It is so important when you prepare to move to your new homestead to have a plan. In this post and video, you will learn seven things to do to be ready to hit the road to move to adventure and your new life in the country. The video will show some of the steps my family took to be ready for our move. Scroll to the end to see the video.

2. Prepare to Move by Boxing

Preparing to move requires a plan and an important part of the plan is to get your stuff boxed.  This will help you to get organized for the move. We chose to buy mostly small and medium boxes and a few large boxes.  The heavier items, like books, need to be in smaller boxes because you don’t want to be injured in your move. Also, make sure that you label the boxes for their contents and what room they are from (ex. kitchen, bathroom). Label in bold letters contents that are fragile.  Fragile items will go on top of a stack of boxes. Larger boxes will be for linens.

3. Prepare to Move by Renting a Storage Unit

In preparing to move, your house is going to be overwhelmed with boxes. Consequently, if you don’t have a lot of space, you might want to do what we did and rent a storage unit. My husband had a plan to fill the storage unit and then easily load and organize the moving truck. This involved transporting boxes into town, a 15-minute drive.  I believe it was all worth the trouble. If you aren’t moving far, you can keep your stuff in storage longer, but keep in mind how much money you will be paying per month. Since we were moving far, we had to move everything.  We didn’t want to rent another storage unit.  This is why we put up a metal building, for we would have a large shelter in which to put our stuff.

Click this link to understand why we chose a metal building home.  https://healthyhomesteadingadventures.com/five-reasons-to-choose-a-metal-building-home/

 Would you like to help support my blog and YouTube Channel? Check out my Redbubble shop.  You can click the photo below to see all the products available for this one photo that I took on my homestead. 

4. Prepare to Move by Renting the Moving Truck

This important step involves careful thought. To begin with, you need to determine the size of the truck that will meet your needs. If you estimate incorrectly, you won’t be able to move all your stuff.  Fortunately, my husband had the skill to choose the correct size. Also, he figured out that we needed to rent an open trailer for our motorcycle and three-wheeler. Next, we determine that our Tundra truck bed could also be used for misc. items. Part of the plan is counting the cost for the rentals and calculating how many days to rent them. Once you decide, there will be pressure to be loaded and on the road as soon as possible and to make the return on time.

5. Prepare to Move Your Animals

Especially if you are moving far away, you will need to plan how you are going to move your animals. The complexity involves what and how many animals you have. The animals will need food and water and protection from the elements. We had 2 cats that would ride in the truck with me and my 2 teens and around 15 hens and roosters. As you can see in the picture, we had a special trailer just for the chickens, and my husband covered them with a tarp for shade from the sun, and protection from the wind and possible rain. All the pets need food and water and the cats needed to have a cat box.  Our drive without stops would be 10 hours. In all fairness to the animals, plan on stops to check on them and to let them have a break from their confinement.

6. Plan Your Loading Time

In this step, you need to plan how long it will take you to load up. In our case, my husband rented the truck and trailer, and then it was time to load the truck at the storage unit. And so, I arrived around 11:00 with my 2 teenagers and my son’s best friend, Colton Dapper, who volunteered to help. Today’s video is dedicated to Colton. I think I can safely say that we did NOT plan our loading time correctly. After the storage unit, my husband drove the truck home to move in the rest of the stuff. After the truck was loaded, we loaded stuff in the trailer and in the back of our Tundra. Finally, the animals were loaded, and we were ready to go around midnight. I do NOT drive well at night.

7. Plan Time to Clean the House

This final plan causes me great pain every time that I think about it. As you can see from the above picture, there were things that we just couldn’t take and we didn’t have a trash bin to throw things in. The house wasn’t looking too clean inside either. This was a tragedy out of my control. We ran out of time and had no time to clean. We could not afford to come back. To finish loading at midnight is just crazy. We should have rented the truck another day, slept on the floor,  and loaded the animals in the morning after cleaning up a bit. I want to give a big thank you to my brother, Tracy, and his wife, Cindy, for dealing with the mess we left behind. I included this tragedy so you can plan better and not leave a mess to your loved ones, friends, or the new owners.

Watch the Video!

The video has my new introduction for my Homesteading Edition videos. I am very strong now, but I was weak when we were packing up to move. I had a tennis elbow injury and was limited by pain as to how much that I could lift. In this video, I talk a little more about what I learned about this move and then there is a slide show of my family packing up to move. I found a video of my daughter playing an original song and I used that for the background music.  Please subscribe to my YouTube Channel and this blog if you haven’t already.

I also have a YouTube channel where I share my music and I read a book called “Patriarchs and Prophets” beside my creek.