For years until I was in my twenties I prided myself in being to take up everything that I owned and move completely within 3 hours using nothing but a compact car.

Another important tip is if you know your not where your staying. Of your living on a short term lease -Your furniture can be the actual moving containers. In New York and I don’t know if they ship here they have a store called the container store. One of the many awesome things they sell is a selection of low maintenance hybrid furniture that is actually in it’s own shipping container. I have about 1000 CD’s and about 300 DVD’s and usually keeping them unhurt and reachable during a move the smart way has always been to have them in milk cartons, you know the big heavy duty plastic boxes the dairy’s use? It isn’t as good of an idea as it sounds though because they don’t stack when you get the ones from dairy and supermarkets ( plus your stealing it from the diary) .

Not being stacking means they are messy and disorganized once they land where they are going to live for awhile and hard to get them all in one place neatly. That means they usually had to be moved into another holding/display space and then moved by another means. The container store sells decorative and stackable diary containers they look great especially if your looking for minimalist furniture and they come with lids so when you have to move or store them you shut the lids click them tight and you have a self contained display and shipping container.

My personal chest of draws also bought from the same place. all i have to do is tape them up ( they open back or front ) so they don’t come loose during a move and then roll the whole unit into a truck. Again they can be stored or used and never leave their shipping container. Now that I have kids and furniture and real things it’s harder to do but I’m always keeping an eye on how we can reduce and make moves less traumatic and expensive.

I haven’t been able to do it as much as I would like for the last few years but I am getting everyone in the house playing the “have I used it for six months” game. we also are moving into a house that is much smaller then the one we are living in now. Jen is a pack rat and so are both the kids but it’s actually freeing as well as cost effective when considering hiring movers to just unload as much crap as possible.

( I also collect teapots but Japanese one’s ..I do drink tea however. )

When I left the house and moved to the apartment, I have never unboxed them. I quickly realized when making that move that stuff is just stuff. The important things like photos, a few select treasures here and there are what matter to me most. I like my uncluttered apartment. It seems to mirror my new life.
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