This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of CORT. All opinions are 100% mine.
All college students who don’t live at home with their parents become experts at one thing: moving.
Moving into your dorm or apartment at the start of the year, moving part way out for winter break, moving back in after break, moving back home for Summer and sometimes even then moving to new apartments for the Summer. Rinse and repeat each year.
Over time, you learn hacks for what works for you, but knowing where to start can be scary. From saving money, saving time, and saving energy here are 10 tips to help make that move a little bit easier.
1. Label Boxes by Room
Previously when I have moved, I didn’t use boxes. I mainly used whatever cloth bags or backpacks that I had lying around my room to stuff everything into, because I didn’t have very much stuff. Somehow this semester I accumulated a lot of stuff.. and using boxes was the easiest solution for me.
Labeling my cardboard boxes was a huge lifesaver. It makes the unpacking process that much easier. As soon as I unpacked the car I knew to move my “bathroom” box to the bathroom and the “kitchen” box into the kitchen. It really made it simpler to unpack and get everything in it’s place.
2. Pack a “First Night” Box or Bag
Let’s face it, after a long day of moving you are not going to have time to unpack everything before it’s time to go to sleep. Pack the things that you use every night/every morning and one pair of clothes separately.
Your medications, face wash, makeup, and phone charger for example are things that you might want to use before you are able to unpack the rest of your life.
3. Use Suitcases for Heavy Items
Heavy items, like textbooks for example, are much easier to carry when they are on wheels than in boxes. It is also a good way to carry items that you don’t want broken, since you can easily pad it and suitcases are more difficult to break than cardboard boxes.
4. Utilize your Laundry Hamper and Basket
If you aren’t travelling far, using your laundry hamper and laundry basket as more containers for soft goods can help ease the moving process.
I used my laundry hamper to load all of my bedding and curtains into and my laundry basket was primarily for my clean clothes from my dresser.
5. Rent Furniture
Moving is stressful enough without the added pressure having to figure out furniture. Having to worry about where you’re going to lay your head for the night or sit while you’re eating dinner can take precious time away from more important focuses.
Especially as a college student it can be so difficult to find time to go furniture shopping in between studying, classes, internships, work, and club meetings. There is a solution to this: rent furniture. CORT Furniture Rental is a great service that provides solutions just for this issue. No matter if you are just changing to an off campus apartment nearby or heading across the country for a dream internship, CORT is there to help.
If you’re a student they even offer a great student discount: you can get 3 rooms of your apartment/house/dorm furnished for only $119 per month, and it’s super simple. All you have to do is answer a couple of questions and they design the entire room for you, leaving more of that important studying time at your fingertips and not worry about the hassle of setting up a new apartment. This furniture is there when you need it, and gone when you don’t, which makes it great for those who are going through periods of transition in their life and don’t want to commit to having a bunch of furniture to keep track of and worry about for a long time.
6. Start With the Small Things
Looking at everything you have to pack up can be daunting, where do you start? Start small.
Take down decorations. Take pictures and posters off the walls, if you’re like me take washi-tape off of the furniture.
Clean off the top of your desk, the top of your dresser, and grab your toiletries out of the shower. Then clean out the desk and dresser drawers before moving to the closet. Leave any big items for last.
7. Throw Away Trash
This one is a no-brainer: have at least one trash bag on handy at all times. I ended up throwing away 3 big bags worth of trash when I moved this time.. it’s crazy how much trash builds up that you don’t even notice throughout the year!
8. Use Towels or Clothes for Breakable Items
When I was packing up my kitchen I realized that I have a weird collection of mugs. Seriously, I have a lot of mugs. I was really unsure of how to pack them up without breaking them, so I gave my mom a call. Her answer? Use towels or clothes for padding. Oh, DUH!
My towels were already packed away in the car, so I grabbed some clothes that I knew I wasn’t going to wear right away after I moved and wrapped my precious mugs and other breakable items in them before packing them away in boxes.
9. Take a Picture of the Room Before
I’m pretty particular about the way my room is set up. If you’re like me and you want to remember what side of the bed you had against the wall to make sure you sleep well at night, make sure to take a picture of the room before you start packing it up.
Save this picture on your phone to reference next time you move in. Of course you can move things around and change it up, but it can be nice to have a reference of how something worked in case you want it that way again.
10. Use Trash Bags for Hanging Clothes
The easiest way to pack and unpack a closet is by wrapping your hanging clothes in trash bags. This is a very common tip that really works well!
Just take a big trash bag, push all your clothes together, and wrap it over the bottom of the clothes and up to the hooks. Then tie it around the hooks and lift all your clothes off the closet bar all at once. This makes for a super simple move in as you just have to hang it up, and unwrap it. It leaves all your clothes in the right order and helps minimize wrinkling.
Hopefully these 10 tips help to simplify your moving experience!
Moving is not easy thing, Hopefully I won’t be needing one, but I take a note for just in case my situation might change..
Your tips are very helpful and should be followed by everyone that needs guide and help with relocation. As we all know that it’s very stressful thing to move to a new place and every bit of help should be appreciated. I am surely going to share your post with my friends to spread all the helpful info you put out. Thanks!
Hello Dani, I already finished reading your moving article and I am glad drop here. Your simple moving hacks strategies is not new for me, but, its really important and effective and by labeling your boxes you can find your stuff that you love to open first if you reached the new town and home. 🙂 Thank you so much, I really love it.
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