How long does it take to unpack after a move?

[Anonymous]

24 hours. I’ve moved 15 times in 15 years and have a solid packing/unpacking system. The only exception would be if I had any furniture yet to be delivered that was necessary for unpacking (most recently it was waiting for a dresser before unpacking the guest room so I had a place to put guest linens).

[Anonymous]

Four years, but we bought a fixer-upper.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:24 hours. I’ve moved 15 times in 15 years and have a solid packing/unpacking system. The only exception would be if I had any furniture yet to be delivered that was necessary for unpacking (most recently it was waiting for a dresser before unpacking the guest room so I had a place to put guest linens).

Please share your system!

[Anonymous]

A few days dedicated solely to unpacking/settling in. Last time we took off work and moved on a Thursday. We were settled in by Sunday. Though house projects like painting, hanging artwork, and getting new furniture to fit the house continued over multiple months.

[Anonymous]

20 years later my mother came across a moving box that said, "open immediately"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:24 hours. I’ve moved 15 times in 15 years and have a solid packing/unpacking system. The only exception would be if I had any furniture yet to be delivered that was necessary for unpacking (most recently it was waiting for a dresser before unpacking the guest room so I had a place to put guest linens).

Please share your system!

Yes!

[Anonymous]

Years. / I don’t know yet. I have some boxes marked Miscellaneous that I’m sure We’re from a previous move.
Kitchen, bathroom and beds get sorted out on day one. Bedrooms, clothes closets, linen closet and maybe the dining room the first week. I have a Lot of books and a lot of papers - so figuring out exactly we’re I want them to go could take weeks to months. Those miscellaneous boxes might take years - unless the move is from a smaller place to a larger place with lots of built-in storage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Years

We still have some pictures that need to go on the wall from 4 years ago. Three little kids. No time.

When they are older hopefully we will have more time.

I won't make the decision to move again lightly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Years

I came here to say this same thing.

[Anonymous]

Let me see....looking at the boxes stacked in front of me I'd say more than a year since that's when I last moved.

[Anonymous]

My folks still have boxes in the basement from the mid-80s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:24 hours. I’ve moved 15 times in 15 years and have a solid packing/unpacking system. The only exception would be if I had any furniture yet to be delivered that was necessary for unpacking (most recently it was waiting for a dresser before unpacking the guest room so I had a place to put guest linens).

Please share your system!

+1 I'm moving next week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My folks still have boxes in the basement from the mid-80s.

Yeah, at that point I would call it storage/the donate pile.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:24 hours. I’ve moved 15 times in 15 years and have a solid packing/unpacking system. The only exception would be if I had any furniture yet to be delivered that was necessary for unpacking (most recently it was waiting for a dresser before unpacking the guest room so I had a place to put guest linens).

Please share your system!

Not PP but I do this. We’ve moved a LOT.

I hate boxes. It also helps that we don’t have that much stuff.

I open boxes, and put things away in GENERALLY the correct spot. Kitchen stuff, books on shelves, toys in closets, frames on dressers. It’s messy but OUT of boxes!

Then over the next week, I fine tune where things are. I organize the kitchen. I rearrange the toys. I decorate.

But when I unpack, I just get things out of boxes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:24 hours. I’ve moved 15 times in 15 years and have a solid packing/unpacking system. The only exception would be if I had any furniture yet to be delivered that was necessary for unpacking (most recently it was waiting for a dresser before unpacking the guest room so I had a place to put guest linens).

Please share your system!

Not PP but I do this. We’ve moved a LOT.

I hate boxes. It also helps that we don’t have that much stuff.

I open boxes, and put things away in GENERALLY the correct spot. Kitchen stuff, books on shelves, toys in closets, frames on dressers. It’s messy but OUT of boxes!

Then over the next week, I fine tune where things are. I organize the kitchen. I rearrange the toys. I decorate.

But when I unpack, I just get things out of boxes.

I'm the PP who has the movers take the boxes with them, and this is my system too. Also, purge extensively before packing. If you're iffy about keeping something in your current place, you'll be tempted to just pack it and make a decision later, but you're going to hate having to deal with it in your new place. I cull my belongings by a third with each move, and that's on top of seasonal donations.