When you moved...how long before you were settled - i.e. not boxes everywhere you look!

We just moved to our new home. It is CHAOS. I feel like we will not be settled FOREVER. How long did it take you to feel like things were "in order" and there weren't boxes in almost EVERY room! Compounding the problem is we have 2 young kids!!!!!

Re: When you moved...how long before you were settled - i.e. not boxes everywhere you look!

After DH and I got married and I moved my household into his, I felt the same way. My mom gave me some good advice. Tackle one room at a time. If you have at least one room done, it will make you feel better. She was right! As soon as I got my living room done, I felt like I could finish the rest of the unpacking. Good Luck!!

Re: When you moved...how long before you were settled - i.e. not boxes everywhere you look!

We moved into our house in September and I am finally just now feeling like it's (almost) all done. We still have unpacked boxes of things like photo albums, books, and DVD's in the garage and a few in the spare bedroom but out of sight, out of mind I have a toddler and am 8 months pregnant so it's been hard to get things done!

Re: When you moved...how long before you were settled - i.e. not boxes everywhere you look!

we've been here since September 2010 and we are still not settled in. Our spare bedroom is full of boxes and stuff, and a room in our basement also still has boxes and random stuff. in our defense we are doing a lot of renovations, so I want to wait til those are done.

Re: When you moved...how long before you were settled - i.e. not boxes everywhere you look!

We moved in in October 2006...and there are still boxes in the basement waiting to be unpacked. Oh well!

Re: When you moved...how long before you were settled - i.e. not boxes everywhere you look!

Almost one year, I blame the kids

Re: When you moved...how long before you were settled - i.e. not boxes everywhere you look!

When i brought a box into my hues i unpacked almost immediately but i am extremely anal and hate clutter

Re: When you moved...how long before you were settled - i.e. not boxes everywhere you look!

It took us at least a few months to fully unpack and almost a year for us to feel settled because we took our time picking out furniture.

Re: When you moved...how long before you were settled - i.e. not boxes everywhere you look!

More than a year so far and we still have boxes of stuff that we dont know where to put!

Re: When you moved...how long before you were settled - i.e. not boxes everywhere you look!

A year later and I still have lots of boxes that have less important crap. Some in my basement, one in DDS room still, alot in our office, etc. Even worse, I still never put up artwork, pics, paintings, mirrors, etc, anything that goes on the walls.

I too feel like I will NEVER get done. I just organized DDs playroom closet this weekend, to make room for new toys, etc, and it was a mess since we moved in with stuff just shoved in there.

Our basement looks like we never unpacked. It's so frustrating but we have done as much as we could possibly do. I think we just have too much stuff to be honest. Being so unorganized is killing me. I still dont have my cookbooks out, some kitchen stuff (b/c we have less room in our current kitchen so we have to find a way to make up for that space, etc.

I CANT TAKE IT but what can you do? We have really done as much as we can as fast as we can. I slept on the COUCH for months b/c it took us so long to order a bed when we moved in. Things just take time.

Re: When you moved...how long before you were settled - i.e. not boxes everywhere you look!

When I moved 3 years ago with DD1 who was 4 months, it took me about a week.

We just moved 12/15 and aside from a box with picture frames, there is nothing left to be unpacked. All of the boxes in the basement are for storage. Holiday stuff and totes of clothes for the girls to grow into, summer stuff etc. There is still stuff to be hung, but we just unpacked the last boxes of stuff today. So, with a 1yo and a nearly 4yo, it took about 2 weeks.

I did it one room at a time. I started with the bathrooms, then the kitchen, then the play room (this was so DD1 and 2 could be contained and have stuff to do while I unpacked more stuff lol). Next was the living room and we just finished unpacking the office/den today. As for bedrooms, DDs' room was done last night, theirs is the only room which has stuff hanging really. Our room is unpacked but there is still a lot to do there.

I am still organizing stuff as I go, but I feel it's an ongoing process. You may think you like something in spot A but after a couple weeks/days you may find it will work better in spot B, KWIM?

I've also moved so many times that I'm SUPER organized when I pack and unpack. Everything gets staged, everything is properly labeled. I probably spend half a day moving boxes from room to room. Then I focus and unpack them. I don't move to the next room until one is completely unpacked.

Another trick I learned through all my moves is to use moving as an opportunity to purge. Get rid of it if you aren't using it and won't in the near future. If you've moved into a smaller space and it won't fit, it probably isn't going to work for you in the near future either. Don't hang onto things for sentimental reasons if you don't plan to use it or it's broken etc. Get rid of it. It's just holding you back. And, by the time you move to a new place, it's either outdated or your style has changed and you no longer like it as much as you thought you did.

I think if you're renovating or ordering furniture when you move it, that complicates it and it is totally expected that it will take longer to unpack!

Re: When you moved...how long before you were settled - i.e. not boxes everywhere you look!

i am crazy. unpacked in 5 days. i did not sleep, eat, or leave the house.

Re: When you moved...how long before you were settled - i.e. not boxes everywhere you look!

Couple of months

Re: When you moved...how long before you were settled - i.e. not boxes everywhere you look!

We just moved into our new house on December 17th, and honestly, we were the worst packers and the worst movers ever! It was our first move and we had been in our other house for 6 years. We had way more stuff than we realized and still aren't totally moved out of our old house! I think moving near Christmas complicated things and the fact that we redid all the floors and walls and really pushed to move in before Christmas, even though our renovations weren't, and still aren't, finished. We know better for next time, but I'm not stressing about getting everything unpacked yet...I have all winter to finish unpacking boxes!

Re: When you moved...how long before you were settled - i.e. not boxes everywhere you look!

we have a tiny tiny house...like a bungalow size but of course, a move is a move. we moved in mid june and worked like animals, because we were having a big bbq on july 10th or 11th i think. it was so overwhelming trying to get almost everything done by then but to be honest, having a deadline like that forced us to get settled quicker. of course, we still had a few boxes unpacked and just stuck in a closet or something but other than that, we were about 75% settled a month in. i would say we would 100% settled in by the end of august.

i wouldnt put too much pressure on yourself, you have 2 young kids and LIFE still goes on and its super hard to find time to do the stuff that will make you feel settled. if it makes you feel better, to see the boxes away, just put them away unpacked and then take 1 out each day and unpack it. just mentally, it could be nice to see things away and also motivation to make the time to do stuff since you will have a clearer picture of what it will feel like when you are all done.

good luck!

Re: When you moved...how long before you were settled - i.e. not boxes everywhere you look!

I am insane. Our laste house we were unpacked and settled in about a week. This house will be unpacked in about 2 weeks but as far as settled it will take a bit to get all the decorating done. It is a much bigger house so we will need a lot of new stuff.