Moving from one apartment to another can prove to be harder than you think. The thing is that you shouldn’t underestimate the upcoming move even when it looks like a fairly straightforward one – for example, moving within the same apartment building.
It’s really important to plan and organize your apartment move in the best possible way. Remember that the better prepared you are for the challenges ahead of you, the more problem-free the entire relocation will be.
And of course, this is exactly what you’re after – a stress-free move from Day 1.
These 17 tips for moving apartments will help you stay in complete control of the entire moving situation. Your goal should always be to know what to expect from the apartment move and how to handle the most important tasks before and after the move takes place.
Early preparations when moving to another apartment
The success of the upcoming move to another apartment hinges on how well your early preparations go. These first steps are critically important so you want to make sure you don’t skip any of them for whatever reason.
1. Find the right apartment for yourself
The very first step when moving apartments is to secure an apartment to move to. But before you do, you have to assess your financial situation carefully and decide what type of place you can afford to rent, or maybe even purchase.
Whatever you do, you should always resist the temptation to rent an apartment that’s clearly out of your price range. Generally speaking, the monthly rent should not be more than about 30% of your disposable income.
Begin the hunt for a suitable apartment by checking the apartment listings in the neighborhoods where you can afford to live.
Must-read: What to do before moving into an apartment
2. Create a moving checklist
In order to know what you should be doing at any given moment while you’re getting ready to move out, you’re strongly advised to use a detailed to-do list that will guide you every step of the way.
Create a MOVING CHECKLIST and fill it in with all the tasks you know you have to complete prior to Moving day and on the Big day itself. Follow the link above to “steal” some great ideas from our comprehensive moving timeline.
3. Solve the Movers or DIY dilemma
Once you have guaranteed proper time management by following a good moving checklist, it’s time to reach an important decision – will you hire reputable apartment movers or will you try to organize a DIY move?
As a rule of thumb, you should seriously consider hiring movers when you’re moving across the country. When moving locally, you may attempt a self-move provided that you have previous experience, you got enough time to prepare adequately, and you can rely on your loyal friends for assistance.
Useful info: Should you hire movers or do it yourself?
4. Find the best apartment movers in your area
If the destination apartment is located far from your current one, then you should consider using a long-distance moving company to protect and transport your belongings safely.
Luckily, finding one of the best apartment moving companies near you is easy enough:
- Request free moving quotes from several top-rated movers;
- Ask the pros to visit your home for accurate cost estimation;
- Compare the estimates and the movers’ reputation in the form of online moving reviews;
- Pick the moving company that proves to be the best fit for you.
Useful info: 10 Steps to select a good mover
5. Schedule the move properly
Moving from one apartment to another often comes down to making all the small details work in your favor.
One aspect of your upcoming move that you won’t normally think about is the proper scheduling – getting the timing right so that it brings extra benefits for you.
Whenever possible, schedule your move on a weekday roughly in the middle of the month to get better deals from moving companies. Moving during the off-peak season (September – May) is likely to bring down the price even further.
Useful info: When is the best time to move house?
6. Declutter the apartment you’re leaving
Probably the best advice for moving apartments you’ll ever get is to declutter your current home and take with you only the household items you love and do plan to use in the future.
You have to understand that the more things you choose to move to the new apartment, the more money you’ll have to pay for their transportation. What’s more, you’ll also need more storage space in the destination place if you fail to declutter properly.
Be ruthless during the decluttering process – discard anything you haven’t used in over a year.
See also: How to declutter your home before moving
7. Decide what you’ll do with the furniture
Keep in mind that moving from one apartment to another is not the right time to be thinking about moving big and heavy furniture pieces between the two places.
Inevitably, there will be times when you won’t want to part with some furniture items because of their antique and sentimental values. Nevertheless, you do have to be careful to take as few furniture pieces with you (ideally, none) due to the fact that those bulky items will increase both the moving price and the overall level of difficulty.
Good to know: What to do with unwanted furniture when moving
8. Start collecting packing materials
Unless you’ve opted for professional packing services, it’ll be up to you to protect your belongings for the (bumpy) road ahead.
So, the very first step when you’ve made up your mind to pack by yourself is to secure the necessary packing supplies for the successful completion of the apartment-packing job. You’re going to need lots of cardboard boxes of various sizes, rolls of bubble wrap, and sheets of packing paper.
The good news is that you should be able to get free moving boxes in an attempt to lower the moving costs.
See also: What to do before moving into an apartment
Packing tips for moving to an apartment
Packing for a move is the most critical task you’ll have to tackle during your move from one apartment to another. Here are the top 6 tips that will give you a much-needed head start in your preparation to move out.
