Once you’ve found that dreamboat apartment and signed the lease, there is that small, teeny-tiny, issue of actually changing abodes. I just went through it. Oh, it was a blast. A real hoot. I’m grateful to still have my sanity. Some tips I can share?
1) Decide if you need to hire a mover. If you’re sprightly, don’t have heavy furniture, and have strong friends(both in muscle and friendship), you may luck out. Movers will seriously cost you, so if you’re talking about a couple of boxes and maybe even a bed/small couch. . . you may want to DIY. If you already have a car, there’s even more reason to consider this route as you can likely use your own wheels to move most everything. Renting a U-Haul can get expensive though, so if you don’t have a car, be sure to run the numbers before you reserve. Also, always add on an extra hour as it’s really expensive if you return a car/U-Haul late!
2) Get a recommendation before you hire a mover. Before I picked my guys, I called up every friend who I knew had moved in the past year to hear their take on it. Why? Because not only can bad movers break sh*t, but because if they’re unethical, they can change the price on you while holding all your earthly goods for ransom. Both happened to friends.
Also, think about whether you want to hire a mover by hour or by flat rate. My new roommie was moving from Queens, so we thought a flat rate would be best for us as traffic was a variable. If you’re moving within a neighborhood, an hourly rate might be better for you — but there’s always a risk it will take longer than you think it will. Actually, that’s more or less inevitable. . . I used Express Moves in NY( 718-670-7071) and was totally thrilled with their work AND that they kept to their quoted flat rate price. P.S. That’s not a paid plug — they were seriously that great that I’d send every single person I know to them!
3) BOOK your U-Haul/Moving company ASAP once you know your moving date. Especially if it’s the last/first day of the month as those days are super busy.
4) In terms of boxes, instead of paying for boxes at Staples, try giving your local liquor store a call. Mine throws out boxes on Monday/Wednesday nights so I got everything I needed for free.
5) Pony up for two rolls of packing tape. Invariably, you’ll temporarily misplace one and it will save you the headache of trying to find the needle(tape) in the haystack(your room filled with half filled boxes).
Hope this helps!
Thanks a lot for this post, this is very useful. All apartments movers must take care of these tips accordingly. These tips are very helpful while moving to a new apartment.