There have been other threads giving tips on packing and moving.

In your case, interim packing must be dealt with, without the rose glasses.

Sort with cold eyes and honest heart: What will actually be used each day; what may be needed (clothing, blankets) over the next season; what can go into deep storage (holiday ornaments/drapes/knicknacks/pictures; off-season clothing). Try to limit the kitchen stuff to the basics: a set of pans, mixing bowls, measuring stuff, basic utensils. The crockpot will be handy. Store the turkey platter, cake pans, trays, etc for use in the new house. Keep ready only the number of plates, cereal bowls, etc that you need daily. Get different-colored tumblers and put each person's name on (a hobby paint-pen is good for this). This can make the difference between washing a dozen glasses 3 times a day, or 4 tumblers once a day. It also means you can pack the glasses for the new house. Be very honest, if you use the muffins tins daily, they stay; but if only once a month then pack them. This is not about what you wish to do or hope to do, but about what is really used at least once a week. Under that system, about 95% of the stuff in my kitchen could be packed.

Do you have any idea how long you expect to be in the building process? That is, is most/all going to be DIY or are you using subs for a percentage of the build. Which method can make a difference of many months.

Meanwhile, the most important thing is to START NOW. Your packing system should include marker pens; colored labels for each box; boxes in several sizes and probably twice as many as you think needed!; bubblewrap and newspaper for breakables; a lined notepad to use for listing items; packing tape to re-inforce each box bottom and seal when done. Now do one shelf, one box at a time. Label every box in detail, an older kid can help by writing the list. Put the list on the box outside and tape over with clear packing tape so it can't get lost. After doing the attic and basement, I find it easiest to start with the oldest and work downwards agewise-- DH will understand that the off-season clothing has not disappeared into a black void. His acceptance will influence the younger ones. Alternate between packing BR and DR, BR and LR, BR and closets, etc.

Yes, the kids should each have their own *small* box of "necessities" whether books or stuffed animals. Let them choose, and pack. Separate their clothing into that which will be worn over this season, and may be worn next season. Some folks will disagree, but IMO, this is sufficient [and depends on you having a washer/dryer available]: 3 pairs jeans, 2 sweatshirts, 7 changes underwear, 7 pairs sox, play shoes, 1 light weatherproof jacket, 1 sweater, one nice outfit including shoes for dress occasions; 5 short-sleeve shirts or pullovers; in winter add 5 long-sleeve shirts or pullovers and another sweatshirt as well as coats, mittens, boots, hats. Plan to do a load of clothes every other day, so that at all times they have 3 days worth of clean clothes available. The odds are pretty good that you will be storing most of whatever is presently in their closet. The interesting thing is that if you take this sorting in a matter-of-fact way, so will they. Although some kids might whine a bit, the truth is that none of them can wear more than one pair of shoes at a time, ditto the rest of the clothing. As the adult, you'll have to guess what will be needed for the next season, but keep that minimal and packed separately. Toys are very much a judgment call based on *your* comfort (not the kids' comfort because they aren't old enough to make good judgment calls). I'm fairly strict -- IMO, battery-operated anything is for afterdark and two batteried gadgets per child is more than enough. One other toy and one game per child is sufficient. Outdoor toys and bikes should go over early and be unpacked and ready for them. The rest of the games, toys, batteried stuff can be packed in interim boxes; unpack only to trade A for B -- that means if the stuffed bunny is wanted, then the stuffed elephant is packed. Interim exchanges should be no more often than once weekly. You would be amazed at how much clutter this system eliminates. Living make-do is very much like living nomadic: the fewer things you have and the more they are kept neat, the easier it is to live like that.

