Pack up your Stuff like a Champ

Due to our fast-paced move, I did quite a bit of research about how to pack efficiently to maximize time. Packing, moving, and unpacking can be quite the pain, but there are some steps you can take to make it as painless as possible.

1. While you are scouting out your new house, take notice of the closet space that clothes, linens, and shoes will go. Its ok, if at first you can't figure out where every single thing will go. But even if you have a good idea where half of it will go, thats good! Half is better than none! Do the same with your kitchen and bathroom cabinets. The more items that you can immediately put away in your new house the better!
2. When you are packing up your old place, pack items that are stored together, together. If you finish packing a box and it appears like a bunch of random stuff, thats ok. There's probably a reason you had all of these things together in the first place. When you unpack at your new house, set it all back the exact way you had it. There will be plenty of time for re-organization later!
3. Use small boxes for heavy items. This is especially important if you are not hiring professional movers! If your friends or family are helping you move, the smaller boxes will create jobs for all helpers, not just the "heavy-lifting" helpers. We packed our dishes and books in small boxes.
4. Label your boxes! This is a pretty obvious one, but one that needn't be forgotten! We labeled all of our boxes. To avoid buying supplies, we simply used a sharpie, and we labeled all of the boxes in a corner on the top of the box (ie: living room, bedroom, kitchen, studio, etc.). Before anyone started helping us move, we would give them a short tour, naming all of the rooms in our new house. This way, they new which room the boxes belonged.
5. Don't pack your boxes too full. By this I mean, make sure your boxes can actually close. Most of our boxes we simply folded them shut, with some needing extra packing tape for support. When the boxes don't close, it creates a problem every step of the way (they aren't stackable, they're harder to load onto a truck or car, and they are more awkward to carry, creating a safety hazard!).

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