Moving day is a daunting but ultimately exciting day. It’s a fresh start, affording you the chance to reorganize your belongings and make a whole new space your own. Though moving into a new home can be a chaotic experience in New York City, there are a few easy tips you can implement to ensure that the actual day goes as smoothly as possible.

1. Prepare

To ensure that moving day is as calm and organized as possible, it’s important to prepare as much as you can ahead of time. In the weeks leading up to your move, aim to accomplish absolutely everything that can be done before the actual day. Go through all of your things and donate or throw out anything you do not use or absolutely love or need.

2. Pack

Prioritize: In the weeks before the move, gather boxes and begin to pack things you won’t need in the weeks leading up to the move (e.g., books, kitchen items, off-season clothing).

Group by Room: Organize your belongings as best you can when packing, grouping similar items together. Label the boxes by room so that when your moving brigade brings the boxes in to your new abode, it’s easy to put all the kitchen boxes together, all the living room boxes together, and so on.

Use Wardrobe Boxes for Hanging Clothes: It’s useful to get wardrobe boxes, which are tall boxes with a hanging rod across the top that allows you to hang your clothes right in the box. It’s so much more efficient to not have to take all of your clothes off hangers, fold them, pack them, then reverse the process while unpacking.

Keep Essentials Handy: Make sure that your everyday essentials, like toiletries, are packed together and labeled so that you won’t be digging around for these items when you move in and need things like your toothbrush and hairbrush.

3. Hire Movers

Well in advance of moving day, you need to find movers you can trust. Ask around, as word of mouth is one of the best ways to ensure that you’ll be working with people who have done a good job in the past. Make sure to establish how you’ll be paying the movers, by hour or by a flat rate. If it’s by hour, work with your movers beforehand to establish how long you expect the job to take. Moving is a costly endeavor, so you don’t want any extra surprise expenses popping up when it comes time to pay your movers.

4. Moving Day

Before you move to your apartment, strategically scope out the location to get to know the “lay of the land.” Do you need to use some sort of back door, loading dock, or special elevator when moving? Do moves need to happen at a certain time of day? When will you get the keys, and from whom? Make sure you have friends or family with you who can help you by staying in the apartment and watching your stuff while you and the movers are in and out. Make sure to wear comfortable clothing and sneakers.

If you’ve done a good job of organizing, hired a great moving company, and involved some friends or family members in the process, you should be able to achieve an easy transition into your new space. And the smoother your move, the sooner you can start enjoying your new NYC home.

Image Source: Flickr/Angela Rutherford

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