After all of our planning, it turned into complete chaos.

We spent weeks planning our tiny house move like a choreographed dance. Staged deliveries, strategic unpacking, everything carefully considered. Then reality hit, and our plans met the unpredictable world of tiny house moving logistics.

You can see the full visual story of our moving chaos in this week's YouTube video, where the time-lapse footage really captures the endless stream of items and our increasingly overwhelmed expressions.

The choreographed strategy (that worked until it didn't)

Over the past weeks, we'd been planning our move differently than any traditional move we'd done. With only 399 square feet, we realized we couldn't bring everything over at once. We decided we wouldn't move boxes and totes in unless the contents could be unpacked immediately into cabinets, drawers, or closets.

The staged approach worked beautifully - bring some items, unpack and organize them, then bring more. We wanted to leave plenty of room for major deliveries and assemblies without stuff in the way.

But as we got closer to clearing out the rental completely, the plan started to break down. The more we wanted to just push through and get everything moved so we could clean the rental and be out, the less time we had to unpack each load properly.

When reality derailed the plan

Tuesday we put together our office desks and looked forward to the long-awaited washer/dryer delivery and install. The 3-inch dilemma we'd been talking about for weeks finally got resolved - it bursts out of its designated space, but we can live with it for its extra washing capacity.

Thursday delivered a double challenge: our couch and TV table arrived the same day concrete was being poured for our carport and driveway. The delivery drivers had to get to the house from the greenbelt, instead of the road and we had to park across the street and Bryan walked everything to the rear entry. It hadn't been graded yet and it was muddy from rain and concrete work. It probably doubled the time it took to move things in.

Friday was the final push. What we didn't anticipate was just how much "the rest of our stuff" actually was. As Bryan kept bringing loads over, I was unpacking, washing, and organizing. I remember thinking "ok, we got this" - and then Bryan kept bringing more items! It felt endless.

While Bryan went to Lowe's to find a saw (we discovered our bed frame plus mattress height was too tall for the loft), I cleaned all 399 square feet of the rental so we could officially move out. By 3 PM, we were exhausted. We ordered pizza, then kept going.

We had stuff on both porches taking up precious space, staged to go back to storage. Cardboard boxes waiting for Monday pickup. Totes and boxes in every open area. Minimal floor space to actually move around.

What we learned (and wish we'd known)

Downsize more than you think you need to. We thought we did well with our estate sale, and we did - but we'd tell my 5-6 month ago self to get rid of more things and re-purchase what you need. We kept small rolling chairs thinking they'd work in our loft, but they're too tall. I thought I downsized cleaning supplies well, but we still have way more than we can store or go through quickly.

Downsizing isn't "one and done." Until you get unpacked and really start living in the space, it's difficult to imagine where everything you think you need will actually live. Even after an estate sale and months of intentional downsizing, we're realizing more will need to go.

Plan for infrastructure issues. The deliveries prompted us to reach out to the office about solutions for our walkway to the rear entry. We need something sooner rather than later. We also realized we don't have a porch light - the practical details you don't think about until you're living them.

Factor in exhaustion. While it only took me a few hours to deep clean the rental, the day had already been long and we still had stuff everywhere at our house. The drive to stop paying rent in the tiny rental won, which is why we didn't completely finish setting up our bed and organizing on Friday.

Current status and moving forward

The moving chaos is slowly getting organized. We've been working on getting excess items back to storage, breaking down cardboard, and tackling the practical setup tasks that make a space actually livable.

We still have work to do on the bed frame assembly and organizing the many areas that need attention - bathroom organization, finding solutions for practical items like paper towel holders, and working through the items we're realizing we may not actually need in this space.

Taking a content break

Speaking of overwhelm - we're taking next week off from video uploads. Between the all-day editing session to get this week's video finished and the work that suffered while we were busy moving, we need time to catch up.

We also want to get ahead on our content creation schedule. This week taught us that filming, editing, and posting all in the same week isn't sustainable when life gets chaotic. We'd rather capture footage this week and have proper time for editing than rush through the process.

Our Tuesday newsletter also didn't happen this week - too many things going on at once. Sometimes real life takes priority over content schedules, and that's okay.

What's next

This week's priorities: get the bed frame assembled (my back will thank us), hang a porch coat rack and privacy curtains, strap down TVs for safety, and continue working through the excess items to organize them for loft storage.

Next video will show the bed frame problem-solving and what it's actually like to live in the space once it's properly set up. But we're learning not to make promises about tiny house timelines.

The honest takeaway

Moving into a tiny house taught us that even the best planning hits reality hard. Our choreographed strategy worked until it didn't. The staged approach is still the right way to do it, but life happens - concrete gets poured at the wrong time and you run out of daylight.

If you're considering tiny house living, plan for the moving process to take longer than you think. Even after downsizing for months, you'll probably need to downsize more. And that's okay - it's part of the process, not a failure of planning.

What's the most overwhelming move you've ever experienced? We're learning that the chaos is universal, whether you're moving into 3,000 square feet or 399.

Talk soon from our slowly organizing tiny house,

-Kathy & Bryan