The thought of moving doesn’t seem to faze me as it does most people. “What do you mean you haven’t started packing yet… you’re moving in four days!” I heard that quite a bit this past month. Undeterred, I calmly (lazily) waited it out – determined to milk the comfort and conveniences of my apartment for all it’s worth. Who wants to live out of boxes for a week? What if I needed crushed red pepper but it’s sealed up on the bottom tier of the box pyramid in the living room? We moved on a Friday. Thursday night, we ordered pizza from our favorite nearby joint – a “last hurrah” as we accepted the fact that we’re leaving and we’d probably never get to enjoy it again (we’ve been back twice since). After dinner, we packed the crushed red along with all our other possessions. The process wasn’t as stressful as anticipated. Arguments were limited. Broken items were minimal. Pretty smooth all said and done.
Everyone has their tips, tricks and secrets for a flawless move, but here are a few moving bullet points that made my life a lot easier:
- Be sure you have plenty of boxes. Even if you think you have enough, you probably don’t. Do not turn down your friends and co-workers offering boxes because you will need them. Also, be sure you have quality packing tape. This point almost deserves its own bullet. Don’t skimp – the gorilla tape is worth every extra cent.
- Have all of your stuff completely packed before the help arrives. I’ll go more into this in the next post, where I’ll cover the actual move, but trust me on this.
- Label your boxes. Some swear by a color-coding or numbering system. Do what works for you, but I’ve found a simple “KITCHEN” scrawled in sharpie was adequate enough for me.
- Purge. Moving is the most opportune time to get rid of unwanted/unused stuff. Don’t haul your panini press all the way across town if you never used it at your current place. I know what you’re thinking but take it from me – you will never use the panini press.
That about covers it for the move prep. Stay tuned for next week as I’ll dive into the actual move. Do you have any funny stories or relevant comments on packing or preparing for a move? Let us know below.