Do keep a variety of child-type reference books handy to help them learn about the trees, birds, insects, and native animals of their new home. Even if they are already familiar with being in large tracts of uninhabited land, stress basic safety, including never wandering alone beyond a specific close-by area.

meldy's system seems mice but way to complex for a simple boy like me. We are splitting time between our rental and our almost completed house. We do not have hot water there yet, so that is why we are not full time. We threw simple stuff we use daily in a box and moved it over. Everything else got put in a boxed labeled (sometimes) and got moved to the basement. I never understood why take the time to be super organized when you will just open the box and take everything out. Once you do that you will know where it belongs.

mikeyvon -- living with children in a temp while building, means being a bit more organized at the beginning in order to greatly reduce stress during and after the build. Building all by itself is super stressful for most people, but having to hunt through 40 boxes for junior's coat when the frost hits a month early is avoidable stress.

Yeah, I've done the box by box by box thing... once. Never again. I like to think that occasionally I learn from my mistakes and IMO, 125 unlabeled, unlisted boxes constituted a major mistake, even though some were labeled for the correct room. Only some, because the rest of the boxes were mixed (such as plates wrapped in quilts set on top of books with a toy and some slippers tossed on top). It's funny now, but it wasn't at all humorous then. And unpacking was a [forbidden word] and took twenty times longer than needful.

well, what ever works for you. I have moved plenty of times and my system works great for me. We do generally label, but after using the boxes a bunch of times, who knows what label is correct. Shouldn't Jr's coat be in the box with the rest of his clothes? We have two young children, 3.5 yrs and 6 months. We have generally found moving not to be stressful, but to be enjoyable. Building has been enjoyable also, minus the money issues.

We sold our house the first week it went on the market, so we moved into an apartment for 7 months until our home build was completed. We labeled our boxes only with some abbreviation (eg, MBR for boxes final drop off point) and a # on the box. Separately, we kept a spiral notebook listing the box reference (eg, MBR-15) and the content details. We did not otherwise mark on the box unless it was fragile. We thought about using orange spray paint for quicker identification of some boxes, but ended up not doing it. One other comment, as you stack for storage your packed boxes ... think about how you stack them. As an example, if there are some items you "might" need to get to ... you don't want them at the back or bottom of a stack of boxes. Basically, you want to minimize the number of times you have to handle boxes in order to find something.

If you're going to put a label on each box, label it on all four sides. Who knows how it is going to be stacked at the new house?

Many people on the kitchen forum talk about setting up temporary kitchens. I find it ironic one kitchen item they neglect to buy or use is a roaster oven. Sure, a microwave and crockpot have their uses but a portable roaster oven will take the place of a regular oven. Nesco is one name brand, you may have another. Paper plates, forks, etc. napkins, bottled water.

Pack one box of things you will need immediately. For starters: toilet paper, phone & address directory especially for turning on utilities in your new home, phone numbers and paperwork that you may need to get your kids enrolled in school ASAP, paper towels, scissors or box cutters, dog leash food & supplies, human treats & coffee, shampoo & toiletries, prescription medicine & eye glasses or contact lens supplies.

The first thing is to obviously make a game plan
The decision of moving to another place is however exciting, but packing up is something most of the people fear.It is better to hire professional movers if you want hazel free move and can afford it.But if you have decide to move by yourself. here are some useful tips.
1)First you need Make sure that you create a complete inventory of all your belongings that you will be moving to your new address
2)Make sure you have enough help and trucks/vans to load up your boxes
3)Before you start packing up your house, decide what you really need to bring into your new home. Many things lose their value or use over the years, but you still hang on to them
4)Do not wait until the last minute for packing. Start from that room which you do not use most
3)You will need to have the following materials in order to start packing.
Strong boxes, Wardrobe boxes, Bubble Wrap, newspaper, Markers etc
You can find cheap Boxes and all other packing stuff on Box Site. They have very Interesting packages

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Unless you're using a commercial moving service, make sure the boxes are light enough that one average-sized adult can carry one without getting a hernia. Strong muscular types can carry two or three at a time. You will probably be moving the boxes around to get one thing out and leave the rest packed up. It helps if you can do this yourself late at night (assuming you're not the strong muscular type).

Don't bother to put books in boxes - books are heavy. Stack them up in narrow stacks and tie them with twine or rope with a loop on the top. You can carry a box and a stack of books at the same time. Bonus is that you can see what the books are when you need them. If moisture is a problem in the storage area, put the stacks in plastic bags before tying them up.

