Moving Tips & Tricks

Let’s face it, moving is the pits! Although I’m sure some of you, especially military families, have moved far more times than Rio and I have and probably have your own set of tips to make the process easier, I wanted to share the tricks we have developed over the years to ease the royal pain of packing your whole house just to unpack it again a few days later.

Before we dive into the Minor best moving tips, I wanted to give you a bit of background on all of our moving adventures over the years just to show you, that yes, we do indeed have some experience when it comes to swiftly packing and unpacking time and time again 😊

We first moved in together just a few short months after starting to seriously date each other (thankfully after a rough start it seemed to have worked out for us 😉) We moved into what we called our “Horseshoe” Apartment, accurately named for the shape of the layout. It was tiny, had linoleum floors, a super old kitchen, no AC and a community washer and drier…your typical college apartment. Although it was dingy and old, we were so proud of the fact that it was ours and did our best to make it feel like home.

For my last year at UCSB, I moved back in with my parents, while Rio headed to San Diego for a job opportunity, which of course, involved a second set of moves. After graduation, I joined Rio in San Diego, packing up my childhood bedroom and moving it into yet another tiny, old apartment with all the pride and joy the idea of a new adventure brings with it.

Once we both made a bit more money and could afford a slightly upgraded living situation, we signed the lease for a newer apartment in the heart of San Diego and settled in nicely, only to find out that Rio was offered his dream job with a catch, it was located in Yuma, Arizona. Of course, we couldn’t pass up that opportunity and so shipped him off to the desert with all his things, while I stayed behind and cozied up in a small studio apartment for the next 6 years.

After a temporary 1 year move to Georgia, Rio finally relocated to San Diego, joining me in my 300 square foot studio until we secured a larger apartment together. The plan was to stay at our new residence for a few years and finally enjoy sharing the same address, but the universe had different plans. At the 1 year mark of our lease, we confidently went to renew, letting the property know we acquired a furry baby (Lexi), only to be told that the rules had changed in the past year and dogs were no longer allowed on our floor ☹ What a bummer!! Since Lexi didn’t come with a return policy and had already stolen our hearts anyway, we were once again on the hunt for a new place to call home. We settled into a brand new build apartment and thought we found the steal of a lifetime, when all hell broke loose.

Only 5 days after move in, Rio’s motorcycle got severely and maliciously vandalized in the parking garage, because someone mistook him for a police officer. Regardless of your views, that is a horrible thing to do to another human being and no one deserves to be treated like that. Anyway, needless to say, we were able to break our lease and were out of there as fast as we moved in, settling in yet another apartment community, where we lived until last weekend when we moved in with our sweet friend in Temecula, awaiting the finalization of our purchased home.

So, you see, while we may not have the cross state or international moving experience some of you do, we sure do have quite a few moves under our belt and if the tips and tricks we learned along the way can come in handy for any of you, I’m all for it!

Without any further ado, here are our top tips to make your next move slightly less painful and dare I say, more enjoyable:

1. Donate Before you Pack:

Start your packing adventure by doing a major purge, donating what you can, selling what you think someone else might want and recycling/trashing the rest. This will make packing that much easier and will ensure you aren’t giving precious packing space to something you don’t actually need.

2. Start Early:

We started the packing process well over a month before we knew we were moving, doing a little bit each day and while your home might look a bit messy for a while, it will all pay off on moving day when you don’t have to stress about having to pack up a whole house.

3. Bins Not Boxes:

Instead of spending money on carboard moving boxes, invest in plastic bins with tops (we got ours at Walmart for $4.99 each). These will not only make moving more reliable and you won’t have to worry about them breaking when you inevitably overload them, but these will also work perfectly for storing holiday décor, winter gear, etc in your new home post move. (Don’t worry about purchasing too many, you can always return what you don’t use)

4. Label Each Box:

Labeling each box or bin is crucial when it comes to strategic unpacking. We use painters tape and a sharpie to label each bin and rather than using general terms such as “Kitchen,” I like to write exactly what’s in the bin on the label. Things like “Tupperware and plates” makes unpacking so much easier, because it lets me know if the items go in the pantry, kitchen cabinets, etc. and also allows for a friend to help since you can tell them exactly which cabinet to organize the box contents into.

5. Storage Bags:

Order jumbo vacuum bags from amazon, these babies will save you so much space when packing clothing and make storing it super easy.

6. Save Packing Materials:

Once you know you’re moving, start saving all packing materials that come with items you’re ordering in the mail. I had a ton of bubble wrap saved, which made packing kitchen glassware, mugs, plates, etc super easy and efficient.

If you don’t have bubble wrap, towels work great too and I even made use of things like aprons, napkin packs and more to cushion breakable items. These means of packing not only allows you to save fragile items, but it also alleviates the need to find storage space for beach and bathroom towels. Two birds with one stone!

7. Utilize Suitcases:

While in the packing process, we always make sure to set aside any suitcases, large tote bags, etc as they come in handy for packing smaller items, allowing you to save the bin space for larger home pieces.

8. IKEA Bags are Gold:

This might sound silly, but if you happen to live near an IKEA, head on over there and stock up on their iconic blue tote bags! These babies are only 99 cents and make such a difference on packing day! They hold a ton of stuff, are super sturdy and can easily be reused for many other things once you’re settled into your new home! I’m telling you, go grab 10-15, you’ll thank me later 😊

9. Rent a Moving Truck:

Secure a uhaul (or other moving truck) ahead of time, so you aren’t scrambling to find one the day before. We also suggest getting one size bigger than you think you need (trust us!) and add a dolly, mattress plastic wrap, furniture blankets, etc unless you already such materials handy.

10. Storage Unit:

If you think you’ll need a storage unit, be sure to rent one early and do it online as early bird and online pricing is often better than day of in person rates.

11. Recruit Friends:

Ask your friends to help you move way ahead of time rather than the day before. This will make the commitment to assist more reliable and be sure to bait them by offering free pizza and beer 😉

12. Move Smaller Items First:

For most of our moves, we did have a week or so overlap between the new and the old place, which allowed us to haul a few loads of items to the new address before the actual big move date. If you are able to, I can’t encourage you enough to take advantage of any overlap time you have. Doing so will allow you to get all the small items out of the way, being that on moving day, your friends/crew/movers can focus on the big ticket items that you couldn’t take care of yourself. This will not only allow the actual move to proceed faster day of, but it will also allow you oversight of some of the more fragile or easily lost pieces.

13. Unload vs Organize:

This will depend on your moving situation, but Rio and I have long learned that his strength comes in loading and unloading the truck (he is excellent at real life Tetris), while I excel at packing and unpacking, which is why we suggest having both a truck and a home crew. One set of hands loads and unloads the truck, while the other focuses on placing the boxes in the right areas and unloading the contents. This way, once the truck is unloaded, you’re not left with the overwhelming sight of a house full of bins.

I think that captures just about all the tips and tricks we use every time we move and we sure hope one or two of them speak to you and help make your next move a bit easier. At the very least, you got a chance to learn about all the places Rio and I have lived over the past many years and can maybe sympathize with us a bit when we whine about having to move again in just a few months 😉

This post contains affiliate links, but all opinions are my own.