I'm Moving ... Please Help, Well, Not With The Moving Part
 

Hi Caroline.

One thing I like to do is get rid of all my junk before the big day. Start going through your stuff and get a box together for Goodwill. It's less for you to unpack at the new place.

Good luck with the move.

I've moved alone last time (with movers). Next time, I'm hiring packers/unpackers AND movers. I discovered I hate packing just as much as I hate moving. And it's time consuming too. I think that's the only thing I would do differently. My move went pretty smoothly except for having unpacked boxes around for a few weeks. But I had a friend (a male friend) who when I first went to his apartment, and I noticed boxes, I asked, "oh you just moved in?" and he said, "nope, been here 7 months."

Oh, and I forgot to update my new address to the DMV and I never got my car tag registration (it just meant I had to go to the DMV to get them instead of through the mail but it's never fun standing in line at the DMV). It was something I overlooked because it's only a once a year mail.

Don't wait until the last minute. I have moved about 6 times in the past 3 years and each time I wait until the last minute. I often go through things that I no longer use, but then regret it later. When my dad passed away I was only able to get a few things from the house, and then my brother gave all my stuff away. I wish I would have moved all my things from there.

This is probably going to sound really stupid, but I'd just take note of where outlets are in your new place. We moved ourselves (28ft uhaul), but we had some heavy furniture that we moved in the dark unloading the truck. We put heavy stuff in front of outlets (bc we couldn't see...electric hadn't been turned on yet and it was nighttime) and had to shift everything around A LOT!

And if you move anything by yourself which I'm SURE YOU KNOW!!!...to do it in moderation... When we were done (600 miles away from our original apt after 14 hrs in 100 degree heat), our fingers were honestly double the size they normally are for 4 days! Neither of us went to the bathroom from 7am-1am the following morning despite drinking about 2 gallons of H2O each.

I've moved so many times I think I've got it down! Once I tried to label every single item in each box- it got to be too overwhelming. Here's my suggestion-
I put the name of the room that the box needs to be in- and a number on it. Anything with a 1 I know I need to unpack asap. 2 - things I can live without for a while but not forever 3- if it stays in a box for a month, I won't miss it. That way- I know what I need to unpack first- and by writing what room it's on- all my kitchen stuff is in the kitchen and so on.
With your time frame I'd definitely start going through my stuff and boxing up my 3's now.

Hubby suggests that you don't forget to stretch on moving day and know where the Aleve is for that night! :)

Also- if you have to clean the place you're moving from and want your deposit back- I strongly suggest you have a day for doing that, maybe two. And some friends to help! :) To me that is the hardest part of moving, the cleaning up.

oh! And a walk through of the new place before the movers get there. I like to go through and take not of any damage at the new place to have the landlord keep a copy on file, don't want to be blamed for anything I didn't do when I move out. Also, once, I had a very horrible move in because the place wasn't cleaned. At all. so- it's good to know what you're getting in to.