested and the local movers we hired were able to unload it as scheduled.

The following paragraph is taken from U-Pack’s website.  These trailers are taller than the typical moving truck.

Compare ABF’s trailer space to a rental truck

“The amount of loading space in the full 28′ trailer is
equivalent in size to a 26′ rental truck plus another 10′ rental
truck with some room left over.

Need less space? Just subtract $47 per foot from your 17′ quote,
subject to a 5′ minimum. Need more? Just add $47 per foot,
subject to a $1,938 maximum.”

$1,155.00 for trailer delivery to departure house,  driving the trailer to arrival house, and gas.  This price does not include a car dolly or a hand truck (dolly).  We drove our own car and worked a little vacation in between packing and unpacking – it was wonderful!  However, if you want to ship your car instead of drive it, this is a much more expensive option.  With U-Pack, shipping a car from Ft. Collins, CO to Ames, IA costs $1023.50!  That is several times the gas money to drive it or the cost of a car dolly you could use with another moving company.

Also, if U-Pack is the option that works best for you, wrap your fragile items extra well with lots of bubble wrap.  These trucks are not built like other moving trucks and do not have an air lift/hydraulic system.

Another nice feature of U-Pack is that they give you wiggle room in the estimation of how much space you’ll need.  They’ll schedule a bigger truck and only charge for as many feet as you use.

For those of you moving to or from a big city, having an enormous trailer parked in front of your home for days at a time may not be ideal.  One reviewer of U-Pack mentioned needing to obtain a special parking permit.  Here’s the quote, “They drop off a 28 foot trailer at your place, which is sort of a pain in the *** to park in both the Washington metro area and Chicago.  I had to obtain parking permits from Arlington, VA ($34) and the city of Chicago (the most horrendous, bureaucratic process imaginable).”

Moving with an Eternal Perspective

Even in the best cases when we’ve moved closer to family or there has been a great job offer, I find moving to be awful.  After four major relocations, it certainly hasn’t gotten any easier.  There is a delicate balance between all the goodbyes, keeping to the packing schedule, selling a house, and preparing children for the move.  For our past two moves I’ve also been pregnant- a blessing and a challenge!  To gain an eternal perspective it’s necessary to look back at history.  Here are some Biblical scenarios that have pointed me to the truth about God’s perfect provision.  If you have time- check out the surrounding passage.  The context is key.

“I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” Genesis 28:15 (From Jacob’s Dream at Bethel)

“My God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Jesus Christ.”  Phillipians 4:19

^” By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.  By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.  For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” Hebrews 11: 8-10

^” All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.  People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own.  If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return.  Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.”  Hebrews 11:13-16

“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28

^” This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: ^‘Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile.  Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.‘” Jeremiah 29: 4-7

^“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.'” Jeremiah 29:11-12

Isaiah chapters 40-55

While I look forward to living a more settled life, God has provided for my family in amazing ways.  Recognizing God’s homemaking provisions in this temporary home suggests great things to come in our eternal homes.  Here’s one more passage . . .

Jesus Comforts His Disciples

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.  My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.  You know the way to the place where I am going.” John 14:1-4

Stretch Wrap

Congratulations to Jessica H., the winner of my blog giveaway drawing! 

For our most recent move from Colorado to Iowa, we found a treasure!  Stretch wrap.  Check out this YouTube video for instructions on how to protect your furniture and photos for more ideas.

YouTube on Stretch Wrap

These are the two sizes we found at Home Depot (Also available in similar sizes at Lowes, The Container Store, Office Depot, and most moving companies.). The bigger size is 19 1/5 inches and helpful for protecting furniture as featured in the YouTube video, and the smaller one is 5

Keeps bubble wrap tightly around these glass plates.  Picture taken from http://www.11magnolialane.com.

inches and can be used for securing silverware into the tray, keeping bubble wrap in place, wrapping boards or polls together, and keeping a rug rolled tight. See the picture below for the rug example. We just wrap the six inches closest to the ends for a rug 3 feet or smaller and for bigger rugs we do the ends the same way but add a few extra wrapped sections in the middle as well.

Bigger and smaller options

The stretch wrap kept the doors securely closed on the bottom half of our play kitchen.

stretch wrapused on a small rug

Keeps drawers closed- you might want a packing blanket around it first to protect wood from bumps and scratches. Picture taken from bettermoveonline.co.uk.