The White House said Tuesday that President Bush, never one to procrastinate, has started the process of packing his belongings for when he leaves the White House later this month.

White House press secretary Dana Perino said the president and the first lady do not have a lot to move to their newly purchased house outside of Dallas, and joked that reporters shouldn’t expect to “see a big Ryder truck pulling up to the White House.”

To that end, she said, the president and his staff are starting to get ready for the move to make way for incoming President-elect Obama, his family and staff.

“The president’s style is always to be one that’s a little bit prepared early, and he and Mrs. Bush have been working to box things up,” Perino said. “They didn’t come with a lot of things; they didn’t bring a lot of furniture here. So mostly what they have are books, obviously their clothes, and then some of the things that they’ve picked up along the way on their travels as they’ve traveled.”

Perino noted that current events have delayed a lot of the staff from packing up and shutting down.

“Well, part of the thing is, is that when the president said we would sprint to the finish, I think he really meant it, and we’re all panting trying to keep up behind him,” she said.

That said, Perino noted that some staff will start preparing for their departure in the coming days.

“I think that things will start to wind down for all of the offices,” Perino said. “Obviously we’re not creating any new policy initiatives; we’re not up on Capitol Hill lobbying for any legislation. But when it comes to [the communications] office, [reporters] never sleep or stop, so I think that we’ll be at least fully staffed through next Friday. And then I’ll probably see it through at the weekend.”

Perino said that she personally doesn’t have a lot to pack except for a couple boxes of “mementos.”

“And those will be going home soon,” she said.