How to organize a move

Start with the calendar, not the boxes

The best way to organize a move is to set the date first, and everything else after. Once the day is fixed, you plan backward from it: when to book the truck or the movers, when to call the utility companies, when to start packing. It works the same whether you’re moving across town or to another city.

A simple plan for a house move, if you have a month to prepare:

• Four weeks before — set the date, book the truck or the movers, schedule the move of your internet service, get boxes and supplies, and start sorting out what you won’t take.
• Three weeks before — pack what you don’t use: the storage closet, books, decorations, out-of-season clothes.
• Two weeks before — set up electricity, gas and water at the new place, forward your mail, and keep going room by room. Who to tell, and what each one asks for, is in the guide on changing your address when you move.
• The last week — the kitchen and the bathroom, and the first-night box.
• On the day — check the boxes as they leave and as they arrive.

The full list, task by task, is in the moving checklist.

How to organize a move quickly

You don’t always have a month. To organize a fast move — in a week, or over a weekend — cut what isn’t essential and keep what can’t go wrong:

• Don’t sort or throw things out now. Take everything and decide in the new place. Choosing takes longer than packing.
• Pack by room and number the boxes. Even in a rush, it’s ten seconds a box that saves you hours later.
• Use what you have. Suitcases, laundry baskets, drawers and big bags for clothes are boxes that are already in the house.
• Ask for help for one day only, and have the boxes taped shut by the time help arrives.

How to organize your moving boxes

The rule: a box belongs to one room of the new home. Not the room the things came out of — the room they’re going to. That’s what lets you, on the day, set each box down in the right place without opening it.

When you pack your moving boxes:

1. One room at a time, all the way through.
2. Heavy things in small boxes, light things in big ones.
3. A number on every box, and the room it’s going to, on more than one side.
4. A list of what goes in each number. It’s the difference between “it’s in one of the kitchen boxes” and “it’s in box 12.”

How to fill each box is in how to pack for a move.

House or apartment: what changes

When you’re moving to a new apartment, what decides the day is access: the elevator, the stairs, where the truck can park. Measure the elevator and the doors before you decide what goes in one piece and what has to be taken apart, and let the building management know if you need to reserve the elevator or a parking space.

When you’re moving out of a house, the hard part is the sheer amount of stuff — the garage, the storage spaces, the yard. Start there, weeks ahead: it’s where you’ll find what you’ll miss least and what takes longest.

Moving tips and tricks for an organized move

No clever hacks — just small habits. They’re the ones you wish you knew sooner when you’re standing in the new kitchen, opening box after box.

• Photograph what’s in each box before you close it. Memory doesn’t stretch to forty boxes.
• Keep the screws from each piece of furniture in a bag, taped to the piece itself.
• Photograph the back of the TV and the router before you unplug the cables.
• Mark the first-night box and load it onto the truck last.
• Keep with you your documents, your keys and anything valuable.
• Don’t fill boxes until you can’t lift them. More light boxes always beat fewer heavy ones.

On moving day

Count the boxes as they leave and as they arrive. If each one has a number, it’s just a matter of seeing whether one is missing. In the new home, put a sheet of paper on each door with the name of the room — whoever helps unload stops asking where each box goes.

And start by setting up the beds. At the end of the day, it’s the only thing that really has to be ready.