7 Easy Packing & Moving Tips

by | Aug 15, 2019 | Apartment Life, News & Events

Girl holding boxYour search for the perfect apartment is over. You’ve signed the lease, hired movers and are choosing your move-in day. Now, it’s time to get down to business, and make your move as stress-free and simple as possible.

Moving can be a marathon process, and if you don’t stay organized and ahead of the many details and moving parts (literally), it can become overwhelming and exhausting. Take steps now to streamline your move, by making it more cost-effective, organized and easy with these simple tips.

Whether you’ve moved 100 times or this is your very first move to your own apartment, you’ll want to get through your move as seamlessly as possible, so you can settle in and make yourself at home!

Finding Free Boxes
Moving can be more expensive than you think, and it can be hard to know where to trim expenses to help you stay within your budget. We recommend starting by using free boxes to pack your goods, saving cash on the front end of your move, immediately. Pop your nearby recycling facility, grocery store, liquor store or favorite local retailers and pick up any boxes that have been thrown out or left behind. Retailers usually get inventory once a week, so you can ask to visit on that specific day and take all of their boxes off their hands. It’s a win-win for everyone!

Schedule a Free Donation Pickup
In the midst of packing up your life, you may begin to notice that you have far more stuff than you realized or even need. Figuring out how to have time to box up and drop off donations can be a pain, so call your local Salvation Army or Samaritan House and ask if they do free donation pickups. If they do, you simply have to be there on the day when they show up to pick up, and they’ll do all the heavy lifting for you.

Move Mid-Week
An easy way to save money, time and stress is to choose a mid-week move-in day, avoiding Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays completely. Most moving companies charge less on these “off days,” and you’ll likely experience less traffic and congestion on the roads. If you schedule your move during work hours, you’ll find it easier to gain parking for your moving truck and to have an overall easier experience on the day of your move.

Label/Color Code Boxes
Before you pack up your life and send it out the door with your movers, make sure to appropriately label your boxes, so you can quickly find them and unpack them with ease after you’re moved in. Searching through an enormous pile of boxes for your music player, kitchenware or clothing items can be a real bear, so label boxes with permanent marker or with color-coded post-it notes, organized by room.

Use Linens/Pillows/Blankets to Stuff Fragile Boxes
Packing glassware and other fragile goods can be a real nail-biter, and purchasing packing materials can be both expensive and harmful to the environment. Instead, kill two birds with one stone, and wrap glassware and other fragile items in spare linens, stuff boxes with pillows and use blankets to separate layers of breakables inside your boxes.

Pack a Moving Day Box with Essentials
After a long day of moving, the last thing you’ll want to do is unpack a long list of boxes in order to find the essentials you need to eat, sleep and get going the next day. Pack a box with the essentials you’ll need to get you through at least 2 days of moving, including can and bottle openers, towels, a single set of dishware, phone and device chargers, electronic devices, important documents, change of clothes, pajamas, pet supplies, bedding and anything else you know you can’t live a day without.

Keep Cash on Hand
At the end of your move, you’ll want to tip movers, purchase pizza or buy other items at the last minute with ease. If you keep cash on hand, you can easily send a friend out to grab paper towels, sandwiches or sodas for your moving crew, and you’ll be able to better budget your move by using cash only during those first few days.