- Hi there, it's Laura
here from I Heart Planners and I have a lot of experience moving. And in this video, I'm gonna show you how to have a super
organized, really smooth move. (cheery pop music) So everybody knows that
moving can be stressful and a little bit, or maybe
a lot chaotic sometimes, but let me tell you, from experience, the more organized and prepared you are, the better your move will go. And I have moved so many times. From house-to-house,
halfway across the country, you name it, I've probably done it and I'm gonna be sharing with you what I have learned along the way. On my last move, I had a
ton of people commenting that it was the most organized
move they had ever seen. Because we had everything
labeled and ready to go, the truck was unloaded, everything was in the right room in under an hour and a half. So that's what happens when you prepare. So if you're moving, if you know anyone who's gonna be moving, be sure to share this video with them and if you love organizing tips, be sure to hit subscribe, so you don't miss any of our videos. Alright, so my number one piece of advice if you're gonna move, is
to create a moving binder. Get it started well ahead of time. Let me tell you, I have moved both without and with a moving binder, the moving binder moves
went so much better. And I'm gonna walk you through
exactly what I have in mine and I have a printable kit
that I've created for you to help you create your own binder. Be sure to click the link
below to download it. Alright, so first I filled
out the Moving Legend with all the areas in our new home. And this printable, what I love about it is that it's fillable, so you can customize it to your
own needs, to your own home and type in what spots that you have. And if you don't have that many, just leave some blank, no big deal. And then next, I filled
out the Moving Label sheets that corresponded with the
spaces on the Moving Legend. And, again, these are fillable. Not only are they fillable, you're not gonna have to
type in your labels 10 times, don't worry, you just type in the first spot and it'll automatically populate the rest of the spots on
that label sheet for you, and so I love this. So that means within two minutes, I had my complete file
for my own customized, printable moving binder all done. Then, I print a few of
each of the label sheets onto Avery label sheets. I use Avery 8163 labels,
they're super easy to find, they're supposed to address labels, but they work perfectly for this to put on moving boxes. Alright, and I wanna
issue a word of caution about these shipping labels. They work perfect for
putting on moving boxes because you don't need
to take them off, right? But, if you try to put
them on wood furniture or something like that, or even plastic, they do not come off easily. They're not designed to be removable, so you might have a little bit of trouble. Now, we went ahead and
put them on our furniture because the moving truck
was getting there before us and we wanted everyone
to know where it went, but we don't really have
any valuable furniture. If I had super valuable furniture, I would not be putting these labels on it. Now, all we had to do
was take some Goo Gone and get them off, no big deal, but I wanted you to know that upfront so you don't get yourself in a situation where you put it on something
and you can't get it off. So the next thing I do, after I printed out a few
sheets of each type of label is I punch the side of the labels and I put those right
into my moving binder. Now, what I'm using here
is not your traditional three-ring binder system,
it's a disc-binding system. Now, I love the disc-binding system for a whole lot of reasons, it's what I use for everything, but why I love it so much for this, is that the punch does not
eat very far into the page, it doesn't go as deep as the
traditional three-ring page, so that means I'm not really punching into the side of my labels very much, so you're not seeing
big holes in the labels. And having them all in a binder it's just all right there, ready to go so when I'm packing, I
just go to the label, grab it and stick it on the box. Next up, I create a little packing kit. So it gets the moving binder in a pouch, then I add a Sharpie, a
pen, and some packing tape, so that when somebody is packing, all they need to do is grab one thing and all the supplies that
they need are right there. Saves a lot of time and makes
it easy to follow the system. Next, I recommend you start
packing as early as you can because the closer you get
to the date of the move, the more stuff there is to do, the more hectic and chaotic it gets, so the more you do even
weeks ahead of time, you will thank yourself later. So what I do is I go
ahead and start putting in things that I don't need, like bulky kitchen items,
my Christmas decoration, out of season clothes, and I get those all boxed
up and ready ahead of time. Okay, so next up, this really goes along
with the packing early, is don't be too lazy about
filling out that box index. I know it can be tempting
when you're writing it down to think, "this is kind
of silly to write down "what goes in each box,
I'll probably remember." "Am I really gonna use this?" Trust me, you will thank yourself later. And it really only takes a few seconds when you have everything
together like this, and the earlier you start packing, the more important this is, because you're not gonna remember what you packed six weeks ago and what box that special
plate you want to use is in. And here's how it works
and how I number my boxes. So, I just take my moving binder, whatever number is next on the box index, I'll write that on the label
and then I pack the box, seal it up, place the label on the box and then write down the contents. So in the end, I just have one
consecutive set of numbers, regardless of what room it is. So there's no worrying about coordinating the different rooms or having different indexes. This makes it quick and easy. Now, there's one thing I want to note when I tell you not to be too lazy about filing out your box index. The truth is, in the last
24 hours before a move, things are gonna a little bit chaotic, and maybe a little bit out of control, so if your last few boxes
aren't even on the index, don't sweat it. Do the best you can and having
85% of your boxes indexed is way better than none at all. Just do the best you
can and know it's okay, no matter how organized
and prepared you are, those last few hours are
gonna be a little bit hectic. Next, I always pack two or
three Open Me First boxes. And I actually have a printable for this, so as I think of things that need to go in these
boxes ahead of time, I can go ahead and write
them down so I don't forget. And then, what I put in these boxes are the things that we will need our first night in our new home because we don't want to be searching through all the boxes
to find the essentials. And these are things like
bedding, just a few dishes, maybe some favorite foods, a shower curtain and a couple towels so we can take a shower and
get ready the next morning. Having these Open Me First
boxes are gonna be a lifesaver and I put special labels on them, I try to put them on the truck last so we can find them early and
get our essentials set up. Alright, so I really hope these tips help you have a smoother move. And I have loads more I wanna share, so go on and click the link below to check out the corresponding blog post or to get this printable kit for yourself so you can make your own moving binder. And if you like this, be sure to like it, share it with any friends
that are gonna be moving and hit the subscribe button so that you don't miss of
our new organizing videos. (upbeat pop music)