1. Start packing the apartment ASAP
One of the most important things you have to know when you’ve decided to pack your things by yourself is that the apartment-packing task is the most time-consuming one, by far. And this is exactly why you should start working on it as soon as humanly possible.
The truth is that the more time you give yourself for packing, the less stressed out you’re likely to be since you’ll know you should be able to complete the job on time. The more-time-less-stress tactic should give you enough breathing space to stay in control.
Consult this: 5 Tips for moving into a studio apartment
2. Consult a detailed packing checklist
One common issue when packing for a move without professional assistance is that you won’t always know where to start – that is, what to pack first. And even if you do, you’re likely to get confused about which room and which items to sort out and box up next.
For enhanced time management, you’re strongly advised to follow a packing checklist – a comprehensive to-do list that’s designed especially for the task of packing for a move. A good packing timeline will minimize or even eliminate any loss of precious time.
Must-read: Packing timeline for moving: Personalized packing calendar
3. Pack room by room
Throwing random stuff into random boxes simply won’t work, and that’s exactly why you need a good packing strategy to keep things running smoothly.
Use the room-by-room packing technique to maximize efficiency and eliminate the risk of falling behind the packing calendar. Begin packing your things from the rooms you use less frequently and work your way toward the premises that you use all the time.
In other words, you should first pack up any storage areas in your apartment, including any spare rooms found there.
See also: What to pack first when moving
4. Use caution when packing fragile items
It’s almost impossible not to own any fragile items in the apartment you’re planning to leave soon – things that are delicate and can easily break during transport.
Packing fragile items for moving – breakables such as china plates and glasses – is not easy and in order to do it correctly, you’re going to need plenty of padding materials such as bubble wrap and paper. Make sure you wrap each delicate item in soft wrapping paper first, then add an outer layer of thick bubble wrap.
When packed inside a moving box, fill in any gaps with paper so that your fragile items cannot shift inside the container during transit.
Good advice: How to pack fragile items for moving
5. Label boxes clearly
One step you should never skip during the packing process is to label each box appropriately as soon as you’re done packing it. The thing is that cardboard boxes look almost identical from the outside so you need to know what’s inside each one when those containers get delivered to the new apartment.
And the only way to know with certainty what’s inside each box is to write down its content and destination room on at least 2 of its sides. Also, add any handling instructions, especially when packing breakable items.
Not surprisingly, 1 minute spent in labeling a box can save you at least 1 hour of searching for that container in the new apartment.
Read also: What is the best way to label moving boxes?
6. Pack up a few essentials boxes
It’s important to remember that while your household items are being transported to the new apartment, you won’t have access to them. What this means is that you just have to have the most essential things with you at all times.
Your personal packing timeline should remind you to pack an essentials box for each family member, including for any pets you own. Also known as survival kits, those Open-First boxes will help you make it to the new home fairly comfortably since they will contain some items of absolute necessity.
See also: What to pack in an Open-First box?
Settling into the new apartment
You may wish the move were completely over the moment you stepped over the threshold of the new apartment… but that’s rarely the case. In most cases, you’ll have a number of super-important things to do until you can start to relax in the new place.
1. Unpack in a logical way
You know exactly what’s waiting for you when you move into another apartment – that’s right, it’s UNPACKING.
The good news is that there isn’t a deadline to keep you stressed out, meaning that you can basically unpack your things at the speed you feel most comfortable with. Thus said, you’re still going to need to unpack all essentials boxes with a real sense of urgency.
Unpack room-by-room by following the logical rule that you should first unpack and set up the rooms you will use most often – bathroom, bedroom, and kitchen.
Read also: How to unpack quickly after moving
2. Take care of any urgent post-relocation tasks
In addition to unpacking, you will also have a number of pressing post-move tasks to take care of before you open that special bottle of champagne to celebrate the successful relocation:
- Change your address with the USPS to continue to receive your mail;
- Inform close friends and important institutions of your new address;
- Transfer or change the home utilities to your name if you haven’t done it already;
- Register your car at the nearest DMV office if you just moved to a new state;
- Find a good school for your children, if applicable;
- Sign up with new healthcare providers in the new area.
Must-read: 10 Urgent things to do after moving to a new state
3. Decorate and personalize the new apartment
Put the final touches to a successful move between two apartments by decorating and personalizing the new living space to your own flawless taste.
The great news is that you’ve got so many options to make the new place feel like home that you may come unsure which way to go. Ultimately, you can arrange the new apartment in a similar way to the previous one, or you can go the other way and create an entirely different feel for the new home.
Don’t forget to host a housewarming party when you’re done. Consider inviting the new neighbors to the casual get-together in order to get to know them better and hopefully find good friends among them.
This is it: How to make a new place feel like home
