Moving

So you’re moving, huh? Congratulations! While moving itself is stressful, the prospects of a new place are usually always exciting. It’s a fresh start — a chance to reorganize and redecorate! But where do you start? I’ll tell you: You start before you move in — especially in the kitchen. Here are five things to take care of before you unpack that first kitchen box.

You don’t have to wait until the stressful days before a big move to feel that freedom. Here's how to declutter like you're moving without actually doing it.

Moving soon? You’re going to need packing tape—and a lot of it. But before you head to your local hardware supply store to pick up a few rolls, first think, “Is this going to cause more trouble than it’s worth?” From quickly losing adhesive to not being as durable as you’d like, bad tape can make moving a whole lot harder than it needs to be. And who knows how to avoid these sticky (pardon the pun) moving situations? The pros, of course.

If figuring out your mortgage and closing costs weren’t enough, moving into and furnishing your new home can be pretty stressful. And though you want to make your house your dream home right off the bat, you’re probably short on cash (and energy). Thankfully, you’ll be in your new house for awhile, so you have time to transform your place to match your vision. Still, there are some things you’ll appreciate having on day one.

With a few nifty helpers, moving day magically transforms into a much less daunting task.

You might not think an empty house or apartment as an especially beautiful thing. There’s a reason why houses are staged when they go on the market, and that is because people usually think of empty houses and apartments as sad and lonely. But, after you’ve signed on the dotted line and the home is yours, the emptiness can be a spectacular vision. Instead of loneliness, the space is a blank slate for all the happy memories (and awesome decor) to come.

On May 1, 2017, my partner and I squeezed all of our remaining belongings into an overstuffed Hyundai Elantra and departed on a one-way trip from Toronto to Vancouver. I say remaining belongings because an 2008 Elantra is no U-Haul. Tony Bennett may have left his heart in San Francisco but we left all of our furniture in the Salvation Army loading bay.

As a long-time New Yorker with over a dozen years in the Big Apple under my belt, the idea of moving to another city always seemed pretty laughable. Why would I bother when the best of everything can be found in NYC? Of course, crippling rents, frigid winters and soon-to-be-defunct subway lines can also be found in NYC.

The best piece of advice I received when I moved from Toronto to Vancouver last year came from a family member who had more than one major move under his belt. Having experienced the anxiety of packing and the self-doubt that comes with paring down, he told me, “you’re always going to throw away stuff that you wish you kept and bring stuff that you wish you left behind.

Yes, Malibu has a reputation for being economically extra. But here’s what most people don’t realize: Beyond the displays of wealth—from billion-dollar beachfront homes to YouTube’s targeted ads for spendy rehabs and private-gate installations—is a rustic chaparral and chill country life in the canyons. The beaches are so close, the hiking can start from your backyard and the stars and moon seem so much brighter out here.

Pop quiz: In which state is it illegal to milk another person’s cow, give your child a silly haircut and take more than three sips of beer while standing? Texas, of course. Unless you’re an outlaw dairy farmer with a mullet (to match your kid’s hairdo) who drinks her beer on the run, it’s unlikely the feds will come after you for any of the above indiscretions.

Maintaining a good relationship with your real estate agent isn’t easy. As a buyer, it’s easy to feel like you’re asking too much or are coming off a little too desperate (even if you are!). But whether you’re asking to see 15 more options or fretting over inspection results, you’re not the worst client your realtor has ever had.

I have called Echo Park my home for nearly a year and a half. After spending an unhappy year in a hardly-walkable area of Los Angeles’s Mid City, I decided to move to the east side neighborhood. I felt desperate to find an apartment from which I could stroll to the nearest restaurant, bar, or bookstore. Thankfully, I found that in Echo Park. I like the neighborhood not only for the walkability, but for the creative energy.

