As you think you can set up the storage in the basement first and then as things come into the house, they can go to a designated detanations.

What you want to do before the move is made, as soon as possible to pace yourself through it, is to declutter BEFORE you move a lot of excess crap into the new house. . . double the necessary gear if both of you had complete household inventories of stuff. An easy way to do it when the stuff is in two different places is to gather it by collections into a single place to sort through it all. That way, you can pull out the best that each of you has, repack it for the new house, and you can get rid of the excess and the duplicates.

Your categories might be: linens, dishes, pans, kitchen gadgets, tools, music, electronics, videos, office equipment, etc.

So the cycle is: combine, sort, reduce, repack and LABEL, discard, and repeat.

You can do this with furniture and appliances, too, except that you don’t necessarily have to get it all together and see them side by side to know what you have and what you prefer to keep. I would also say to make sure you have no use for a piece before you get rid of it. For example, you may be getting a new bedroom set together and won’t need either of your own in the bedroom itself, but a nightstand might make a great end table in the living room, and a dresser might make an excellent linen cabinet on the upstairs landing, or an island in the kitchen. A bookshelf, if not needed in it’s original place, might get used in a whole new way in a whole different room.

Another thing is to pack according to where things are going, not where they are. You might be moving from an eat-in kitchen to a kitchen with a separate dining room. Even if all those things are together in the kitchen now, pack them separately. If you have children sharing a room, and they will have their own rooms in the new house, pack the kids separately. If you have two bathrooms now, and are going to three, spread it three ways instead of two. You get the picture.

Third thing is about packing. Your stuff will pack better if you use large boxes. The best I can think of for most household stuff is beer boxes from 24 count longnecks. They are sturdy, have a built in lid, they are uniform in size (no matter what brand) they have handles, and they are an easy size to carry even if they are full of something heavy. They also stack nice and they are recyclables.

More packing advice: label everything with white address sized stickers, and a different color sharpie for each room. Label each box on all sides and on the top, that way no matter how you look at the box, you can see clearly what is in it. I would run stickers by room through a printer that prints off the room name, and then you fill in with contents by hand in the color coded sharpie. Special handling, ie, FRAGILE, might be labeled with a bright orange sticker underneath the address labels. You will go through a lot of stickers and it will get tedius but you will never regret it. Then make a key for yourself and your moving helpers, a list of all the rooms and their color, maybe even a rough floorplan of the house so everyone knows where all the rooms are located. Make about 50 copies and hang them all over the house, in every hallway, on every door, at every entrance. Helpers can glance around no matter where they are, and you will get the box contents to the right place without them having to ask, or having to peek inside to direct traffic.

Last thing I have is that before any of this happens, I would make a survival kit for each person in the house, a kitchen kit including easy to prepare food, a bathroom kit with basic toiletries, and all medicines, cleaning supplies, emergency documents, and a basic inventory of tools. Each person gets a simple wardrobe, a place setting for eating, a towel for bathing, a few sanity savers (toys, books, etc) and the rest is allowed to be packed as far ahead as necessary to make for a smooth move. The whole time the house is in shambles, the items you pulled for immediate use anytime, will be available. For expendible items, like cleaners, toiletries, and food items, I would personally pack the larger quantities and leave out anything that is less than half full. By depleting these items while you get ready to move, you not only reduce bulk of all those containers, but you also start out the new house with more fully stocked items, and you can pitch what you don’t want to move without losing a great deal of products.

I wish you the best in this new chapter of your lives.