Most of us have to pack up and move at least once in our lives, even if it’s just getting married and settling down right across the street from where we grew up (which is certainly not how it’s happened for me, but it has for some). At the same time, most of us don’t have the luxury of being able to afford all of those extra amenities available which make the moving process a lot less painful than it is. Because, let’s face it, even though it sounds pretty simple and straight forward, it’s just not.

Things always go wrong, and they always take a heck of a lot longer than we think they will. One of the biggest stressors is packing supplies. Yes, I said packing supplies. Because it turns out that when you want to start packing they don’t just appear before you in a nice little bundle. They wind up being incredibly expensive and I wind up finding out that I am a poor judge of size because I need to go back to the store a good four or five times to get more boxes or tape. I have compiled a short list of “moving hacks” consisting primarily of everyday items that can be used as packing supplies:

• coming in at number one is garbage bags. Hands down. Without a doubt. These are absolutely perfect to stuff with everything in the linen closet. You may have to do a bit of refolding during the unpacking process, but that’s okay. Write on them with a sharpie: sheets, pillows, towels… And the best part is that you can still use the garbage bags if they don’t get destroyed in the move (and if they do, oh well, they are just garbage bags!).
• coming in at number two is…wait for it… garbage bags! That’s right, twice in a row, and for good reason. If you are like me than you hate packing clothes because of hangers and then rehanging. Take a garbage bag and, while leaving everything still hanging, just slide it up over a section of clothes and tie it off right under the hangar hook. Voila! The clothes stay clean, the hooks make for easy carrying, the unpacking process is virtually nonexistent and, you guessed it, you can still use the garbage bags!

I’m going to stop there, because hopefully I’ve gotten the idea ball rolling a little bit for you. The next time you need to move take a minute to brainstorm and come up with ways to transform what you already have on hand into packing supplies.