A Few Tips for Moving Day

After having moved 6 times in the past 9 years, I feel inspired to share a few tips about moving.

By no means am I THE expert, nor is this list complete. Even with all my moves, I still forget to do things. Like this last time, I forgot to put the laundry soap in a specially marked box. After spending two days looking, I was forced to purchase a new bottle. Now I own two huge containers.

Here are 5 gems that I almost perfected during my journeys:

1) Spreadsheet

I admit to being a Spreadsheet Queen in most areas of my life, so moving is no different. It helps keep things on track. Let me know if interested and I'll share in more detail. If you're motivated, mark down what worked and didn't with your last move, so you don't forget for next time (like me and my laundry soap).

If you haven't moved in a long time, you'll soon realize there is more to do than you think, you always need additional boxes, and everything always takes longer than expected.

2) Movers vs. Yourself

We packed our own boxes, but hired movers to do the heavy lifting. Well worth the money. They earn those tips especially in the heat. Hauling furniture and boxes up and down three flights of stairs in Texas humidity is unbelievably hard work.

3) Boxes and Containers

Boxes from U-haul can be turned back in (if unused), recycled, or given away. We actually kept most of ours since we traipsed around Texas for 6 years moving 3 times.

If you have room in a garage or storage area, keeping the more specialized containers, like television crates. That would save you money next time. Of course, that could be my brain at this point. Hoping we don't move again for a while.

Invest in the wardrobe boxes! Those are a huge time saver because you simply hang your clothes in the box and hang them back up in your new place.

It can get expensive to purchase special boxes for breakables and anyone that knows me understands why I possess an exorbitant amount of delicate items (thanks to my mom's creative work). I wrapped those small keepsakes in paper and bubble wrap, placed them in a sturdy shoe box, then put the shoe box into the U-haul box with packing paper stuffed along the bottom, top, and sides. Everything made it. I did lose a few large plates my mom created, but did discover they traveled better packaged and standing upright.

Just because you write DELICATE all over the box doesn't mean that the movers treat them any different from a box of bed sheets. So wrap well...or move it yourself.

Between my husband and I, we own 4 sets of china from parents and grandparents. We hauled them all across Texas and only had one broken coffee cup. Very surprising!

4) Labeling

Adhere two 4-inch strips of color masking tape on opposite edges of the box. Wrap them around the corners so you can see the tape no matter which way your box is facing. Some people will use a different color for each room, that was too much for me. Instead, I had green for coming in the house, red for the garage, and yellow for boating things (we love the lake).

In black marker, I wrote where the green tape boxes should go—bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, etc. When warranted, I listed what was in each box on the outside (usually the ones to stay in the garage), but definitely not on all of them. Another time, I numbered the boxes and kept a list of contents on my computer. It depends on how detailed you want to get.

There will always be the final items you pack which are the first things you'll need in your new place—toilet paper, paper towels, key cleaning supplies, a few microwavable dishes, plates and cutlery, and laundry soap (ha ha!). Mark these last couple of boxes with several pieces of tape so you can find them easily.

5) Unpacking

Try not to simply fill up the garage (if you have one) with a thousand boxes. Monitor and direct the movers in which room to put them based on your labeling system. Makes things easier to unpack, and saves you from moving everything yet again.

I can't stand to live out of boxes, so I literally focus on unpacking until it's done—which is why I am so grateful to go back to work!

Those are my 5 tips and I hope they're helpful if you're moving soon. One last thing. When you are unpacking, blast your favorite music, dance around the room putting things on shelves, boogie down to place pots and pans in the cupboards. Makes a crummy, but necessary task, just a tiny bit more bearable!

Happy moving!

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Find details about my books at dianedresback.com and my filmmaking at mindclover.com.