Use boxes that stack well - Staples file boxes are good.

Label well - you will not open all the boxes when you make the final move, and you will not remember what's in them two years later when you're looking for the favorite sweater.

Claire

Good suggestions above.

We moved in the spring to an apartment while building. We're storing art and other valuables in the master bedroom and closet of the apartment; sleeping in a smaller bedroom. One box of art work serves as the living room TV stand.

I bought a roll of fluorescent pink duct tape and every box that contained something fragile got a piece of it on all four sides and the top. Quick reference for the guys who moved things into the storage unit.

I packed breakable kitchen things for the apartment in the bath and dish towels. We augmented our miniscule apartment kitchen cabinet space by putting a bookcase, a steel storage shelf unit, and our Hoosier cabinet in the dining room. The bookcase holds all our dishes and larger things like the crock pot. That has made an absolutely huge difference in kitchen usability.

Good luck . . . packing is hard!!

Arlene

If you are packing away some of your children's clothing, remember that they grow FAST. If your owner-build takes even 6 months to a year, the clothing you packed away for them before the "temporary move" is likely to be long outgrown by the time you get moved into your new home and the right season rolls around again. Ditto - tho to a lesser extent - many of their toys and games. Not much point in packing away something that the child will have outgrown by the time it sees the light of day again. Might as well sell it or give it away now.

We've done a skeleton move like yours 3 times. It's easy if you pack in layers just like you'd unpack.
First to pack, label with "storage" and put color dot sticker on 2 sides, is the "decor layer". This is all accessories, pictures, couch pillows, dustables. Keep out 2 items from each of these that make you smile, you'll need them in your temporary space (my last temp space was supposed to be 6-9 months, was 30 months in 1100 s.f with 3 businesses).
Next, are "extras"- holiday dishes, plates, pans, extra bedding, all extra craft/hobby supplies (like a sewing or knitting stash...you won't have time or space to do these). The same with most books. These get a second color dot on 2 sides, meaning "unpack next to last".
All extra furniture and the stuff you store there gets put into storage. rugs also.
Now you should be down to your basics of life. You won't be entertaining at home, so keep a couple of nice lamps and candles and store half of all of your remaining dishes, pans, etc.with a 3rd colored sticker (means "unpack first"). Keep the movies and video games, you'll need the stress release. Kids get two plastic tubs of toys, the rest get donated or stored. You and spouse get 1 plastic tub of extra non-clothing stuff. Think stress relief (this is not the time to pack away sexy lingeries).
Put everything, everything not kitchen into plastic storage boxes, plastic shoe boxes, plastic drawers. When you move again you'll just grab the storage boxes from cabinets and
drawers and slide them into your next home. Plus, you're more organized every day. Every single thing in your bathroom should be in a wicker or plastic container. I can pack a 3500sf house in 3 days, unpack in 5 days (time off for walks, movies, restaurants because you hit a wall the 3rd day).
Lastly, know thyself. Let yourself have a few little luxuries. If you usually surround yourself with vibrant color then don't stop now. Put down some great rugs and don't try to live with white walls. if baking is your stress release then have the muffin tins. If you have to garden or go mad then get a small greenhouse from Harbor Freight and go to it. The one thing you cannot ever, ever do in a temp space is shop for stress relief. One item comes into the house,a similar item must go out. This is especially true for clothing and kids toys. My kid got anything for Christmas that would fit in a plastic shoe box. Think video games, they're small. I love gameboys. Keep an eye on the spouse, make certain that their downtime has what they need...for example, living with my husband when he doesn't have a garage for his project cars is both stressful and makes for some ugly yard art.
We're in a larger house for 2 years right now, then we pack up and move again. I honestly don't know how other people can live with the accumulation of stuff that builds up even in 2 years. Moving is a terrific chance to purge your life of old and outworn possessions and energies. It beats spring cleaning. Good luck!

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