Here are the most important things I've learned in my eleventy million moves:

Heavy things = small boxes.

I keep one box labelled OPEN FIRST on every side. In it go my tools (for assembling furniture, hanging pictures, etc.), a can opener, clean bedding (you do not want to be hunting for sheets when all you really want to do is fall over into bed), a change of clothes, toiletries, a can opener, tea making stuff (or coffee making stuff, if you're so inclined), my favourite mug, and whatever else I'll need right away.

Set up & make the bed first. You'll thank yourself later.

Keep a knife handy (in your purse/pocket). Seems obvious, but I have gotten to my new place to discover that I'd packed my knife in my Open First box. Which is taped shut.

That's all I can think of for now. Good luck! It sounds very exciting.

Start getting rid of stuff now. I always do my books first: go through them, take as many as you can bear to part with to the resale shop or the Goodwill and then box the rest. Then you start to feel like you're Really Moving and can start weeding out clothes and general junk. Really pare it down; even if it hurts now you will thank yourself later.

Don't leave packing the kitchen until last. You can survive on takeout for a couple days and if you don't start packing the kitchen until the last day you'll be miserable. It takes longer to pack the kitchen than any other room.

Start getting boxes now (liquor stores, liquor stores, liquor stores. Do not get banana boxes; they stink of pesticides.) You're going to need about twice as many boxes as you think you do, so get too many.

Wrap stuff in free newspapers. More later!

Had to move computers, but I'm back.

It might be too late in January for this tip, but it worked beautifully when I was helping move my daughter a couple weeks ago: clearance rolls of wrapping paper! We were in a hurry; didn't have a stockpile of newspapers, so we went to KMart and bought Xmas clearance wrapping paper for 99 cents a roll. Worked beautifully and it made it all festive. We also got that weird fuzzy Xmas tree skirting really cheap and used it to wrap breakables.

Oh and nthing elizarde's Open First box and get the bed ready first. That really, really helps a lot.

I wrap fine china and other breakables in clothing, using socks and the like for softening purposes. Craigslist is your friend for obtaining free boxes. I hope never to ever ever ever have to use any of this advice ever again, though. I swore when we moved into our house last summer that I am never. moving. again.

tooooooooo the eaaastside.

Throw out as much as possible! Moving is an opportunity to purge, and everything you toss is one less thing you have to move.

I do clothes and books first, since those are relatively easily done and you feel so accomplished afterwards. You can get by on just a few shirts and pants in a suitcase.
Kitchen and bathroom stuff must be done at least a week before because there are so many frikkin little things that need to be wrapped and accounted for.
Leave out 2 bowls, 2 plates, 2 mugs, 2 sets silverware, 1 big knife and 1 pan and pack the rest way ahead of time so you don't have too much to do at the last minute.

Wall stuff (mirrors, paintings, photos) can be done ahead of time but I tend to leave these because sometimes I dont want to wrap them and I save them for last and then drive them over and put them up in the new place first so I can feel settled immediately and dont have fragile things on the floor while I am trying to set up furniture. You can always nail them up randomly and move them later. If I do wrap paintings etx, I do it in bed sheets and towels.

For me, pet stuff and pillows get packed absolutely last because I don't want it dusty and I want it accessible as soon as possible.

Get up super early on the day of your move because there is always "one last run" that you will need to make, and a bunch of things that need to go in "just a few more boxes."
Even after you think you are done packing, make sure you have 4 more boxes for last minute things that you almost forgot like dustpans, cleaning supplies, extension cords, etc (those tend to be the things I forget don't stay in a place and I will need in the next place).

Oh, and good luck! I am glad you found a great new place and I hope you guys are happy in it.

If you haven't unpacked it from your previous move, don't move it again!

