I’m sitting here thinking about the fact that I’m going to be moving in a little over three months. I’ve lived here just under a year, and even though I haven’t accumulated much of anything in the way of clutter, I find myself looking at my bookshelf and thinking, “You know, I could start packing away those books now instead of waiting.” On the other hand, I’m not all that happy living here, and I have the feeling that if I start packing boxes now, even if they’re neatly stacked in a corner somewhere, it’s going to feel like less of a home than it does already.
Of course, lots of people have incredible fondness for their homes. Lots of folks have lived in their residences a lot longer than I’ve lived in my current place, so they’d need more lead time. And plenty of folks don’t know four months ahead of time that they’re going to be moving at all, let alone where they’ll be moving. So while I’m going to try to create a reasonable poll, here, I expect a wide variety of answers that may need some explanation.
That being said, how long before moving would you begin the packing process?
For the time-specific answers to the poll, please assume that you have at least that amount of advance notice.
I’ve moved a lot in my life, and learned that the less you actually have to do on moving day, the easier it is. I’d start packing the moment I knew I was moving. In fact, I’m doing that right now, since I’ll be moving soon myself.
Last time I moved I rented the majority of the boxes used in the move, had them for a month so spent two weeks packing and two weeks unpacking. I thought everything went very smoothly.
I would pack whenever the moving company I have paid to do the move said that they needed to pack. The days of me moving myself are way over.
I once helped people move who were literally doing their laundry in the washer and dryer that they expected us to help them move. I was helping a friend move his friends, so these people were strangers, so I did not abuse them nearly as much as I would have if I had known them well.
Lots of movers will provide them (boxes) for free. Ours did and then came back to pick them up when we’d unpacked. Since they expect to use them again and again they were pretty high quality. You could request wardrobe, general and extra sturdy, like for dishes, fragiles, etc.
We started packing probably 2 months before our move. Yes, we had a lot but this also gave us time to go through everything and weed out what should go to a garage sale, charity, etc.
ETA: Also, liquor stores are a great source for boxes.
I should probably have specified that I live in Sweden. I rented them from a moving company. I assume that there are other companies in the moving business in the world that are prepared to rent out boxes, I’d call/e-mail them and ask. They were high quality corrugated fiberboard, very sturdy and we were allowed to write on them with permanent markers (!).
I have not moved in 20 years. However, I keep myself constantly ready. I have dozens of those large plastic containers with folding lids all nested and ready to go. I try not to keep items I don’t plan on using. I have quite a few things that would immediately be trashed on a given move. I try to make sure everything can be disassembled and carried by me if necessary. I have my own truck, but for long distance I’d rent a Penske or Budget and do it myself.
I don’t live in a McMansion; I live in a small apartment, and don’t have a lot of stuff. There is no reason why it should take me more than a week to pack my things.
I suppose it depends on your level of packrattedness, but things like wall art and decorations, books you’ve already read and don’t need as references, clothes for the opposite season, etc. can all start being packed up. There’s always more to pack - and more to clean - than you think. And no matter how many boxes you have, you’ll run out. Them’s the rules.
I’ve moved people like this, and it pisses me righ the fuck off. I won’t do that to my friends. My books and un-season-appropriate stuff gets packed as soon as I know I’m moving.
Last time I moved I had less than 10 days to find a new apartment, pack my things, and find movers to haul things from the old place to the new place. We were still packing the last bits and pieces of stuff the morning the movers showed up. It sucked horribly. Start packing now!
I will start cleaning out closets and stuff as soon as I know I’m going to move, but I don’t start sealing things into boxes until about two weeks ahead of time. Otherwise, I miss the stuff.
Moving sucks. Start packing as soon as possible, because there will always be something last minute that you forgot you needed to do. Those last few boxes of random stuff that you threw in there because you were fucking sick of packing? You’ll need stuff in them and you’ll have no idea where it is.
One does not SEAL the boxes till the day of the move. You slowly fill and mark the boxes, leaving unsealed so you can access the contents if need be; and if you’re a Rhymer (read: neurotic) you also number the boxes and keep an index of the contents.
Check your moving company, if you’re using one. Some will rent outright, some will refund you some of the cost of the boxes if you return them. Specialty boxes especially, ones made of more layers of cardboard or extra features. The company we just used (Golan’s, I think they’re local to Chicagoland) charged $100 for flat screen TV boxes (and wouldn’t move the TV without one), but we got, I think, $75 back when we returned the box. Wardrobes (tall boxes with a metal hanging rod) and “mirror boxes” (used for mirrors and framed wall art) were likewise, pay $x now and get $x-25% back when you return them.
As for the OP - I generally prefer to pack slowly, beginning about a month before the move. This last move, we had literally no notice, and ended up paying the 4 movers to throw shit in boxes, along with a half dozen of our friends. We got a three bedroom, 9 room apartment packed, moved and cleaned in 8 hours, but it cost us nearly $2000 and was not on my list of experiences to willingly repeat. Unpacking now is something of an adventure, too, as there was no order to the packing at all.
(And will someone tell me *why *the movers deemed it necessary to wrap a Matchbox car in an entire sheet of “newsprint” paper to place it in a box also filled with paper? Now I know where the huge charge for paper used came from!)