Moving advice

[NewDay1]

Hello!  Moving soon and haven't done this for over a decade (still a renter). 

Any moving advice?  Questions I have:
-How reliable is the post office to properly forward your mail?  (And how much in advance should you let them know)
-How best to work with movers
-Packing advice
-How to efficiently set up home in a new space when you can't take too much time off work
-Any lessons learned that you'd like to share?

Your thoughts welcomed. :-)  Thank you!

[meghan88]

- De-clutter and get rid of as much as you can, one drawer/closet at a time.  Sell or donate all that you can.
- Packing:  dumpster dive behind businesses for clean packing materials.  Label boxes with room name + main contents.
- Pack non-essentials first, essentials last, and label essentials accordingly.  Unpack those first and do the rest as you find time.
- Movers:  if you can't avoid them entirely, get a firm estimate up front.  Pay only once the job is done.

[insufFIcientfunds]

I recently did the address change on the USPS website and I have had success (not missed anything major.) They require a credit card and charge a dollar to, what I assume, verify your name.

I took my wallet, called the numbers on the few cards I have; called for utilities a few days before; called doctors, schools, etc. I just made a list and worked through it until I thought it was all checked off. The post office caught what I missed. 2 months since move and I think we are on a good routine.

Don't forget to register your address if you plan to vote. It's pretty easy.


Good luck!

[AMandM]

Our extended family has had six moves in the last five years and for all of them USPS forwarded the mail with no problems.

Echoing the advice to declutter and give away/throw away as much as possible in advance, especially if you are paying for movers.

Packing is a bit of a tradeoff between different kinds of efficiency. Examples: using clothes to cushion dishware saves buying packing materials and reduces the total # of boxes, which can also save money, but it makes unpacking less efficient because the box contains stuff that belongs in two different rooms. Using free boxes saves money, but makes loading the truck harder because the boxes are different shapes so they don't stack as well.

When unpacking do not take anything out of a box without assigning it a place where it belongs in the new house/apartment. That way your living space stays neat as you unpack. You can change your mind later about where something should belong, but don't just "set [object] down here for now." 

[GizmoTX]

For our recent local move, I rented sturdy plastic tote boxes instead of scrounging or buying cardboard moving boxes. Delivery & pickup was included. The totes were clean, industrial strength, self closing (no tape needed), & stacked nicely. I used them primarily for packing up the kitchen, & things required far less stuffing than with conventional boxes. Since the rental was by the week, that incentivized me to unpack ASAP. I will do this again for our next move. Bungobox.com

[anotherAlias]

At my prime I moved 11 times in 10 years.  So I'm a bit nutty about it.   Decluttering is key.  The less you have to pack/unpack the better.  I'm in the camp of keeping boxes specific to a particular room.  It saves so much time unpacking.  If you don't have a lot of time to unpack after the move then I highly recommend proper labelling and inventory of boxes.  My easiest move was my my longest in a very tight schedule.  I had sticky labels on each box that numbered the box and gave a general description of contents (kitchen cupboards, bathroom cabinet stuff):then I had a notebook that had a more detailed inventory of the box.  When got to my new place, I only had a day to unpack before starting a new job.  So I scanned the detailed inventory for the essentials and just unpacked those boxes.  It took a little extra time to pack that way but it was way less stressful unpacking which I think is the harder part.

[chasesfish]

Local move or long distance?  Big difference.

We found the post office to be surprisingly good.

Facebook marketplace and porch pickup to declutter was great too.

[NV Teacher]

My reality has been that no matter how much I thought I’d gotten rid of all the junk there was a lot of stuff that as I unpacked I thought I should have tossed it before the move.