fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #3126 ]

[ SECRET POST #3126 ]

⌈ Secret Post #3126 ⌋

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FS! Any tips on how to best pack up and move? I'm completely overwhelmed and have no system of organization. Do you go room by room or by priority? And where do you put the boxes once they're packed?! I feel like I'm drowning in cardboard.

Clear a wall that you can line them up if you can, or better yet, an emptied room that you've packed already. But generally, just pack first stuff you know you're not going to use. Out of season clothes, books, stuff you keep in the closet anyway. If you're close enough to your moving date, pack all clothes except a suitcase's worth. Obviously you'll need hygiene stuff and some kitchen stuff until the last, but start putting away stuff you wouldn't use on a daily basis anyway - and those last few days, I'd just get takeout or whatever if possible so you can just fully pack the kitchen.

Also, I personally hate moving actual food, so I try and use up everything I own and clear out my kitchen. Some people don't mind, but it's extra weight and food is liable to spill, puncture, get dirty or old in the movie process. If you have like a tub of flour, whatever, move it. But it's a lot less hassle just to use up everything possible and just toss the almost-empty condiments.

This, with food. The only thing I tried to move with were spices that I knew I'd need again and didn't feel like buying if I had just opened.

Personally, I'd go by room and put everything together the way it was in the old flat because that way, I find it easier to recognise what goes where. You might want to take the chance and get rid of things you don't need anymore. I'd probably start with the room you use the least and once that's all packed, use it to store the boxes. Never pack boxes too full - especially with books. Books are deceptive because they stack so well so you're always tempted to put in more than a box can hold. If a box has a lot of space left but is already heavy, fill it up with lighter things that take a lot of space.
Always write the room on the boxes (and maybe some details.).

When I've moved, I've gone both by room and priority. I labelled boxes by room and then put a big plus mark on them when it was a box I knew I'd want to unpack first. That way, I'd remember to load those into the moving van last so they were the first I pulled out.

I generally choose a room to be the staging area for boxes, and it's the room I pack up first. All boxes go in there.

DA

Want to add, having a staging area in the new place is good too. Dump everything there, sort boxes by where they go, then unpack.

Well, first things first: calm down! You're not doing anything wrong. That's just how moving is. Moving sucks and it's always worse and more complicated and less organized and more draining than you think it is. So you just have to take it as it comes.

Second, I think it makes sense to pack, first by logical category, and then by room. So you go and get significant things that fit together logically (cooking utensils, for instance, or books, or bedsheets, or whatever) and pack those, and then you just sweep through room by room and throw everything that's left into a box together.

I normally start with all the shit I don't actually need first, so I don't have to go hunting for things during the move.

I want to say I'm organised, but my last move was so rushed I didn't have time to be. It got pretty nuts. There were many unlabelled boxes containing some weird combinations of things. I opened a giant box to find my slippers sitting in a frying pan and nothing else.

My only real advice is that it will take you at least twice as long as you think it will take and you will probably run out of tape and boxes because it's easy to underestimate the amount of crap you own. Just get in there and start doing it.

Unfuck your Habitat has a guide to moving: http://unfuckyourhabitat.tumblr.com/post/55512180247/the-ufyh-guide-to-moving

I haven't done a large-scale move myself (just moving into an apartment a few times) but I find UfYH to be generally very helpful so maybe it will help you!

AYRT omg I had not heard of that site. This is super-helpful!

Glad it was helpful! It's a helpful blog in general to those who (like me) really want to be neat but aren't naturally very good at it, and a bunch of related things (like moving and time management).

This is an amazing tumblr

It really is! <3

Room by room, then prioritize. Maybe pack one or two boxes of "we'll need this right away" type things, like clothes, toiletries, etc. for a couple days. Label everything, even if you think you'll remember. If you're super organized, label each box by what room they're meant to go to, then attach an inventory of what's in the box.

1. Clear an area for boxes. This is usually in the living room but may be in another location if you have a spare room.

2. Pack things by order of necessity. The less you use something the sooner it goes into a box. (e.g. the last things to go will be toiletries, dishes, food, and such).

3. Pack a little at a time. Label every box. Place them all together.

4. Unload boxes in reverse order that they were packed.

Easy peasy.

Also - at the very least, put a sort of general contents, or mark the destination room. ("kitchen" "bedroom" "bathroom"). Depending on your movers, this may save you a lot of time and frustration when unpacking.

Downsize, downsize, downsize. Can't stress this enough. Clothes you haven't worn in five years and will never wear again? Donation. VHS tapes you've had since the 1990s? Bin, or donate to a local seniors' centre or library that may still have a VCR. Old gimmicky/infomercial products you bought/won/etc., used once, then never touched again? It doesn't move with you. Leave as much behind as you can, and you'll have less to worry about/unpack when you arrive. Sell off big items on Craigslist, if you're flush enough to replace them when you get there, but that's a pros-and-cons, weighing-your-options thing. NEVER sell appliances, until you know the ones in your destination are good. (Yeah I've been burned. "Chattels as is" = MAJOR red flag.)

Six sets of mismatched cutlery? Pick the best from each to make one set, and donate the rest. Same with dishes/cups/etc., only exception is ornamental/sentimental plates/cups you want to keep.