On our last move, in addition to throwing/donating/divesting many things, I found it really useful to pack in order of necessity. It was winter, so I packed all my summer clothes first, clearly labeled. I made a single immediate kitchen box (with 2 dishes/cups/&c per, the coffee pot, sponges & dish soap, the take-out menus we moved only 1 mile down the block) and a single immediate bathroom box, as well as a single immediate work wardrobe box and a single immediate media box. Having a handful of essential boxes clearly labeled, I could function with minimal hassle while getting the rest of the boxes unpacked and sorted. I went so far as to plan a week's worth of clothes and food before packing, and kept the plan in my briefcase. It sounds very rigid, but it worked for me. Being able to leave most things packed while I sorted out what went where, what could be disposed of (even after it was moved), and got accustomed to the new house was almost relaxing.

Prior to the moving truck's arrival--I had the luxury of hiring movers, which I cannot be grateful enough for--I went to the new place and put a sticky note labeled with clear block letters where things should go, which minimized confusion and delay getting the furniture and boxes moved in and also minimized moving things around later.

I do kitchen in stages. There's so many glasses and plates and pots and machines that you do not use every day, you should start packing them away in boxes now. That way when you do the kitchen in the last week, you'll find it only has two plates, two cups and some cutlery left and feel so way ahead of the curve.

I pack items in the rooms they're supposed to be in, this helps when carrying in the boxes - Livingroom goes over there - but also when packing, because it forces you to rethink how you will furnish the new place. So packing is less boring. You have a diningroom now, get the diningroom box out, what goes in there? :)

Sounds great, have fun!

Boxes: check the local recycling center cardboard recycling area. Also, yes, heavy stuff=small box.

Clothes and soft things that are in dresser drawers can stay there. Don't bother packing them.

Cull ruthlessly, especially clothes and books. But also kitchen utensils you don't like, etc.

Pack large pictures/mirrors in flattened boxes and tape well. The smaller ones, pack vertically/horizontally (just not stacking them up, I mean) in a box.

Pack a suitcase as though you're going on a two-week trip. Use that and that only when you're in the last phases of packing.

Dishes: pack plates *vertically* in a box, tightly, and with lots of newspaper and whatnot.

Label all your boxes as to what room they go in, and take them directly to that room when you move.

If at all feasible, hire movers. We're lucky to have a local nonprofit substance-abuse program that operates a moving company as part of their job-training program. It's inexpensive (Cost me $300ish to move my house in town), and the fee goes to funding the program. So awesome.

If I think of anything more I'll let you know.

Congrats on your new place; I had to leave a great community in my move, too, so I understand how hard that is.

please please please do not do what my loving wonderful DH did packing and have about 20 boxes full of mixed junk belonging in different rooms labeled MISC.
YES: pack the 2 week bag for the last week out and first week in.
Sometimes it makes sense to pack soft things in double layered clear garbage bags.
Be RUTHLESS on your purging. Pretend that FlyLady herself is standing over you with a purple rubba something ready to beat you into submission for keeping it 'just in case' I *might* love this thingy in a new place. If you don't love it now, turf it!
Exciting times! good luck!

Obscure Reference has the best packing tip of all!

Here's my comment from an earlier thread:

Make sure all your remotes are packed with items they remotely control, as well as stuff like cables, etc. Likewise any screws, knobs, etc. that have to be removed (you can use tape to attach them to the inside of a drawer, for example.

Have one box of "you" stuff so you don't have to unpack several boxes to do anything simple like bathe or sleep or even eat take-out. Include toothbrush/paste, soap, razor, towel, change of clothes, aspirin and any other important meds, maybe bottle of water/drinking glass, fork/knife/spoon etc., plus toilet paper (very important!), and maybe light bulbs. Also pack all your immediate bedding into one box, and when you get there set the bed up first and make it. That way when you drop exhausted, you'll have something to drop onto.

Be sure a friend has a second set of keys to the new house before you move, and it would be really good to have a couple of people with you to keep an eye on things; between the confusion of open/unlocked doors, an open moving van and everything back and forth, it's not so hard for someone ambling by to decide to help themselves to an item or two. Plus, if you number the boxes, one of the people with you can tick them off as they are brought into the house.
________________________________

I get the lamps out and operational and the bed set up first thing at the new location. The lamps, because awful, glaring, harsh overhead lights are going to make me feel yucky. Cozy lighting and my comfy bed all ready as night falls is very reassuring in the new place.

