Make Moving Easy!

Hello everyone! This week we're going to learn about moving apartments. It's always stressful, especially when you're a college student. You're worried about school along with other responsibilities, and sometimes the move is caused due to a case of bad roommate-itis, which is never fun. So, keeping all this in mind, I'm going to compile a list of moving hacks and tips and other important info that could be useful for students who are thinking about/going to move apartments. April is usually the time prospective students start looking for housing to start their college career or current students who are simply looking for a better change. Keeping in mind that a lot of this stuff is on the internet for you to find, yourself, I've screened through a lot and only added info that would help us college students in particular.

10 Hacks That Make Moving Easy:

1) Pack clothes on hangers in garbage bags. Here's a YouTube video that will give you a visual explanation of how. This is specifically for clothes that hang on hangers, and it saves you time during unpacking. Clothes that sit on shelves can be packed in suitcases. If you toss in a couple of dryer sheets, you can have your clothes smelling nice and fresh until you unpack!

2) Stack plates vertically like records while packing up your kitchen stuff once you've individually wrapped the plates in bubble wrap for protection.

3) Use linens for extra padding while packing fragile items since stuff like towels take up a lot of packing space in boxes and suitcases.

4) Save money on moving boxes by looking in clothing and grocery stores for cheaper options or the Craigslist free section for no cost at all. Also, keep a lookout for moving boxes that people sometimes leave out on trash days!

5) Color code and label your boxes so you're not running around like a headless chicken because you accidentally unloaded your kitchen box in your bedroom and vice-versa.

6) Look for any damage on your walls and get them repaired before moving out so you get your entire security deposit back. Small holes can be filled up with a white bar soap. Literally just rub a bar soap on the hole until it's filled up with soap. Also look for any other kind of damage (leaks/broken blinds/windows/broken anything) and get it repaired well before moving out.

7) Make sure to not renew your lease for another year because then you're stuck finding other people to replace you on the lease and if that doesn't happen, you're stuck living there yourself.

8) Donate/sell stuff you haven't used in the past year. Take some time to sort through not just clothes but everything you own and find places online to donate and/or sell your belongings to. Some places even come to your place to collect everything as long as it's packed in trash bags.

9) Take measurements of the hallway and entryway of your new house. Your couch and bed might fit perfectly in your current space, but might not in a new place, so make sure yo figure out a way to make that move easier.

10) Take one day to complete all the small errands. Get a good night of sleep, load up on caffeine, put on your comfiest sneakers and finish everything you need to finish before you move. This might include shopping, or it might be changing your address from bills and other important forms, or just making sure you have enough boxes and/or tape and/or bubble wrap so you don't have to keep making trips to the store again and again! You're going to be exhausted until one week post-unpacking in the new apartment, so save yourself some extra work!

Where can I donate and/or sell my stuff?

~ Craigslist

~ Facebook marketplace

~ eBay

~ Goodwill

A quick Google search will get you about 20 more results, so you can check them out and make your choice!

If you don't have a big car yourself, and none of your family or friends do either, here are a couple of options to consider (do your reservation EARLY or they might all be taken during busy moving seasons!):

~ Hire a U-haul truck. Depending on what size truck you get, and assuming your pick-up location is near/around Boston, you'll be able to rent a U-haul for under $40.

~ Rent a zipcar. You can rent it for as short as 1 day or as long as 1 week. *if you join before Apr 30, you can have one month free trial service.

~ Hire movers if you have a lot of stuff and would need extra help to carry boxes out of your old place and bring them into your new place. A quick Google search will give you several options, and checking out Google and/or Yelp reviews pays off.

I really hope this helped anyone trying to move out. Like I said earlier, moving is stressful and 10/10 you'll be complaining about EVERY SINGLE THING you need to do before and after moving, but hopefully the end result is worth all the hassle.

Additionally, if you're someone who's moving out on their own for the first time, you should check out my co-worker Chris's vlog from a couple weeks ago. He interviewed a bunch of people at UMass Boston and asked them to tell us "One thing they wished they'd known before moving out on their own". It might make you consider some things you hadn't thought of before and help you out in the future.

That's it for this week! Have a wonderful long weekend (courtesy of President's Day on Apr 16).

~ Manasvi