If it indeed took you years to unpack you didn’t need any of that stuff LOL.

Anonymous wrote:We moved this weekend, and I'm feeling totally overwhelmed by half empty boxes and stuff. I know I just have to keep chipping away, but it's so hard to imagine and end to this. How long did it take you to settle in?

Typically 2 days to unpack the vast majority. But it could be months before the art work is put up, and a couple of years before those last 5 boxes of stuff you don't know what to do with gets resolved.

Unpack? A few days. I HATE boxes.

Settled? A year.

Decorated? Years

Moving from apartment to apartment when single? A day maybe two. House with kids? Going on 20 years. We did the kids rooms first, then the kitchen. After that, as we could. 98% done within 2 weeks. However, I know there are several boxes in the basement we never unpacked. Then again, I also know they are full of stuff we won't use/don't want, but cannot part with. Family photo ambums from DH's grandmother; China from my side of the family; artwork that came from one spouse but the other doesn't really like (both of us).

I have the movers unpack everything and take away the boxes. This can add a couple of hours to the job and a few hundred dollars when you're paying by hour, but it's so worth it. It may take a few days to get everything organized and put away, but the incentive is high when everything you own is in the middle of the floor.

3 years!!

A week but almost a year to finish the (low budget) decorating.

Four years!

So far it's been 15 years. I'll let you know when we crack them all open (probably after I'm deceased).

We moved in 6 years ago. And then immediately redid the kitchen. I still have 4 boxes of littlenuaed kitchen stuff in the attic. They are going straight to value village.

Have lived here 20 years, still have crap in boxes in the basement. DH won't part with some things, I won't part with some things, and so they remain in boxes in the basement.

Unpack kid rooms first, then kitchen. The rest can wait. Take your time!

I moved several weeks ago and we were unpacked within a week. I cannot live out of boxes with a mess.

This is utterly personality dependent. I am obsessive about my space - I cannot relax in it if there is much clutter or work to be done. Just can't. And so when we move I know I am not going to be able to just live with boxes and disorder for long, and plan for it - I take a week of work, have DH watch the kid (he could live in disorder forever, and would happily live out of boxes if left alone) and have at it. We don't have a big house or too much stuff, so the majority of the unpacking is done in 48 hours - that means all stuff is in the room it will eventually live in, boxes have been broken down and taken away, furniture is in place. Kitchen and living room also have things put away and functional - I don't care as much about bedrooms, so they take more time.

Now, getting artwork from leaning against the walls to being hung on them? That takes a couple of weeks.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Years

Same here. YEARS.

We actually went through two renovations before we unpacked all of our decorative items from the first renovation. About 9 years.

I really think it depends on your circumstances. When I was single, a couple days. Now that I have a large family? (Six kids)? Months. We have so much stuff and less time to unpack it.