Updated from the archives: Life Hacks to Make Your Move Easier
I’m moving again this week so I decided to revive and refresh this post from 2015. Fun fact, these pictures are also from 2015 so don’t hate me.
Stephen and I are moving from our one-apartment that we share with our golden-mutt Molly and fat cat Mimosa, to a four bedroom house. We are super excited about the elbow room. However, this brings the grand total of moves to 5 in 4 years. If there is anything I feel that I am absolutely an expert at, it’s preparing and packing for a move.
I’ve compiled and updated my list of moving tips and life hacks. Here you go:
Put a Styrofoam plate in between your fragile plates to keep them from bumping into each other.
-In the past moves I didn’t really care about my plates because they are old. I, of course, took care of them, but they were a hodge podge of hand-me-downs. This year, we got married. So now, we have nice plates that match, are crack and stain free, and match all the other accessories like butter dishes and gravy boats that I never had before. So I am treating them like they are made of diamonds. And my Christmas spode? Forget it. I used an entire roll of bubble wrap on those 8 place settings alone. In addition to the bubble wrap, I highly recommend the styrofoam trick.
Press and Seal your drawers.
-Let me tell you a story about how one time, I was driving behind the trailer that was holding my stuff. I watched as the top drawer of my chest of drawers started creeping slowly out. As it was sliding out my navy bra started making it’s way out of the drawer. We were able to pull over and save it in time; however, the last thing I would ever want is my underwear and bras all over the city of Atlanta. So now I press and seal my clothes into my drawers.
Cut handles in your boxes.
Boxes are heavy… It’s super awkward to shimmy them up your body and hold them underneath. So save yourself the hassle and back pain and use a box cutter and cut a handle in the sides. Stephen did these last move and suggested that you also tape the edges so you don’t cut yourself while you carry them. This year we thought it through and bought the boxes with the handles pre-cut.
When you disassemble furniture place all the screws, nails, nuts, and bolts in a labeled Ziploc bag.
-You will save yourself hurt, aggravation, and therapy by doing this tip. I even recommend taping them directly to a piece of the furniture it belongs to. Under the coffee table, on the back of a book case, whatever.
As a veteran of many cross-country moves, my best tip is to get rid of stuff you no longer need or want before you move. Have a garage sale. No sense moving (and paying for! – professional movers charge by the pound) stuff you’d decide to purge when unpacking.
That’s a great tip! We only moved 20 minutes up the road but if I was going cross country I would sell everything!
This is great! so helpful, thanks for sharing
No problem!
These are such great tips. We helped my sister move this past weekend and it was a hassle! I dread the day we have to move! lol
I hate moving, but honestly this move wasn’t too bad.
Moving can never be easy, but yes some tips can make it go smoother. We might be moving in few weeks and the packing and unpacking is already a nightmare to me!
Yep! I hate moving but this move wasn’t too bad!
We have finally stayed in one house for the past 3 years. We don’t plan on moving but the last time we did we did the trash bag trick with the clothes and it was a life savior!
That’s awesome! I’m hoping we stay here for awhile.
These are great tips! I never thought of the styrofoam plates one! We’re getting started with packing now so I’ll definitely be putting these to use. 🙂
So excited you’re coming to Georgia!
Ooo! Love your idea to put styrofoam plates between plates! And also the garbage bag trick. I always think about this, even though I have no plans to move soon!
Thanks girl!
I mean some of these are genius. I should be moving sometime in the not too distant future so Im saving this!
Awesome! Hope it hurts!
All great tips! Esp making box handles.. I gotta do that haha
Yep! It makes life so much easier.
We move around a lot! Thanks for all the awesome tips!
Hope they’re helpful!
Moving can be so stressful and so much work! These are great packing tips! The one thing I learned to do is keep a list on paper or on your phone of what is in every single box and number each box. That way if you can’t unpack all at once but need just one random thing, you’ll know what box you put it in.
That is BRILLIANT!
Here’s my best tip: Use your clothes to wrap all of your dishes and keep them from rattling around in their boxes. You literally never have to buy packing materials again!
That is really really smart!
Great tips. We are moving soon and I’m not looking forwards to it lol. Your tips will make moving bearable.
Thank you! Hope they help!
We are moving in one month so this is perfect! So many things I didn’t think of like the labels on the side! I agree with mixing rooms!! Thanks for this!!!
No problem! I hope your move goes well and the tips help!
These tips are amazing! Def love the tip about cutting out handles on the boxes. So smart.
Thanks girl! It’s so helpful–makes all the difference.
these are great tips – I never even considered them before! Love it! & hate moving. So thanks for making it a bit easier!
Yep. I have a hard time moving, but over the years collecting these tips have helped!