inventory everything ' mark all the boxes' an get plenty of help with lifting'

Go one room at a time. Put a large box in the middle of the room. Start in one corner and work your way around. Throw out everything that you do not want, will not use, or will not need. Better yet, if you have time - have a yard sale instead of throwing stuff out. Once you have discarded everything you are not keeping do the same thing but with several boxes. Pack one room at a time and mark everything clearly. It only seems like an overwhelming task because you haven't started yet. The sooner you start the sooner your stress will become manageable. Good Luck with the new house!

When I pack, I label each box clearly. L 2/8 would mean Living Room, 2nd box out of a total of 8. If I have colored dot stickers handy (you can pick them up at an office supply store) I place one on each side of the box. One color for each room for easy identification. Then I create a manifest. I write anything of even moderate importance and in which box it's packed. This creates a master list so if I need one specific item before completely unpacking I know exactly where to find it. It's more work up front, but on the back end it saves a lot of time and frustration.

HAVE A YARD SALE BEFORE YOU START PACKING.

One room at a time, label the boxes and throw out anything you haven't used in two years and has low replacement value. remember pillows and stuffed animals go in the huge boxes and books go in the little "Paper case" boxes. leave the kitchen for the day before moving. Bubble wrap from Office depot works great to protect plates and glass items.

If you have children, I'd ask them to get involved in the process. I'm a single mom of 3 and when I moved from our last house to the one we have now, I gave a little "demo" for the kids on the proper way to pack (non fragile items of course). Then I gave them boxes and let them each pack up their own stuff, label the boxes, etc. This allowed them the time to sort through things and pitch or donate to charity if they didn't want it moved to the new place. We did other rooms as a family and with everyone working as a team, it made the job a little more bearable. Having said that, packing/moving is nothing less than a tedious, tiring chore, but perhaps this might help a little.

Start with things that you will not need anytime soon... All the winter cloths, go ahead and get the halloween, christmas decorations ready and put everything that is done in one spot if you can... DO NOT MOVE ANYTHING THAT you have not used in ___ (pick a time period and stick to it usually a year) Give all of that to Good Will or sell it at a yard sale. Then start packing up everything you can but label the boxes and start a list with what boxes have important things in them so you will not have to go through every box in the master bed room or the ones marked office to find things... Get rid of as much stuff as you can.. do not move a lot of things you will not use again. Clean house and it will make it easier to unpack as well as not fill up the new house.

OK, box one - all the stuff you will need the first night in the new home - sheets for the beds, toilet paper, paper towels, paper cups, paper plates, hand soap, hand dishwashing det, food for pets with their food bowls - you get the drift - plan on about 2-3 nights working out of this box Make a good inventory - borrow a video camera and walk through your home with the video camera and a regular camera and record what you own. at the same time write it down - where possible put down make, model, approximate price when you got it and where you got it from. Make a copy and give it to someone not involved with the move to keep for you (if the house burns down it doesn't do you any good to have it in the house) if you are moving locally (short distances), the clothes can stay in your dresser drawers - if you are moving long distances, you will need to take things out of drawers due to weight and shifting causing damage start with one room at a time, box up everything that you aren't going to need for a long time (out of season clothes, the good china, etc), label it based on the room it is going to be going into, not the room it is coming out of. Label it with what is in the box. Number the box and put it on an inventory sheet, stack the box in the garage or basement out of the way until moving day. using movers? going the long distance? things going into storage for awhile? take all the real valuables and mail them to yourself (get a post office box at the new address or mail them to your new job) or mail them to a relative. Paying movers by weight? check and see if the US Post office book rate is cheaper and mail packages to yourself. make sure to insure items and keep the receipts -check what receipts the post office would need to pay off and make sure you have them when you disassemble anything (mirrors off dressers, bookcases, etc) you will need a) a rechargeable battery operated screwdriver, lots of ziplock baggies and duct tape. ANYTHING that is dissasembled take the pieces, put them in a ziplock baggie and duct tape it to the furniture it came from. the key to the clock gets duct taped to the clock. If you don't do this, you won't find the pieces for a year. After the movers are done, walk back through the house and pick up all the pieces - screws, etc that are on the floor and put them in a zip lock baggie and take them with you - you will need them. Make sure that children's favorite toys travel with them, not in the baggage if you are moving short distances, lay a sheet on the bed, take the clothes in the closet, still on their hangers and lay them across the sheet, wrap the sheet very tightly around the clothes (like you were making an egg roll, then pick up the ends and carry the sheet full of clothes to the car and lay them across the backseat - you can lay several sets of sheets across the seat as long as they are wrapped tightly and your clothes won't wrinkle or fall off the hangers. I'd write more but it's really late and I've been shoveling snow all day and I'm tired, so for more tips check out my website at www.YourSTLHome.com under free reports or email me directly.

Sell or donate everything you don't need, then pay a moving company to pack it up for you.

make sure you write on your boxes so you no which room they go in