I shared in a previous post that we’re moving soon. Today I wanted to share a few moving tips and tricks to help make the moving process a little easier. These are things that I’m doing with this move to stay organized and maintain some level of sanity and I know they’ll work for you too.
Over the years I have had my share of packing and moving from dorm rooms in college, to off campus housing, to my own apartments and as a family with small kids. Each move hasn’t always been the smoothest or gone according to plan.
Aside from moving from home to college, this is my first to a new city. And I’m not just moving into a tiny dorm room with a car load of stuff, I’m moving my family of four into a townhouse. Needless to say, being as organized and methodical as I can when it comes to packing and moving is necessary.
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LABELING BOXES
Whether you’re using a moving company or you’re renting a truck, you want to be the most organized when it comes to the boxes themselves. Here’s a couple of ways to make the labeling and organization of your moving boxes a little easier.
Color Coded Moving Labels — These are rolls of labels. So after you’ve taped your boxes up with packing tape you can label your boxes with these tapes for what room they belong to. This is much easier than writing on a box with a sharpie. There’s no confusion when you have these bright stickers to help. Each roll has 50 labels for each room.
Moving Tip: Add a label to both the side and top of the box.
Here’s another option for these color coded moving labels.
TAKING INVENTORY
Duck Pack & Track — I’m a pen and paper kind of girl. In addition to my lists upon lists I picked this up at Walmart. What I like about it is that every label has a QR code that you can scan into the app. You can take pictures of a boxes contents and store them in the app. We’ll see how I end up liking this…
MOVING ORGANIZATION BINDER
Like I said, I’m a pen and paper kind of girl. Here’s how I’ve been staying on top of what’s going in each box.
I previously shared these three hole punched notepads that I got from Erin Condren. I knew when I ordered the notepads that we’d be moving and that they’d work out perfectly for this. I took a label from the moving labels and put them on the top of each page. Then I tracked each box, I numbered them and listed what size box they are (small, medium or large) and then I listed what’s in each box. To take it a step further, I noted whether the box had been packed and unpacked.
This way I’m ensuring a smoother transition for the unpacking process. It’s easy to pack things up and just have the mindset that “it’s all going to the same place” but since I know the reality is that I’m the one who will be doing the majority of the packing and unpacking, I want to make it as organized as possible. By keeping inventory of what’s in what box, I can decide what boxes need to be unpacked first and what can wait a while.
The biggest benefit of using the moving box labels is being able to know where each box goes. I’m the packer/unpacker but I’m not the main one doing the actual moving. Having the labels on the boxes mean that everything ends up exactly where it belongs.
Moving Tip: Create a floor plan of your new home and indicate what boxes will be corralled in what room.
This is a floor plan from one of the apartments we looked at. For privacy reasons I didn’t share the floor plan for our new apartment. But what I wanted to share is that you can use stickers or write down which room is which. For example, which bedroom belongs to who?
If you don’t currently have a home office or study but will in your new home, that needs to be accounted for. Will those items go in the “dining room” or “sun room”? How you will use your new space is entirely up to you. The key is making sure that your movers or your helpers make the process a little smoother by knowing where things will go.
Which brings me to my final tip…
Moving Tip: Decide before your move how you want your new home to be set up and organized.
Basically, how things are set up in your current home doesn’t have to be how they’re set up in your new home. Will you be gaining square footage or are you downsizing? Going from a three bedroom to a four bedroom? Upgrading your kitchen space? Now is the time to think about how you want your new home to be set up. If you wait until you’re in your new home with a ton of boxes surrounding you, you’ll feel too overwhelmed to try to decide how you want to design your layout.
This doesn’t mean that you have to completely decorate your new home. Decorating your new abode is not the same as designing the layout. Right now your focus is on getting settled.
If you’ve been a reader with me for a long time you know how I’ve loathed our current home. It’s just never worked for us so I’m over the moon excited about our new home. The added square footage and the change in layout has had my wheels in my head turning. I definitely needed to figure out how I want things in our new home because I only have a few days between moving and going back to work and I want to get as much as I can done in those few days.
Every tip I’ve shared in this post is to make those few days of transition the smoothest possible. I’m a planner girl by nature and being organized and well prepared with packing for this move is key. Plus, my main goal is to keep my sanity in tact! Anything that helps me achieve that goal is a winner in my book 🙂
Love the tips on helping people when they move!
One of my personal favorite tips is to buy secondhand furniture to save money from an online used furniture store like OneUp Furniture.
They deliver used couches, sofa sets and sectionals right to your home. It really could not get any easier.
Their website is OneUpFurniture.com
Making the moving process as stress-free and manageable as possible requires a lot of preparation in advance. We know that packing and moving can get overwhelming and stocking up on home essentials before your move will make your life a little easier. In your blog, You have put together all the essential things and a list of moving and packing materials that a person will need when moving to another place. Thanks for sharing this helpful checklist.
Thanks for sharing this valuable post here!
I think that organizers may reduce the level of chaos during moving. I sorted all of the small things in organizers. It saved LOTS of time.
My company will be moving soon; and since there is a lot of furniture and things that have to be transported, I’ve decided to look for an office moving service. I agree with you that boxes must be labeled properly. I’d also keep in mind to create a floor plan and write down the designated room of those boxes.
Very interesting for TAKING INVENTORY, The actual moving preparation process should start at least 6-8 weeks before your move. The earlier you start the packing process, the easier it will be when your move date approaches
Thank you
It is good to know that it would be smart to be organized and have a list of boxes. That does seem like it would help you know you haven’t forgotten anything. That is great for me to understand because I would want to get a moving expert to help with packing up a moving truck.
