to pack or not to pack

that is the question.

We've got a tentative move date set for next Thursday.  When do I start packing?  Right now my plan is to not pack until about 48 hours before the moving trucks pull up and work like crazy. 

Here's my thinking:

1, I'm very efficient, high capacity, and like a challenge. 
2, I'm a fierce clutter reducer... packing is not going to involve much sorting into to piles of "go" or "not go" - for the most part, it's all going. 
3, Though our people may be many (7), our stuff is not.  Living in limited square footage means we don't have nearly as much stuff as you might think (see pt #2).
4, If I did pack up a box, I wouldn't have anywhere to put it.  Floor space is not plentiful around here, and a packed up box would end up as a coffee table.
5, We USE our stuff!  While I'm no stranger to paper plates, it seems a bit early to pack up our kitchen.
6, My helper!  Speaking of the kitchen, on "Packing Day" I'm going to let her work her magic and pack up the kitchen, she'll be back again on "Moving Day" to unpack.  ThankYouJesus!
7, We have help.  I can get someone(s) lined up to watch kiddos on the crazy packing day and we already have help for moving day.  I think this seems much better than me using 25% of my energy to try packing while also mothering the 5 and trying to keep them from packing!  
8, I'm fairly certain I've identified which two spots (apart from the kitchen) will need the most time to pack up - our biggest bookshelf and Matt's desk.  Matt's desk is .... well, it'll take a while.  The bookshelf will too, and I might work on that one night after the kids are snoozing.
9, Matt plans to take a load (or three) of fragile stuff in our van - I plan to send wall frames, a lot of the kitchen boxes and other breakables with him.  So, while it'll need to be packed well, I don't have to worry about entrusting breakables to day-laborers who have no vested interest in whether or not glass shatters (moving companies here are not known for their "stress free moves" or "satisfaction guarantees"). 

So that's why I'm not packing.  Still, most days I have this nagging suspicion that I need to be doing something to get ready for the move.  But instead I'm sitting on the carpet playing Rummy with the big kids while the little two nap (I won - again! - he he, but it won't be long til they beat me solid). 

But our packing supplies are already in house (friends who just moved unloaded their boxes on us and we've got them stacked behind our living room sofa - very classy, I know).  Guess who COULD NOT WAIT to get started on the packing?!?  The kiddos.  So I pulled out the packing tape and re-assembled one box for them to load.  They have packed and unpacked and re-packed and nearly wore the cardboard flaps right off that box with all their packing activity. 

They even decided to decorate their box.  (Yes, we keep it in the living room.  And the thing that sticks out to me most in this pic is the carpet - why is nothing strewn about on the carpet in this picture?  Perhaps they packed up all the stuff that they normally leave littered all over the carpet?!?)

[The dark-haired little girl is the daughter of one of Matt's co-teachers at the university.  She played at our house one morning during exam week - and helped with box decor, of course! ]

So early next week if the blog goes silent,  you'll know it's because I'm busy speed-packing our belongings :) 

I'm still not sure this is a very good idea, but it's what I'm rolling with for now, and the afternoons playing Rummy might just make it worth it, even if I do pull my hair out on Packing Day.