6 Genius Moving Tips from Reddit

We love bringing you helpful moving and organization suggestions. We’ve covered things like hiring a moving company, using self storage to help manage your move, creating inventories of your boxes, and more. While we’ve shared many helpful tips, we decided to look for some lesser known, even unconventional tips to make moving easier.

For this, we turned to Reddit, and its users did not disappoint.

Say Goodbye to What You Don’t Need

We’ve written numerous times about the importance of storing, selling, donating, recycling, or throwing out things you simply don’t need. This helps keep your space organized and reduce your stress.

This specific suggestion by Reddit user maroonmonday will help when you’re getting ready to pack for your move:

“With some common sense exceptions, if you haven't used something in over a year, get rid of it. It will make packing and unpacking so much easier when you have less useless junk to deal with.”

The Rule of Three

If you tend to underestimate the effort a task will take, use nova828’s “Rule of Three.” This user states, “First, take a look around your place and estimate how many boxes you will need. Then, multiply by three. That's how many boxes you will really need. Second, think about how much the move is going to cost, from movers to deposits and the cost to turn on the power. Now multiply by three. That's how much money you will need.”

In other words, set more money aside than you think you’ll need, and be prepared to buy more boxes when you discover you underestimated. Many self storage facilities sell moving supplies on-site, making it easy to buy boxes in the same place where you’re renting a storage unit.

The Three Box Trick

You can pack and sort out the things you no longer need as you go. Consider combining this suggestion with the first one on our list.

User diegojones4 gave this suggestion.

“When packing have three boxes. One for your stuff, one for Goodwill, and one for trash.”

We love this idea, but would modify it slightly. When packing a certain area, such items from your bookshelf, kitchen cupboard, or bedroom closet, have one box for the items you’re bringing with you. Have another for things you don’t need but can sell, donate, or recycle. Finally, have a trash bin for garbage.

Packing is Messy

In order to pack up your home, you’re going to have to take things out of closets and off shelves, and for a while, your place will look messier. That’s part of the process. On this topic, user ditkabutt said the following:

“Keep in mind that you are going to make a mess before things get done. Don't be discouraged when you see s**t everywhere. Just keep on working and everything will get done on time. A lot of people panic when they see a mess and make things worse by shoving things into boxes that don't belong there because they think they're not moving fast enough. Just be patient.”

Redistribute the Book Weight

While in general we recommend packing boxes by room, this suggestion makes a lot of sense. User Hatcheling has an interesting way to make sure none of your boxes are too heavy, especially if you’re a book lover.

“Spread out your books in the bottom of every box. Just one layer in the bottom of every box - that way you won't have a thousand super heavy boxes.”

If you do this, we recommend putting two labels on each box. The first will be for the room most of the items go in, the second for where the books belong.

Remember Your Rest

For user mapper1161, setting up the bed comes first.

“Pack your sheets, pillows and blankets together and take them off the truck first. Put your mattress and frame together first thing and make up the bed. You will thank yourself later.”

When moving into a new place, you’re going to get pretty tired. There’s a good chance you won’t get all your boxes unpacked the first or even second day. After a long day of driving then unloading, even though you’ll be exhausted, you won’t feel like putting your bed together. Get it done first, and when you’re ready to drop off into sleep, your bed will be ready for you.

Best of luck on your move, and remember, if you’re looking for additional moving advice, we have plenty of ideas for you to explore.