Moving during a Pandemic? Tips for an Easy Move!

I’ve mentioned before that we’re moving soon (what?! Who wants to move during a pandemic?! I know- we’re crazy.) across the country. But lucky for us, this isn’t our first PCS. We’ve moved countless times over our almost 11 years of marriage, so I wanted to share a few helpful tips and tricks for all of those moving, pandemic or no. Moving during a pandemic will add in a few extra precautions than usual, but I’m going to cover those in another blog post. 📦 

 

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Plan Out Your Route

 

Sit down and decide what route you’re going from your current home to your next. If it’s only an 8 hour or less drive, then you can do it in one day without issue! We’ve never been that lucky, so we normally have anywhere from 3-5 days of driving. We usually build it into a vacation and stop to see local sites, try mom & pop restaurants and do a bit of shopping. With this situation- moving during a pandemic, we won’t be able to do that as much as we would like but we’re still planning on stopping in cities that we enjoy. Once you’ve decided what cities you’re staying in, start looking up hotels and their best rates. Save those searches so you can get alerts on price changes too! 📱 

 

Booking Your Hotels

 

Start searching for those hotels once you know where you’re heading! If you’re military, a lot of hotels give (especially now – like 40% off!) fantastic price breaks. Not military? No worries! There’s usually discounts for AAA and members. Typically you can sign up to be a member for their rewards program for free and after a certain amount of stays, you get a free night, free meals, etc.. Every hotel is different, so it’s really worth just signing up for all of them. A lot of times we book through Hotels.com and then give our membership number for whichever hotel we’re staying at when we check in. Hotels.com is great since they have such a user friendly app and can make changes easily on there. 🏨 

 

Traveling with Kids

 

Moving sans kids? Bless- that will go much smoother. Moving with kids? Oh I feel for you. But don’t worry! It can go smoothly too, especially if you’re prepared. I love packing a cooler with our favorite snacks (water, juice boxes, string cheese, sandwiches, fruit, granola, yogurt, etc..) so we don’t have to eat out for every single meal. Stopping at rest stops (you can plan these out by using this link.) means you can have picnics, play, stretch your legs, freshen up and eat without feeling contained like at a restaurant. We typically would do a mix of restaurants and rest areas, but with moving during a pandemic, we’re trying to avoid places that will be super busy. 🚗

 

If you’re a fan of technology (no judgement, we are!) load up those Kindles or iPads with their favorite movies, shows, books and games! Just make sure you have chargers in your car, easily accessible. 

Other ideas to help with keeping kids entertained while driving- we love playing this travel bingo game, as well as small coloring books, favorite dolls and small lego cases for the older kiddos. 🧸 

 

What to Pack

 

What do you pack when you feel like you’re moving a million miles away? Well, the house. 😉 But what do you pack in the CAR to take with you? What also feels like an entire house. Start with enough clothes for 4-5 days- you can always wash them. I like to grab a travel size of laundry detergent for this reason alone. Toilet paper, as well as all other necessary toiletries and entertainment ideas, a cooler full of food and drinks, extra chargers, laptops, etc. If you’re not doing a door to door move, make sure you include air mattresses, sheets & quilts, pillows, towels, an Instant Pot/Crockpot/frying pan, utensils and plates, as well as dish soap. 🍴

 

It’s not fun getting to a new home and having to go out and buy necessities, so if you can pack a box with all of these, it’ll save you a lot of time and frustration. Before I had my Instant Pot, I made sure to always pack my CrockPot when we moved. Now that I’ve had my Instant Pot for years, I make sure to pack both! The IP has a saute function, so I don’t usually pack any other kitchen cookware items since you can cook SO much in there! (Seriously, go check out my FOUR ingredient dinner and other recipes I make in it.) 🍽

 

If you can pack your own spices, do that as well! Buying good spices can start to get a little spendy after an already pricey move and who wants bland food? 🍯

 

Cleaning supplies- some people are part of team don’t travel with them, others are all for them. I personally do. I usually keep a container of wipes in my car, so even when we aren’t moving I have them. Seriously, kids, dogs, people- we’re all messy. Wipes help with that. 🧹 

 

Traveling with a Baby/Toddler

 

The bulk of our moves thus far have been done with either babies, toddlers, or both. As our youngest is nearing 2.5 years old we’re almost out that stage – but not quite. With that, what has worked for us is packing extra diapers and wipes, as well as extra bottles/sippy cups. When I was exclusively pumping for Emms, I made sure to have my pump bag sitting next to me. It had a cooler with frozen blocks/ice for the pumped milk, extra flanges, Kiinde bags, a bottle of water & tiny travel sized dish soap, sanitizing wipes, and pacifiers. This way I could keep the milk cool, my pump supplies clean, and Emms satisfied while I pumped. He was too little to watch anything when we moved then, but at 2.5 he is quite fond of the iPad. Baby Shark anyone?! 🦈 

 

With all that being said, I hope these tips have helped you! Follow along for our move over on Instagram and Facebook, as we journey from Minnesota to our next duty station! 💕