apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

My partner and I are about to move too. We've taken a week off work .We both have over 3 months worth of accumulated leave... so we might as well take a week off to move. Making life sooo much easier for us.

I had about a month to move out of my current single apartment. you'd think a single would be easy? no way! not only did i pick my busiest month to move, but the move itself was a disaster! the corner of the truck nicked a corner of one of the apartment overhangs and knocked off some of the stucco. then one of the pebble/cement steps broke in half while we were walking down the steps with the big boxes (it already had a big crack in it). it was just one thing after another. today is my last day in the apartment- everything is out save for a few cleaning supplies and a lamp. i loved that place and i still do- but i couldnt be more happy to be done with the insanity of moving out! needless to say i wont see my deposit!

i can wait to find a new place with my S.O.- its going to be so exciting! but i dread us moving out of his old place- his furniture is bigger than mine but at least he's on the bottom floor. after my experience i think we'll hire movers.

i can not wait i mean!

moving is so stressful but packing is the hardest part and you are almost done

I'm so in my element when packing! I love it!!! I have tons of those plastic bins you can get at target or the home depot. I do it room by room. Each bin is labeled with contents and which room it will go in next. When the dressers are empty, I mark the bottom of each drawer to make sure it all goes back in the same place. Then I leave one bin empty for moving day - to store all the stuff we needed that morning and for that evening. My husband usually scoffs at me for having so many but, yet he's happy when everything is so organized. Makes the movers happy too! Happy movers make less mistakes! ;)

"Eating take out" is on the wrong list.

I hate moving. I think there's so much to do at the end of packing that you thought wouldn't take so long. Unpacking is even harder, I find. No matter how organized you think your boxes are, you can't find things you need because you didn't think you'd need them and put them somewhere a little harder to find than everything else, and cleaning all the "other people" grime, sanitizing the kitchen and bathroom the second you get in. I mean, you just moved, and nothing gives you a break.

Dave Barry once wrote that he felt it was impossible to ever empty a house of its contents when he was moving. I have stayed in the same apartment for 20 years in part to avoid the pain you are now going through, though I've spent the last 6 years pruning the content of my place in anticipation of the fateful day when I have no choice but to move. I'm guessing it will still not be enough!

I'm set to move on May 8th and feel your pain...

The best part has definitely been making the hard, oh so hard, decision to get rid of so many sentimental items. Tracking the small cool spaces has definitely been an inspiration!

Best of luck on your move!!

i just moved a few weeks ago. (left wicker park (aka the new lincoln park west) for logan square... i was supposed to move at the end of the month as well, but the place was empty and they let me move in early and at my own pace, which made it painless.

i have pretty much moved every year for the last 5 or 6 years. i really enjoy a change of scenery.

I moved out of my first apartment (without roomates) in February. Packing and toting out 2 years worth of stuff was a completely different process from moving in a bed, a bookcase, and a television.

Boy am I glad that's over! Now the noise of my crazy new upstairs neighbors is driving me to make the move again.

If you're moving, please, please, please invest a very few bucks at Staples or some such place and get the kinds of boxes that are letter-by-legal size, because regardless of whether the "To" place or the "From" place is small it will really make the boxes infinitely stackable so that it can take up the least possible footprint while you're having to move around and stuff.

PLUS... it makes them very easy to carry, because even when they're full of books, they're not so back-breaking. Also they stack nicely on the hand-truck, regardless of whether you have movers use it, or you do it yourself.

I move on Saturday and have been packing for a while now. First I was feeling the pros, now I'm just overwhelmed by the cons, especially the "how do I still own this much stuff??" feeling. Grr.

Good luck to everybody who is moving!

and, there's a big difference between packing and moving when you're excited about where you're going, or packing and moving and not wanting to leave one bit... i'm approaching the latter...

I am really enjoying this post and reader comments. We might move and in anticipation I have been weeding out stuff all winter long. And yet I echo the sentiments above that it might not have been enough and I am going to resent all the stuff left to be packed. Definitely a bitter-sweet experience for me. Good luck to everyone moving!

Aggie927, thanks for the inspiration! I don't want to accumulate plastic boxes but I might start collecting cardboard boxes of a similar kind so the process is at least visually appealing! And thanks to Curtis for the tip.

We just moved (and are still unpacking). I was struck by how much waste we created in the process of moving. Tons of boxes, wrapping paper, and never ending balls of tape. After a year of trying to reduce our waste production I think we totally blew it with the move.

You can find tons of gently used and free boxes on craigslist and used recycled paper but how can someone reduce the amount of tape?

In order to rent my new apartment, I had to take it for May 1st, even though my current lease isn't up until May 30th. Though I am not happy about paying two rents for the month, it will be good to have so much time to accomplish the move, especially since I have to finish my thesis and graduate from college at the same time. The best part - the apartments are only a block and a half away from each other, so I can walk stuff over at my own pace.

Leo, what if you used rope or something like that instead of tape? Then those could be reused.

A few months back, we moved out of an 800 sf one bedroom into our 1700 sf house. The whole process was sort of miserable, admittedly because we're procrastinators, and also because we were simultaneously planning our wedding. That small apartment wound up being the equivalent of a clown car - I have absolutely no idea where all of the stuff kept coming out of, but we managed to fill up a moving truck twice and still took like fifteen carloads of crap over. Now our house is full of half-empty boxes that have each been pillaged multiple times for various things.

The worst thing about moving: All of the random unpacked and unclassifiable things that begin to appear all over just when you think you're finishing up.

The best thing: The fact that it becomes so miserable that there's no sentimental feeling left for the place by the time you're done. This worked particularly well for me when I helped my parents move out of my childhood home. I started out all teary-eyed and whimpery, but by the end I couldn't stand to be there for one more second.

I just moved two days ago, and my number one recommendation is to hire professional movers if you can afford it. Our guys not only moved us but they packed part of the apartment as well--worth every penny, believe me. Made the whole process much less exhausting and stressful for our whole family.

The movers we used are Delancey Street Movers, a program that helps ex-cons go back to school and acquire job-market skills. They were amazing--professional, courteous, efficient. They were so good that a passing real estate broker who saw them working stopped and asked for a business card so he could hire them in the future. I can't recommend them highly enough. But don't just take my word for it--check out the reviews here.

Next time I move, I'm planning to rent plastic moving boxes. I've heard so many good things about them---companies pick up and deliver, they don't cost much more than buying cardboard boxes, they're sturdy, and there's no waste. I'm hoping that this becomes more popular so that there will be more companies who provide the service.

I can't imagine moving!

I had to pack up my dining room last fall in order to paint. One room took about a week, and it reduced me to tears and anger. The chaos nearly undid me. Unpacking, though, was a joy. And I tossed things both times.

Our last move we were packing and moving - and renovating the new place at the same time. Yipes!

The worst part is packing books. They're so heavy you can only pack a small box or it falls apart or is too heavy to lift. Vinyl albums were pretty similar.

Next time I move, I'm planning to rent plastic moving boxes. I've heard so many good things about them---companies pick up and deliver....

If anyone finds companies with this service in Southern California (or any where, for fellow AT readers), please share the links in an official post.

Thanks.

I move this Friday, across 3 states. I had pros do the pack up and a national van lines ship the stuff. My car will be full of only me, clothes, and action figures.