I agree with kch about labeling. I thought I was very specific about labeling our boxes last time, but I still found myself rummaging through "office stuff" boxes again and again looking for specific items (because we didn't have a room for an "office" to move that stuff into in our new apartment, they were the last boxes to finally get unpacked as their contents slowly found places to go.) Kitchen boxes, especially, benefit from explicit labeling.

This is exciting, miko! A huge PIA, yes, but exciting!

GREAT, wise tips, y'all. Thanks!

Sharpie what is in each box.
Lots of tape.
Lots of small boxes are easier than a few huge boxes that are so heavy they can't be moved without ripping open...
Quality of box and quality tape. Cheap boxes tear; cheap tape does not stick = ooops, there goes the underside of the box shredding open.

I don't use the move to purge. Probably not going to do a big purge anyway or be a large object; so I just go ahead and move it. Can always toss it later; or have to re-buy it if it was tossed in haste.

Funky large furniture/old box tv/broken electronics/bulky junk; yeah. It gets tossed.

Plan on twice the time, volume, lost sharpies, and amount of tape and boxes you will need.

And taking a couple of ibuprofen before you start kinda has you ready to take a couple after; which might just help when you really, really need a few the next day.

These are great tips. Elizard's tip to pack an "OPEN FIRST" box and to make the bed first is very good and very important, as is taz's bolded toilet paper. Make sure you have bath towels and good soap in that box, too.

(Sort of a side note: I keep my overnight bag stocked at all times with a tiny supply of every toiletry I use: a tiny bottle of contact fluid, a day's worth of OTC medication, a tiny soap, a few tampons, and so on. This is handy to have when moving, too. If something unexpected comes up, you don't have to wonder where the heck your [whatever] is in the back of the truck.)

A few years ago, I discovered that if I wrapped my plates and glasses in newsprint (even the rolls of unprinted newspaper), they unpacked a bit dusty and grubby, and needed to be washed before I could put 'em away. Now I wrap them in a thin layer of cheap paper towel before wrapping in newsprint. The dishes come out of the boxes perfectly clean, and after unpacking, I use the crumpled paper towels to clean the new [cabinets/floor/windows/bathroom]. Though I've long been trying to reduce my paper towel usage around the house, to me this still seems like a good use of them.

My last couple of moves, I have been able to overlap by a few days on both apartments, which means:
- I don't get into that panicky rush whereI'm just hucking stuff in boxes and hustling them out of the door;
- I can go back and clean a completely empty place, which is a lot easier than cleaning while we're still packing.

everyone else has got it covered but I will add:

clean and dust stuff as you are packing it, and on review I totally agree with Elsa on newsprint. I don't use it for that very reason. Yes, for dishes and stuff you'll likely want to run them back thru the dishwasher but believe me, you do NOT want to have to clean up all your dusty knicknacks as you're frantically unpacking them. Do it now, as you're planning, and use cleaning as an excuse to pack them early/on the go.

and although it's been said multiple times above, I'm going to reiterate: Label. Everything. I'm seriously not fucking with you. Sharpie is your friend, and no getting lazy and doing the oh-fuck-it-this-is-Miscellaneous. This, by the way, comes from someone who's pared down to the point where everything I own fits inside one small U-haul. I still "lose" shit in boxes.

Kitchens are absolute hell. I always use moves as an excuse to get rid of all the cruft/excess in my junk drawer/silverware drawer / gadget drawer. Here again, if you haven't used it in a year, send it off to Goodwill. No, really. And consider the amount of single-purpose small appliances you have, and have a hard think about how many you really want to drag along. It's painful, worse than books even, but you will thank me later.

In the end, it is just stuff. There is always more stuff. However, do you really want to huck it up four flights of stairs, only to leave it in a box because you just don't have time to figure out what to do with it?

Some wise MeFite once commented about how they pared down on their own tendency to hang onto stuff by imagining that Amazon, Craigslist and Goodwill were basically storage houses for all the stuff he/she could ever imagine, need or want. I don't have the chance to look that up now, but it was an awesome concept.