I like you suggested that you simply can help the movers by having a tracking device and using labeling tapes. My husband and that i decide to hire movers since we bought an area soon. it might be nice if someone nearby can help us out with this. Thanks dear for such helpful post.
Nice post. Very informative and useful. Thank you for sharing,
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My brother is thinking about moving so that he can get some new neighbors and his kids can go to a better school. Getting some help to move from a professional could be really useful for him. I’ll be sure to tell him about how he should mark when he unloads or packs boxes in an inventory of his items.
My company promoted me and I will be moving across the country. I am a single guy and just living in an apartment so I won’t need to do too much packing. I appreciate the tip that I won’t need to have the same layout in my new home as my current one. I plan on finding a company that offers trailers I could rent to haul my stuff across the country.
congratulations on your promotion!! I’m glad you found my moving tips helpful! good luck on your move!!!
I like how you suggested that you can help out the movers by having a tracking device and using labeling tapes. My wife and I plan to hire movers since we bought a place soon. It would be nice if someone nearby can help us out with this.
Thanks for your tips about how you should decide how things will be set up in the new home before you go so that you can know what goes where in the home. My husband and I are thinking about moving so that we can have some more room for another kid and maybe a pet. Getting some help could be really useful because we have a lot of things and we can’t leave the kids on their own so only one person would be moving us.
I couldn’t agree more Jenna! I’m so glad you found my moving tips helpful! 🙂
I liked your suggestion about organizing your move by making checklists. It does seem like it would be smart to have a list for ext room and listing what is in each box. Also, it might be smart to hire a professional mover. That seems like it would also help make the process a lot easier as well.
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I’m glad you found my moving tips and tricks helpful Ivy! Next go around we’re definitely hiring a mover 🙂
Thanks for this blog. I learned a lot from this blog. This blog is very helpful to those who are planning to move to their new home. Especially to those who are first-timer. I hope you post more tips so that we can learn more and we can apply it to our plan for a home relocation.
I’m glad you found my moving tips and tricks helpful! I’m sure I’ll have more to share with our next move!
I like that you mentioned that there is a huge difference between moving to a college dormitory and moving with your whole family to a new house. My wife and I are newlyweds and we would like an expert moving expert to help us out on this.
right! Such a huge difference in those types of moves Afton, thanks so much for commenting I hope you found my moving tips and tricks helpful 🙂
When you want to move to a new house, these helpful tips that you have here will surely be of big help. Organizing, labeling and color-coding the boxes I think are effective ways to have a hassle-free moving. I think you can never go wrong when you get help from the experts.
I am so glad you found my moving tips and tricks helpful Sandra!
I have read your blog before we moved to our new place and I followed the tips that you well presented here. I’m glad I did, and with the help I got from http://www.movingcompaniesbuffalony.com/, you guys made my moving a hassle-free one. Congratulations!
I’m glad my moving tips and tricks helped you prepare for your move Brenda!
I really want to move later this fall. I liked your suggestion about getting color-coded moving labels. That does seem like it would help the movers and you know what is in the boxes. Also, those labels would help make the unloading process go smoother as well.
yay I’m glad you found my post helpful Penelope!! The labels really helped a ton!! I hope you have a great move! 🙂
I liked your recommendation to take a full inventory of everything in boxes and to number each box. That kind of inventory would ensure that nothing gets lost in the move! Or if a box went missing, you’d at least know what was inside. My husband and I are potentially looking at moving soon, so this tip was especially helpful!
I’m glad I gave a tip you can use Laurel! Here’s hoping for a smooth and organized move for you guys! 🙂
My mom is thinking about moving into a smaller home now that she is an empty nester. She would love to get some help moving her stuff into the new area. I’ll be sure to tell her that she should design the layout in her new home but that doesn’t mean she has to decorate it.
I hope she’ll find that tip helpful Jenna, I know it made such a difference for me!!
My brother might need to relocate to a new location for his work. I love your point about making sure to label your boxes. I would also imagine that hiring a professional moving company can be a great way to save time and have it done correctly.
thanks Sam! Yeah our next move we’re hiring movers for sure! It’s totally worth the cost in my opinion 🙂
Thanks for sharing tips and tricks for moving from one place to another. I found your Labeling Boxes trick most useful trick as it help to pack and unboxing belongings more easily and save time of mover. Making of inventory with the help of pen and paper is also a good idea.
you’re welcome! I’m glad you found it helpful!
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I am planning on moving this summer, and I want it to go really smoothly. I liked what you said about how it might be smart to have a good list of what is in each box. It might also be smart for me to hire a good moving service because it will be a long distance move.
Listing what was in each box really made a big difference for me! Good luck on your move 🙂
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It’s great to know these tips for moving homes. We’re probably going to be moving at the beginning of next year, so this is all helpful. Labeling boxes on the sides and tops is genius. What should we do with the piano we have? Will a moving company move that for us?
I’m glad you found my post helpful! A moving company should definitely move your piano, I know they did when we moved when I was young and we had a piano.
I really Very Impressed to read this one . Useful information and Tips. Thanks for sharing. Keep sharing such a nice post.
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Great moving tips. Moving makes us realize what is important. We tend to accumulate things that we do not use often.
so very true!
Thank you for sharing these wonderful moving tips to us! moving can be a hassle but when your organized and put everything in to place it makes life a little bit easier. am i right?
Hey,
First off, congratulation on this post. This is really awesome but that’s what you always crank out my friend. Great posts that we can sink our teeth into and really go to work. 🙂
thank you so much!! 🙂