One reason people hire professional organizers for is to coordinate moving their household from one place to another.  This is popular among people with very busy lives, with a large household, or who recently suffered an injury. I, myself, am moving right now and thought it would be great to share a few tricks that I use when moving, whether myself or others.

1. Start early. Start going through your belongings at least one month prior to your move date.  Begin by going room by room and determining if there any items you want to get rid of, especially big items or furniture.  It doesn’t make any sense to pay movers to move things you don’t actually want.  Post it for sale or donate it so that you’re ready to move only what you truly want to keep.
2. Use boxes. Don’t make things harder on yourself by packing things up at the last minute in what ever you can find.  You will exhaust yourself unnecessarily, will increase your risk of breaking something, and will probably spend twice the amount of time than if you had just packed your  items in boxes.  Good quality boxes are fairly inexpensive at Home Depot.
3. Use boxes unless… As stated in number 2, use boxes unless you are talking about clothes!  Use your luggage to move all your clothing items, bedding, bath towels, etc.  This can be especially helpful for moving coats or offseason items that are stored in spare closet.
4. Label your boxes. Each box should be taped shut and labeled with: the room it goes to, what is inside the box, and the weight or special instructions.  For example: Living room-DVDs/Electronics-Heavy or Office-Decor-Fragile.  This will help you and the movers on moving day to arrange the load so nothing fragile is on the bottom or so that you can carry several boxes at one time based on how heavy the boxes are or what room they are going to .
5. Have the proper tools.  Assemble these items together at the start of the packing process for ease: boxes, tape, marker, post-it notes, scissors, hammer, measuring tape, and bubble wrap.  Most of this is explanatory but just to make it super clear: the boxes to pack things in, the tape, scissors, and markers for the boxes, a hammer to remove nails, post-it notes for big items or furniture to indicate what room they go in, and a measuring tape in case you need to double check or make note of the measurements for a large piece of furniture.
6. Snap a pic. If you need to remember the exact placement of an artwork collection or bookshelf set-up, take a picture before you pack it away. Then, when you get to the new place, you will be able to put it all back as it was. 

These simple things will make your move easier! You’ll be sipping wine in your new home to celebrate and not because the move went so badly you need a drink, I promise.