The housing market ebbs and flows: It’s just a fact of life. Sometimes it’s a buyer’s market, and sometimes it’s a seller’s. But if you’re looking to buy your first home, the unpredictability of the market can feel closer to an existential threat than a fact of existence. The cities with low housing prices you can actually afford might not be places where you want to settle down, with high unemployment rates and stagnant home values.

Don’t get me wrong— I love New York City. The caliber of cuisine, the convenience of cabs, the irreplaceable energy of eight million pavement-pounders who are craving to shake up their industries. But after living there for years what I wanted more than designer sample sales or expertly crafted cocktails or spontaneous adventures in the city that never sleeps is, well, sleep. I was tired of the town and ready to relocate.

So you just bought your first home—congrats! Now comes the fun part: settling into your new digs by filling it with necessary items. But after you spent all that money on securing your new home, you might not want to spend any more on the boring organization and maintenance tools homeownership requires. Save your dough for nesting, and get moving-in done with these essential 12 finds from Home Depot, all under $30.

It’s no surprise that moving across the country means that not all of your things can necessarily move with you. For my partner and me, area code hopping from Toronto to Vancouver meant forsaking all of our home furnishings to make room in the car for keepsakes and clothing. So where do you start when you sign the lease and you have nothing but wardrobe changes and some family photos?

If you’re a practical person and invested in high quality tableware in classic white, good for you! Your dinner guests will have to look long and hard to spy those tiny chips your plates may have accumulated over the years. For the rest of us who opted for brightly colored vintage dishes that we have to constantly protect with our lives — we need all the help we can get to keep our priceless pieces looking pristine. So what help do we offer? What ingenious tip have we? Ready for it?

Anyone who has downsized before knows that the process can be daunting. What do you keep and what no longer fits into your life? How do you make your smaller home function as you need it? Will you ever feel comfortable again? And if you’re downsizing because all of your assets have been repossessed by the government since your business manager never filed your taxes and ran off with your money, well, that can make the process even more difficult.

It’s a truth universally acknowledged that moving is stressful, even if you’re a big time celeb like Mandy Moore. The This Is Us star shared a sneak peek into the process of setting up her new place via Instagram. According to PEOPLE, the renovation has been going on for a year, and Thursday was finally the first day of furniture install.

In my adult life, I’ve moved almost twenty times. No seriously, I have. It’s not a badge of honor by any means, but, because of this, I’m now awesome at packing everything I own in quick order, and knowing exactly how many and what size boxes I’ll need. It’s a super power. So color me surprised when I saw this tip about a new (to me) method of box packing that makes unpacking even easier.

Living in the city—any city—has a way of instilling a certain sense of pride in a person. And I don’t mean the endearing kind of pride, like an excitable sports fan or a doting parent. I mean the kind of self-righteous, sneering pride that makes promises it can’t keep simply to uphold its reputation. My promise as a city-dweller was that I would never, ever move my (yet-to-be-established) family to the suburbs.

Think about the last time you moved into a new place—why did you leave? If it was because you needed a change of scenery, you’re not alone. A recent Realtor.com survey found that 46 percent of millennials move because they’re tired of their current home. In fact, it’s the biggest reason most people (35 percent of home shoppers surveyed overall) move, period. The only age groups whose reasons for moving didn’t match up with the majority?

Moving is nerve-wracking enough for the humans of the family. Can you imagine the stress on our furry friends when they’re uprooted from the homes they’ve come to know? Here are some ways to keep pets’ anxiety to a minimum during a relocation. Try to bring boxes and moving paraphernalia into your current home as early as is reasonable. This gives animals time to explore and become accustomed to the influx of new and foreign objects.

If you’ve never lived in—or even been to—New York City before, you probably have a lot of misconceptions about what it’s really like, and the truth is, it’s often not the way it’s portrayed in movies. Living here comes with a lot of important lessons, so we asked real New York residents what surprised them the most about moving to the Big Apple.

When you go from a larger home to a smaller one (no matter how big the size difference), it has a big impact on the way you live. You usually can’t fit as many things in the smaller home, and the way you physically move in and use the smaller space might change, too. These folks recently relocated to smaller homes for lots of different reasons, but they all agree there are both benefits to downsizing — as well as a few downsides, too.

