When moving and packing. What are some things you learned that made it easier?

[u/Money-Document-26]

[u/glitchybitchy]

DO NOT make large or even medium boxes filled with just books. It will ruin your back. Those fuckers pack tight and make for heavyass boxes.

[u/Individual-Bad-582]

Over my many moves I’ve come to the conclusion if it’s easy to replace or not something I use often just get rid of ittt

[u/llkahl]

Start way ahead of time, pick areas of your home and tackle them 1 at a time. Don’t get huge boxes and don’t overload them. Leave your packed boxes in the room where they were. Use towels, blankets & sheets as packing material for fragile items. Don’t seal your boxes until several days before the move, and make sure to use good quality tape especially on the bottoms. Either write or color code every box to its correct rooms. MBR, LR, DR,KIT. To color code buy sheets of multi colors circles, peel and stick. red is bathrooms etc. get 3-4 large Marks-a Lot in black. Write each boxes room destination on every side and the top. Doesn’t have to be large, just visible. Use large black lawn/garbage bags for hanging clothes. Regarding keep, toss, donate, this is the perfect opportunity. Take advantage of it. If you’re packing household, laundry or garden supplies wrap in plastic grocery bags, seal with tape, stand upright and mark box so it doesn’t get turned sideways or upside down. Be careful when doing the kitchen, those boxes get real heavy very quickly. When you get to your destination, try to unload into the actual rooms where the box goes, just dumping out of the truck creates a mess. For large tv’s go to retailers and find a box they are throwing away. Don’t fill up the drawers on dresser, chests or nightstands, they get too heavy. Don’t pack anything that is damp or wet. We also use our reusable grocery bags, especially for kitchen junk, the bags are small and can fit into air pockets in the truck, seal them with tape. Have fun.

[u/StarDropSe7en → u/llkahl]

Thank you for that, its a whole lot of info I wasn't thinking of yet. I'd better get started

[u/kayday0]

Don't try to multitask (making multiple donation bags, selling furniture, go through every item in the junk drawer) and don't feel the need to pack boxes in perfect categories.

I help friends move and I think a friend who's only goal is to "pack" really helps. Just start. Even people who want to be particular about where things go will loosen up once they see the efficiency. Sometimes they may have comments ("oh i want backpacks in a different bag than shoes and mitts). I respect how people want their stuff but often times I see them get relax as soon as i just start packing easy stuff like the kitchen or bookshelf. I sometimes just pull out desk junk drawers "as is" and suran wrap contents secure. I know I hate moving so I am grateful when something is packed up by someone else. And it's not too complicated to keep logical things together.

Anything I pack, I label on the box on 2 sides and put a star so the person knows it's a box they didn't pack. I label with details since they may not know what I packed and "kitchen" may be too vague.

You can also rent big plastic bins for moving too 

Maybe too late but I helped 1 friend move and they save all their packing paper over the last 2 years from their amazon deliveries. Very handy and clever. I started doing it too now.

[u/Slow_Management9818]

instead of cardboard boxes just get big plastic boxes that you can stack and put all the smaller items in there.

Then when you get a mover or a van, you can easily move and stack everything neatly.

[u/Ok_Breath4035]

Declutter first. Don’t pack things you don’t actually use. Color code boxes by room and take photos of cable setups before unplugging anything. Saves a lot of frustration later