Here I am unpacking again. I am forcing myself to unpack as much in the day as possible before I keel over in exhaustion. I am avoiding doing anything optional until this is completed.
The first priority for unpacking was to gain access to the most basic items for daily living. We needed access to basic dishes, food, cleansing supplies, toilet paper, showering, and clothing. That is pretty obvious stuff I think.
When unpacking I keep these things by my side: a trash bin, a recycle bin, and a box to hold items to be donated.
I unpack a room at a time. I keep at unpacking that room until it is finished. This may take half a day or four days. When I am on a roll doing the unpacking I ask others in my family to come into the room and to collapse the empty boxes. I put the bubble wrap and other good clean packing material in an empty box. Family members get those out of my way. (I am giving away these items, free, so others can re-use them, so I am not just preparing those for the trash or recycle pick up.)
As I unpack I find boxes that belonged in another room which the movers erroneously placed in the wrong spot. I get those out immediately.
Any items I unpack that go somewhere else, I ask someone to come get it and put it in that other room immediately. The goal is to have no clutter in the room that is being worked on.
I keep a list of things we need to buy so that room can be better organized. For example if I need to buy drawer dividers or some kind of bin or shelving unit to better organize the stuff. I write it down so I don't forget about it.
When the room is done I move on to another room.
Furniture or large items that will be donated is put in the garage or an indoor area that is out of the way, or I line a hallway. The goal is to get it out from underfoot and to put everything in one place so when you are going to donate the stuff it is altogether.
Sometimes my choice of room to attack unpack is based on the emotional need to see no clutter in my own bedroom or to see just one room finished, so I'll unpack a bathroom which makes me feel like something was accomplished.
It took me six weeks to have no boxes in my rental house last year since we were busy living daily life while unpacking. Now that we have moved into a large house and have all our material possessions under this roof I worry it may take longer. I am sick of the moving process and sick of stuff. I want this completed in less than six weeks but am not sure if that's realistic.
I am thrilled to finally own our own house in Texas. We are happy to no longer be renters. We love the house and the pool.