A sticky situation can get even worse when you’re short on the necessary paperwork to get you unstuck. And then you create more chaos as you try to track down old receipts or records, combing through piles of paper and endless emails. Did you throw it away? You wouldn’t have thrown away something that important, would you? Did you decide that last year’s apartment lease just wasn’t sparking enough joy? Don’t let worries get ahead of you.

Morgan’s dream of living in Europe was a topic even on her first date with her partner Matt. “Matt had never been to Europe before, but it wasn’t long until we booked out first trip together and he caught the travel bug,” writes Morgan. Three years after that first date, Matt got the opportunity to open his company’s European office. And they had a pick of pre-approved countries like Ireland, England, Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands!

Your phone can do it all these days, thanks to a never-ending supply of apps.

Find boxes? Check. Pack your entire life into said boxes? Check. Hire movers to get said boxes to your new home? Check. You’ve got everything for your upcoming move totally covered, but there’s one small-but-important step you might be forgetting: Take photos!

Moving in with strangers can be a nerve-wracking experience, but sometimes a necessary one; you need people to split the rent with, after all, and you might not know anyone in town or have local friends who are also looking for a new place to live. You need to know, then, that the key to turning strangers-you-live-with into close friends (or at least amicable roommates) is simple communication.

Ah the sweet, sweet victory of finding exactly what you wanted on Craigslist. After the thrill of the hunt and the high of sealing the deal, the logistics kick in and bring you back to reality.

When you move into a new apartment building or a new neighborhood, do you try to make friends with your neighbors, or do you just go about your business? Sometimes, it makes sense to keep to yourself, but if your neighbors seem like the kind of people you’d like to get to know, it might be worth it to put yourself out there a little bit.

Here are a few deliciously persnickety strategies for your most organized move ever.

I move a lot. Like, a lot. I even wrote an article about the benefits of being a serial mover like myself. And in moving so much, I’ve gotten really good at finding great apartments, the newest one always better than the last. (Ask my friends, they’ll back me up!) I’m currently in my seventh Seattle apartment with a view of the Space Needle from my living room. So I promise, I know a thing or two!

Moving to a new city can be daunting, especially when you don’t know anyone. It’s stressful enough to pack up your entire life and settle into a new apartment, and knowing that once you’re done unpacking you’ll have to put yourself out there to meet new people doesn’t exactly help. Bar hopping, art classes and the like are all ways to make new friends, but what if you don’t feel comfortable approaching strangers?

While moving is a great opportunity to pare down belongings and have a fresh start, it’s not on anyone’s list of Fun Things to Do. Spending money on the right things, though, can help keep your move smooth and successful. Whether it’s to stave off potential moving disasters or to make things just a bit easier on everyone involved, these are the things you should never scrimp on when moving. You’re moving on and starting over.

You’ve just landed an amazing job in another city, but as soon as the excitement subsides, you realize that means you have to move. Apartment hunting is never easy, but searching for your dream home across state lines can feel more like a nightmare. Moving to another city definitely won’t be a piece of cake, but it doesn’t have to be a disaster.

Moving is a huge process full of high and low points. Some moments will have you doing a celebratory dance, and others will have you more overwhelmed than you thought possible. Whether you’re signing the lease on your first apartment or you’re trading spaces for the 15th time, your move will probably look a lot like this: Your lease is almost up, and you’re ready to move into a new apartment.

Although it doesn’t get talked about much on House Hunters, the one feature that can really make or break a new home isn’t the kitchen, bathroom or the backyard; it’s your neighbors. And good neighbors, I think, are more an issue of nurture than nature—when you set a friendly tone with new neighbors upfront, you’ll find it’s easy to build and keep a relationship with them, no matter who they are or how they live. But the first step, of course, is to meet them.

