So! Moving and Packing Tips!
#1. Watch This.
Buzzfeed: Moving Hacks
Yes, you have a minute and a half to spare.
This video list is definitely a good start.
If you hire movers, they should give you wardrobe boxes (tall box with metal closet pole across them), otherwise use the trick of wrapping clothes on hangers with garbage bags - ain't nobody got time to pack, then re-hang all their clothes.
#2 Read these.
Buzzfeed: Brilliant Moving Tips
Just do it. They are ALL gems. I will repeat my faves below.
Gotta love Buzzfeed!
First. Number 28. Start changing your address everywhere, now.
ALL those magazines, Amazon, Paypal, credit cards, ETC. You'll keep thinking of more. Start early.
Buy new address labels. And email all your friends and family with your new address.
This link below is a good moving tip round up, as well!
Listotic: 33 Helpful Moving Tips Everyone Should Know
More Tips!
Keep an overnight or large tote bag for your essentials like daily toiletries, a change of clothes for the day after moving day, as well as your laptop, charger, and phone charger.
Ask Trader Joe's or another grocery or liquor store for a couple empty wine boxes, the kind that hold 12 or 16 bottles, with cardboard dividers. Use them, not only for packing wine and alcohol bottles, but for wine glasses, vases, and any other decor items of similar size. (You know, like all those empty wine and beer bottles we have painted and now use as decor? ;) )
Buy paper lunch bags at the Dollar store and use them to safely pack glasses and small bowls.
Saves on tissue paper or bubble wrap!
Buy styrofoam disposable plates (Dollar store!), and use them to safely pack plates, putting a foam plate in between each real plate.
Pack plates vertically, on their sides, not upright, too.
Also, use every single towel, tshirt, and sweatshirt in your house (if needed) to pack breakables; again, to save on bubble wrap and tissue paper.
Plus, newspaper is gross, because the ink can get on everything.
If your items and boxes aren't dusty, you won't really need to wash all those after using them to pack, either.
Also, if you pack your dishes and kitchen items without anything dirty or dusty, you won't need to re-wash those either. You're welcome.
I packed sharp kitchen knives in oven mitts!
Cover the tops of all your bathroom/shower liquid bottles in plastic wrap, then screw the tops back on.
This is a great travel tip, too! Shampoo-covered everything, no more!
Your moving company should also have a huge roll of shrink wrap, so they can wrap all the drawers of desks and dressers in tact, so you don't have to pack all the drawer contents into boxes.
If you are moving yourself, or for smaller items like your flatware divider, use Plastic Wrap or Press and Seal to safely transport the contents, again without having to pack them all. We are going for efficiency here, people.
Pack all your heavy books in rolling suitcases. Try to evenly distribute the weight, and don't pack them quite all the way full if your books are super heavy.
Smile apologetically as your movers realize how heavy you have packed those suitcases. Don't worry - those guys have a dolly and super human strength.
Pack your necklaces like this, using empty toilet paper rolls, to keep them from getting tangled!
Also. Something I did that didn't work - I bought these colored labels. Um, labels like this don't stick to cardboard boxes very well. They started peeling off immediately.
You should use duct tape or something with a stronger adhesive. (Or put a piece of clear packing tape over each label.)
Wuah wuah, no color-coded labels for me :(
I just used a super thick Sharpie pen to write the room name on my boxes.
To Do / To Buy Lists: (I live in a world of To Do / To Buy lists, ha ha)
PRE MOVE IN:
Clean the new place, especially the kitchen and bathrooms.
Buy new shower curtain liners and hang those.
Buy new toilet brush and plunger (ain't nobody gonna pack those!)
Buy toilet paper and paper towels.
MOVING DAY:
Bottles of water
snacks - trail mix
trash bags
ziplock bags
pen
tape
paper towels
As you disassemble last minute moving day items, like bookcases and headboards, you wind find you have a lot of loose pieces. Keep a pack of small plastic ziplock bags handy on moving day to keep all the screws, shelf pegs, etc. organized and separated so you can find and identify them later. Bonus points, if you also keep a roll of tape and a Sharpie pen, so you can label each bag with what item it belongs to. You can keep these separately, or you can tape the bag to the actual item it belongs to.
Unless you end up having an awesome AT&T Uverse tech come out to re-set up your cable tv, (added moving weekend surprise! They are always so hit or miss...) it can't hurt to take a photo of the back of your TVs/cable boxes, so you remember which cords went where. More bonus points, wrap each set of cords that go to a certain item together with tape, rubber band or hair tie, and add a tape label.
POST MOVE IN:
Ok, so, the movers are gone, and you are left in a new space surrounded by a moving box fort.
Now what?!
Well, as the movers are bringing boxes in, I actually like to right away start unpacking them! Try to have one box unpacked and empty, before they bring the next one in! Even if you have piles of stuff, it is much less daunting than boxes, and easier to find everything. Put the contents in the correct room at least, and you are off to a good start. The only boxes I left packed were the ones labeled Decor, that I knew I wouldn't be ready for yet.
Decide which kitchen and bathroom stuff you want in which cupboard and drawer, then put away accordingly.
All clothes should be easily hung back in the closet (see tips above - they stayed on the hangers)
Leave the couch open, and wash your sheets and make your bed as soon as you can.
That way when you hit a wall you have a place to relax!
My last tip is pack your wine opener/bottle opener in your overnight bag :)
Then, order delivery pizza, have some wine, and keep trucking along.
Enjoy your new space!
