Chloe escaped to the window bench while the rest of the house was in moving chaos

We've moved! We've moved! It was a stressful, busy, chilly day but it's done. Hooray!

Is there anything more exhausting than selling your house and moving? I'm not sure there is. First you have to keep your house constantly clean as you try and sell it. Then it takes weeks to pack up a house. You're stressed about getting the new house ready, dealing with bankers and lawyers, moving mail and shutting off services. And you need to be constantly vigilant that you don't accidentally pack something important away because the reality is you'll probably be living out of boxes the next two, three, six months.

Or maybe that's just me.

I thought I'd share some of the essential products and services that helped me get through this move. It's a stressful time and I found these are the things I depended on.

CLEANING PRODUCTS:

We were lucky to put our house up for sale, sell it, and move into our new house in six short weeks. (Thank you, crazy Toronto housing market!) What that means though is that our house has been a constant frenzy of cleaning. I relied on these three products to keep our house looking its best:
- the Lysol disinfecting wipes were my best friend during the house showings. We'd often get word of showings last minute and it was quick and easy to wipe down bathroom surfaces and countertops with these cloths
- I've tried other natural dish soaps but found they never had the grease cutting action I was hoping for. I received a Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day Dish Soap sample in my BlogPodium gift bag and it's become a fast favourite. Keeping your house sale ready means a lot of washing dishes by hand and not letting them sit in the dishwasher. Mrs. Meyer's has powerful cleaning action yet was gentle on my hands and I love the scents of the soaps.
- AspenClean Kitchen Cleaner is another natural cleaner that has found its way permanently into my cleaning kit. Used with their microfiber cleaning cloth, it was especially effective on our stainless steel appliances and left them streak-free.

MOVING SUPPLIES:

Not all moving boxes are made equal. The Lowes moving boxes proved to be our box of choice. Sturdy construction, a good size, and they had handle holes (!!!) which, after moving hundreds of boxes, you come to realize is a very smart and useful feature. The Small size was perfect for moving heavy books - or, ahem, hordes of decor magazines :)

MOVING COMPANY:

Hiring a moving company can be scary. You can ask friends for recommendations and read online reviews but it all feels a bit risky to hand over your belongings to someone. We received in-person quotes from four local moving companies and chose BlueLine Moving & Storage. They had a competitive quote, good reviews, and seemed quite professional. The actual move went very smoothly with 4 movers and two 26' trucks! Side note: YIKES. We have a lot of stuff. It was amazing how many things were tucked away in our built-in cabinetry ;)

The moving crew worked quickly and efficiently. They had to dismantle a dining table and sofa, and remove one internal door and two exterior doors in order to get our bulky furniture out of our small semi-detached house, but everything was put back in perfect working condition. The crew took good care with our belongings and kept in good spirits during what turned out to be a long 12-hour move in chilly December. I highly recommend them if you're moving in Ontario.


After the move, we came back the following day to do a final cleanup. It was good to see the house clean and empty... it was fun to think back to the house when we first bought it and see how we truly transformed each and every one of the rooms. But the big empty rooms no longer felt like the house we lived in and loved. It was time to detach and move on.

I've got one more post about our Best Renovation Decisions coming your way and then I'll give you a tour of the new house. Or you can catch some sneak peeks by following me on Instagram. The new house is lovely and we're already settling in. Can't wait to show you!