“You’re moving?! Again??” I get that a lot. And for good reason. Over the course of ten years in Seattle, I have lived in six different apartments. While that may sound like a nightmare to some people, I have been thoroughly excited to move every single time. And I enjoy every second of my time in each new place. But right around the one and a half year mark, something happens. I get a little itch.

We recently moved into a new home—still employee housing, but a major step up—and in the weeks leading up to the move I was filled with grand notions of the elegant, admirable person I’d surely become, someone truly worthy of the plentiful windows, hardwood floors, and freshly painted walls. Some of my aspirations are totally doable, while others…? I don’t know if a new house—even a fabulous new house—can undo 36 years of being me.

Moving in together is a huge step in your relationship. You’ll soon learn how to share a home together, but also how to kindly and confidently share your true feelings, like when your sweet and lovely partner asks what you really think about that old, worn-out chair of theirs.

Whether you move to a new apartment once a year or once a decade, I don’t ever think you get really good at moving. It’s always going to be a chaotic time. A whir of bubble wrap and packing tape. But there are small steps you can take towards ensuring a smooth move–most importantly, not repeating the same stressful mistakes from the last time around.

Moving is tough. Uprooting your life. Disturbing your routines. Not to mention having to put everything you own into boxes (and then into vehicles and then out of vehicles and into a new place). That’s why the next time you move, whether it’s in a few months or a few years, you should consider this small trick that might help you survive it with your sanity intact.

Q: I’m moving across the country for a new job, and my company thankfully offers wonderful relocation benefits, including a full-service move. Most significantly, this means the moving company will pack and unpack my house for me! From what I can tell, this is an elite service that I’ve never had before, nor do I expect to ever have it again.

The moving process is only as difficult as you make it out to be. If you’re hangry and disorganized the whole time, you’ll come away from the move having lost some really important things like your mind, your time and your grandmother’s china. Thankfully, it turns out being one of those hyper-organized people who have it all together is really, really simple. An organized move comes down to having organized moving boxes.

Dread your upcoming move all you want, but it’s going to happen. Make moving day less painful with this series of clever and easy tips and hacks that are simple, but will make the whole process faster and easier. And then maybe, just maybe, you won’t go insane after packing your 99th box, and will enjoy the first night in your new home.

Well, less of a hassle, anyway. Moving into a place can be a lot of fun, but moving out, is nothing less than torture. Here are five laws, that, if you can stick to them, will make moving much less hellacious. What? Okay think about this way. You look around your current home and all the stuff that has to be hauled away and you might mentally decide how you’re going to organize it all in boxes. But back up.

Though you end up in a fresh new space at the end, there’s really no getting around it: Moving sucks. Sometimes moving means making mistakes and learning lessons. Save yourself the future trouble by reading about these mistakes so you don’t have to learn these hard lessons yourself!

After years of talking about it, we’re finally diving headfirst into the process of moving. Although we love our little house, our family has outgrown it, and we’d all like some room to breathe. My first task was to pack up some of the clutter that we’ve accumulated over the years to get the house ready for potential buyers. As I filled the first box, my ever curious four-year-old asked, “What are you doing, Mommy?

Moving is maddening. Not only is it painful physically, it’s a mental exercise in mindfulness trying to keep everything organized as you completely uproot your whole life. If home is the peaceful place you can retreat to when the world gets hard, having to dismantle it can leave you free-floating in a sea of stress. There’s really only one way through a move (do it) but these eight tips might help you from losing your mind in the process. Like, seriously write it down.

Most moving-in checklists are full of practical items for your new home like lightbulbs and cleaning supplies, but today let’s discuss the things you need to feel settled in a new place. Things like thrift shops, Mexican grocery stores, and pizza delivery. I moved to small-town Illinois from San Francisco 16 months ago, and to rural Illinois two months ago. Let’s see how I’m doing: Thrift Store: Absolutely crucial. Every time I’ve moved, thrift stores absolutely saved me.

It's all here.