The Successful Move

Over the years I've gotten good at this. I've moved people into dorms, into apartments and into houses. And out of houses into apartments. Here are my unscientific tips to a successful move after helping a friend today with a move that turned out great:

1. Hire movers. Oh wait. Not everybody can afford that or wants total strangers manhandling all their furniture. Okay, well, in the absence of 'Two Men and a Truck' here's what else I've learned.

2. Go through your stuff way ahead of time. If you can pare down the stuff, less stuff has to be hauled. You'd think this would be a big 'duh.' I can tell you I should have pared down some stuff a long time ago. But I hauled it from place to place. Ugh.

3. Have everything packed before people arrive. They are not going to pack up your stuff while it's going out the door. If it's not ready to go, they're not taking it and you'll have to take it later. I have done this on both ends - the mover and the movee. On both ends it's seriously annoying.

4. Label your boxes with the room of destination. That will really help when you have to find those cups. And it makes unpacking go much more smoothly. And it also saves your movers from stacking everything six boxes deep in what will eventually be your dining room.

5. Tell all your friends. Seriously, the more people you have to help, the quicker the whole move goes and the less exhausted all of your friends are at the end of the day. They might even stay to help you unpack. Today's move went great because a ton of people showed up. That really helped when a couple of the guys faced the dilemma of getting a huge sofa out of the house and then into the apartment. We had enough people that we got a lot done while they handled that sticky situation and we were done by 1:00. So if you can get a bunch of heavy lifters to take the big furniture, even better.

6. Have available at the old house and haul to the new house: ziploc baggies for nuts and bolts, duct tape, an entire and comprehensive tool kit with screwdrivers of all sizes, paper towels, and cleaning materials.

7. Make sure you have the following items at the new home: toilet paper in all bathrooms, bottled water in the fridge that is already ice cold, cups and plates and napkins, and something snacky.

8. Know where you want your furniture before it comes in the front door. Or expect to move it on your own later. Dithering about where something is going to go when it's heavy means your mover is going to set it down wherever and you're going to have to move it yourself. Today's move didn't face that at all - by the time the sofa arrived we knew where it was going to go.

9. Feed your movers. Beer and pizza are popular.

Anything I've missed? Any tips? Horror stories? Stories of success?

Now I'm going to take a nap.