Buy five to ten copies of the thickest newspaper your newsagent sells, for two weeks prior to your final pack date. (As other anons suggest, pack as you go, for the most part.) Keep any newsprint flyers that come in the mailbox. This is what you will wrap your breakables in. Breakables get wrapped in three layers of paper. Plates are stacked with two sheets of newsprint in between, and the sides rolled up over the edge of each plate (to prevent chips). You WILL need to wash your dishes when you unpack them, but you will have all your dishes intact.

Don't buy boxes. Hit up your local supermarket, they will let you have loads. Get boxes from the liquor store with the dividers, this is what you will put your (newspaper-wrapped) cups and glasses in.

Clothes are taken out of the closets ON their hangers, five to ten similarly-sized items are stacked together, a green garbage bag is pulled over top, and the hangers are threaded out through the plastic. Lay the bags flat on top of your boxes, hang them in the closets as soon as you get to your destination. Label which closet they go in, obviously...masking tape and permanent marker.

Buy one cosmetic bag for each member of the family, sized appropriately for whatever amount of toiletries they have. Practice living out of said bags until you move. Then live out of them after you move. Your bathroom will be impeccable.

If you have a plastic laundry basket (if you don't, buy one), this is what you will pack ALL of your cleaning supplies in, and this (along with a broom, a mop, a bucket, and either a sponge mop or one of those swiffer type deals) is what will be packed THE VERY LAST THING. As in, this will be the first thing you take off the truck. Because you are going to clean FIRST. Before anything gets unpacked, before the boxes are moved into the house. I don't care if the real estate agent personally went around the house on her hands and knees with a toothbrush for days, trust me, YOU WILL NEED TO CLEAN. If for no other reason, than just to make the place feel like your own. And it will. Even if you don't get any dirt up, actually cleaning the place, without stuff in it, will familiarize yourself with the place, and make it yours.

...so, I've moved a lot.

Whoooooooooooo!

Everything you said here is basically perfect. You can also wrap larger things (framed art/pictures, vases, etc.) in towels, sheets or blankets.

The only thing I would add to this wonderful comment is make sure *everything* you pack is clean (it will save so much time and make you happy when you unpack it) and make sure you hydrate, hydrate, hydrate on moving day.

Also? Label the hell out of your boxes and make sure the bottoms of them are taped up good and tight - you don't want to pick up a box of packed dishes and have the bottom fall out.

Good luck!

I absolutely love how detailed this comment is. <3

I may or may not be bookmarking this thread for future reference, just in case...

AYRT -- I'm moving into an apartment that is less than half the size of where I currently live, so the downsizing has happened and will continue till the move date. Thank you for such a detailed response!!

I find that packing by Thing rather than by room tends to help - and I'll start with the really straightforward stuff. For instance: books. Lot of 'em. Really just need to be chucked in a box. Then that's a lot of space cleared and I feel like I've accomplished something, and I go on to the next thing - clothes, or That Stuff In My Important Papers Drawer, or Okay I Don't Want to Do The Whole Kitchen But I Can Make a Mug Box.

Little things, one step at a time. It's all about chipping things away - and labeling boxes, so you remember what's what! It'll all get done in the end, so don't stress too much.

Smaller stuff first, because they take a longer time to pack and sometimes you gotta pack them really well so they don't break. Big stuff later. Also tag all your boxes to know what they are, and if they should be handled with care.

If you have a lot of books, OP, DON'T pack them down in lagre boxes because they will get heavy as fuck. Try to find some smaller boxes instead.

Step One:
Radically THROW THINGS OUT. Honestly, if it's too much trouble to pack, you don't need it. This applies to a LOT of things. Clothing? Only pack the pieces you really like. Last time I moved, I put a suitcase and a box in front of my closet. One at a time, I tried on every. single. item in my closet. If it fit, and I liked how I looked in it, suitcase. If not, box, and then donated.
This also works for the kitchen. Take only the stuff you ACTUALLY use. Not the "hey, maybe some day I might happen to have 50 people over..." type of thing. Or "random tool somebody gave me so i must keep it even though I will never ever ever press a panini or ball a lemon". Donate, donate, donate. Then pack two boxes of kitchen stuff, one fragile items, one for the more sturdy pots and pans etc.

Step 2: Basic categories aside from "clothes" and "kitchen" include "books" (again - only if you're going to read them again), "documents", linen (bedding, table-clothes, towels, etc.), electronics (pack every item WITH it's component parts, so that when you get to the new place it's unpack, plug in, go, rather than unpack, untangle a separate box of cables, freak out), entertainment.

Step 3: Have a place SET BY for the stuff you use every day. so that on the last day you can throw it in your last bag and go. Otherwise, you'll find yourself constantly un and re packing. This is silly.

Step 4: You will realize that your house now has a bunch of stuff floating about that you can't categorize. Honestly look at it and decide if you need it.

Step 5: Now you should be down to a few boxes per category, your furniture, and your set-up "last things" bag. Call friends. Move the furniture. Give friends beer / pizza / reward of your choice. now, move boxes. Reward yourself. Finally, toss last thing into the last bag, give the place a final sweep, go to your new place, and throw a welcome party.

Ta DA! You are moved.

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[ SECRET POST #3126 ]

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