Five Ways To Avoid Packing-Panic

Nancy Schrimpf

Coldwell Banker Village Properties

Special to the Village News

It happened again this week. First, there was elation, then gratitude, then exuberance. We were hugging. She was giggling and thanking me and I was congratulating her and we were both a little weepy.

Then she went mute and I saw the look flash across her face. I have seen that look before many times. I've even made it myself a time or two. Back in the day, I might have mistaken it for seller's remorse. Now I know better. It's packing panic and it is debilitating. There is no cure but its effects can be minimized. Here's how:

1. If you are the seller and you worked with a proactive agent, you have already done the first tier packing. Family photos, collections and many of your books have been boxed up so your home shows larger and is less personalized. You, lucky mover, may now mosey on over to point two.

If you are a first time buyer or a seller who wasn't encouraged to do first tier packing at a listing appointment, start here. Anything and everything that is strictly decorative can be packed up immediately, even if you have a 60-day escrow ahead of you. If a major holiday is due to occur between right now and when you move, leave those decorations out, but only if decorating for that holiday is more important to you than a less-stressful move.

2. Pack out of season clothes and equipment. Granted, we don't have that many seasons in San Diego, but if your family is like mine there are ski clothes, snowboards, parkas and mittens that get worn once or twice a year. Pack those up and label the boxes on at least 4 sides so you don't accidentally include them in the 'Urgent to Unpack pile' at your new place.

3. Thin the herd. You can't pack all your clothes, linens, or kitchen utensils just yet, but you can and should start to thin the herd. Box up half of everything you have. If you have twenty sweaters, pack ten. Write on each box whose room it will go in at the new place and exactly what is in the box (i.e. Clara's room: sweaters, shoes, and exercise clothes).

4. Thin it again. Yup, it was tough to get by with only ten sweaters but it's time to go down to five. You're moving soon, and you're just going to have to make do. Same with pots and pans and cotton balls and purses and anything and everything else you own.

5. At this point, you have less than 25 percent of your stuff left to pack. You've handled the decorative stuff that can be especially time consuming to pack. You've crated up the off-season stuff and you've reduced everything else by 75 percent. You're going to be fine. As you pack up the last 25 percent of everything, write "U2U" for Urgent to Unpack on it. If you held off on packing it this long, you're probably going to want to unpack it pretty promptly so make it easy to do so.

Every move is different. You may have three months to move or three weeks to move. You may be packing up a college dorm or a ten-room mansion, so I'm not in a position to tell you what to pack on day 29 of your transition. The above is an overview, not a recipe, but if you follow it you just may find your packing panic has gone into remission and you are once again able to giggle. Happy packing!

Questions may be directed to Coldwell Banker Village Properties at (760) 728-8000 or Nancy Schrimpf directly at (760) 717-2307.