Planning Your Move: Effective and Efficient Packing Strategies

Planning your move from or to an apartment should include efficient packing strategies and an organized plan in order to ensure that moving day goes as smoothly as possible. Here are a few tips that will teach you how to plan a move without a lot of hassle:

Write a Moving Checklist

There’s no way you can start planning your move effectively without a moving checklist. A moving checklist should be two-fold:

1. Write down all of the things you need to do in the time before you move.
2. Write a smaller moving checklist detailing all of the items you’ll be grabbing at the last minute; this should include items (such as toiletries) you’ll be using until the last minute and items such as your important documents that you’ll be keeping with you so they don’t get lost.

Two Weeks Before You Move

You should start checking off things on your checklist no later than two weeks before your move. The first two steps on your checklist should be:

1. Acquire packing boxes and materials; you can get them for free from grocery stores and warehouse stores (speak with the manager on duty) or from classified ads posted by people who have recently moved.
2. Begin sorting items (one room at a time) into four categories: keep (items to pack and bring with you in the new home; you should use these frequently); store (items of true sentimental value that you don’t use often); sell/donate (items in good condition that you no longer frequently use) and throw out (items in poor condition).

The “store” category is optional and should not be very large; you can plan to store these items in a storage facility or just in a few storage boxes in a closet in your new home. For every two items you keep, you should put at least one item in the sell/donate or throw away piles. Planning your move effectively means taking less stuff with you to the new place, which will decrease the amount and weight of the items you move.

One Week Before You Move

While planning your move the week before you move, you should be concentrating on the following two steps on your moving checklist:

1. Holding a garage sale to clear out your sell/donate pile or taking the sell/donate pile to a charity.
2. Packing the keep and store piles effectively. Pack according to the room in which the items will be used.

Color coordinate the boxes with tape or color marker (red = living room, blue = kitchen, etc.) so you can clearly see which room the boxes should be placed in at your new home. Wrap breakables carefully and use the space in a box effectively but don’t overpack. Heavy boxes of books, for example, can break during moving or become too difficult to lift.

Planning your move ahead of time can save you time, energy and even money. The more efficient packing job you do, the less time you’ll spend packing and unpacking and the less money you’ll have to pay movers for their services.