Reading this is making me feel good about how much stuff I don't have to pare. I purge kind of constantly, and I have been really careful about not accumulating the unecessary because my present place is sort of small. I really just have to cull some books and CDs that have avoided the cuts so far, and maybe some clothes and a few serving dishes.

This will make it easier to move, but on the other hand, I should remember that just because there's more room in the new place, I don't need to fill it with more stuff.

Don't forget the cat. You'll want to crate her and put her in a relatively quiet room (bathroom) while the truck is being loaded. When you get to the new place, set her up in the new bathroom (or another room that won't get a lot of traffic) with food (optional), water, litter box.

Sleep on a towel or something for a couple days before the move so it has your scent and put it in the crate with her. Leave the crate in the new room, with the door open so she has a bolt hole that smells of you.

Put notes on doors as needed:
Cat in here, do not let escape!

That is a great set of cat suggestions. I was at a loss as to how we were going to manage that. Thanks, deborah.

Something that really helped me, when I did a big move a few years ago, was--rather than labelling boxes--to number each one, in magic marker, on each side. Then I made a spreadsheet on my laptop, and as I filled each box I made a detailed list of what was in every box and the room it was going to. (This is MUCH easier if you have one person to type and one person to pack...)

Then I printed out several copies, and on moving day taped them up in highly visible locations around the house. Anyone hauling in a box could quickly check and see where it was supposed to go; and in the ensuing days, before I had everything unpacked, if I was trying to find some specific item, I could just do a quick search on the spreadsheet and find out what box it was in.

- Shower curtain goes in OPEN FIRST box, as well as TP and light bulbs
- If movers are your friends they should put all boxes inside the house and go get more boxes. Have someone else inside moving them where they need to go specifically.
- I put a big letter on a box and then keep a clip board with rough idea of what's in each box. You don't have enough stuff to get more involved than that.
- any non-fancy clothing should go in trash bags, along with blankets, pillows and anything else soft.
- you can get decent boxes from the liquor store, or even the ones from U-Haul which you can return if you don't use them. I found it very worthwhile to go to Home Depot and buy like 10 plastic tubs for mosc stuff. They're stackable. Worth it.
- It's better to have more people for less time than less people for more time. Plan your friend-help time for the big stuff and don't fuss about the small stuff when people are helping you [i.e. have a list of tasks for them to do and just knock them off the list]
- I would also suggest the "hire movers" option even if it's just a few local folks and a van. Saves your back, saves your time for unpacking and chilling.
- as you pack, put boxes in one location and just sort of fill the place up [like your living room, just sacrifice it first and start packing in a week or two] and stack boxes. Packing two or three boxes a day for two weeks is nothing. Assume the last week in your house will be like camping.
- Don't clean your old place until everything is pretty well out of there.
- Try not to fuss. It's easy to get really wrapped around the axle over small things when the really big deal is mostly going to be packing, not killing each other and then the slow unpack. Everything else is details and better to get it done a little less efficiently and keep your sense of humor and your wits about you.

Best of luck. I'll help if I'm around.

- any non-fancy clothing should go in trash bags, along with blankets, pillows and anything else soft.

Oh, right! Also, any clothing on hangers can get packed on its hangers in trash-bag covers, then layered in a box or tub, like so:
- cut a slit or small notch out of the center bottom of the bag.
- grab a decent handful of hanging clothing. Tape the hangers together at the neck-end.
- stick the bundled neck-ends through the trash-bag hole from the inside, seat the hanger shoulders in the bottom of the bag, and tuck the sides down around. Whether you tape shut the bottom is up to you.

It may seem unnecessary to bag them before you box them, but the bagging keeps them mostly on the hangers and tidily bundled provides, and also provides the fabric an extra layer of protection against damage from the hanger ends.

Have a professional cleaning service come in once everything's out and give a copy to your landlord so you get the deposit back.

I left my second place in Boston broom-clean and was still gouged for cleaning fees.