Would you believe me if I told you that moving could be an exciting time full of adventure and wonder?  Okay, so maybe that does sound a little bit like a Disney World ad, but moving seriously doesn’t have to be a negative and stressful experience.

The key is in the planning and preparation.  If you are well-organized, have planned ahead, and prepared for the process, it should go quite smoothly with minimal angst and anxiety.  For a lot of us, we start to feel like we’re drowning when it comes to a big task, which is what makes a list tips and strategies all the more appreciated:

• Use a notebook to make a list of everything that you are putting in your boxes. Give each box a number in your notebook, and write that number on each box.  Keep that notebook in a specific section of your home, which you will refer to as your “moving headquarters”.  Anything pertaining to the move should be kept here.
• Make sure you have enough supplies. We always wind up needing way more supplies than we think we will, so find good deals for cheap moving boxes and other packing supplies on the Internet or local yard sale sights.
• One of the most helpful moving tips I have ever used was color-coordinating my boxes. Say you put a red sticker on all boxes from the kitchen, and then you a hang up a red piece of paper in the corner of the kitchen that says, “boxes here please.”  This way the movers can know where exactly the red boxes need to be stacked.

• You may have found some cheap moving boxes, but you will still wind up needing more than you anticipated. Use your luggage to pack linen closet items or even your clothes in.
• Set aside cleaning supplies so that you can clean up after yourself and prepare your new place.
• Pack overnight bags for everyone in the family so that you don’t have to worry about finding simple things like pajamas, toothbrushes, even toilet paper, on moving day/night.
• Begin the packing process as soon as you find you out you are moving.  Seriously, the sooner you begin to pack the better, because it always takes a lot longer than we think it will.  Downsize as much as possible during this time, which will hopefully make you some money at a yard sale and save you money on your move since you will be decreasing the amount of weight you are moving.  Some people even have a giant estate sale before they move, where people come in and have the option of buying whatever they see.
• Remember those cheap moving boxes? Sell them after you are done using them, and get some return on your investment.

So you’re moving, and the question remains: now what?  Do you do it yourself, or do you pay someone else.  Good question.  Probably the most important one.  It’s completely acceptable for an average-sized home to have upwards of a hundred boxes.  That requires a lot of manpower, not to mention vehicle space, to transport all of it.

First and foremost, a couple things have to be established:

• How big is your move? Are you downsizing or upsizing?  How many rooms are you moving into how many rooms?
• How strong are you? This is a serious question.  Depending on your age, your health, and your overall stamina, moving will take its toll.  Are you ready for that?
• Have you done the math? Moving always winds up being more expensive than you plan on.  It usually starts with the shipping boxes.  You think you will only need twenty but you wind up needing forty.  How about gas, tipping the movers buying your helpers dinner…

After you’ve answered those questions, hopefully with the advice of some friends weighing in, you can decide if you are going to do your own move or not.  If you have decided to hire movers, make sure you’ve done your research and read good reviews.  If you are have decided to do your own move, here are a couple tips to help you save time, money, and energy:

• Use shipping boxes to pack your stuff in. Boxes designed to go through the mailing system are usually a better quality cardboard and more enforced.
• Go through your belongings and get rid of what you don’t need. If you enough to get rid of you could even host a garage sale and earn some money towards the move.
• You can save on moving supplies by finding or purchasing used items. You shouldn’t have a hard time finding used shipping boxes from local stores or that someone else is trying to sell on Craigslist.
• Mark your boxes on the top and the sides. Be descriptive! Label the room they are being moved into, and what they are holding (Kitchen: hand towels, Scentsy burner, mixing spoons).
• If you don’t feel comfortable, or interested in, driving your own moving truck, you can at least save a lot of money by loading it yourselves. There are plenty of companies that will drop off a truck and then come back to get it after you’ve loaded it.
• Pack everything tightly, using enough padding. Make sure not to pack too heavy, so don’t use bigger boxes for books or kitchenware.  Be sure to label if a box is fragile!

Cheap moving boxes are a must for the moving process.  With how expensive the entire moving process is, it is essential that the packing materials be of a decent price.  After all, you only wind up using them once, so what’s the point in spending a lot of money on them?  It isn’t entirely necessary to invest in the really expensive, really heavy duty boxes.  Maybe for heaviest stuff, like the kitchen supplies and books, but for the most part our belongings don’t wind up weighing that much and they don’t need triple reinforced corrugated cardboard to get them point A to point B without mishap.

Many companies boast that they are selling cheap moving boxes, but it is helpful to make some comparisons between providers before deciding who, in fact, is actually doing so and is, therefore, the best fit for your investment.

Let’s completely take local, through the door type stores off the table.  It is safe to say these places are not going to be offering you the most bang for our buck.  These companies have to pay the middle-man and so their products are going to be priced higher than what you want.  They might be a good resource for your simple packaging and shipping needs, but not for something as huge as a move.

Which brings us to on-line providers.  On-line providers are the middle man that the local companies have to compensate for, which is why you are going to get a better deal.  There is no need to cover the costs of shipping to the local stores and all that jazz.  The product will be shipped directly to your door!

First and foremost, online companies offer bulk products at wholesale prices.  This is the first thing that you need to compare.  How much product is coming with what price?  Don’t be fooled by lower dollars.  One place could offer twenty-five boxes for twenty-five dollars.  Another place could offer twenty boxes for twenty-one dollars.  You might be originally attracted to the idea of saving four bucks, but you will find that you are losing a “free” box at that price.  Now, if they are selling twenty boxes at nineteen dollars, that’s the better deal!

Secondly, make sure that shipping costs aren’t going to negate all of the saving that you worked hard to configure.  Most of these companies offer free shipping, but some of them won’t.  At the same time, a lot of them will offer coupon codes for free shipping that are easy to come across.  Either way, when looking for cheap moving boxes make sure that is what you wind up with!

That’s more or less a rhetorical question.  Cheap moving boxes are amazing, and awesome, and super convenient.  So they are obviously a lot of good (not sure if that that statement is grammatically correct, but I’m going to go with it).

The next question would be this: what is the difference cheap moving boxes and expensive moving boxes?  I mean, why not have them all the same for an incredibly low and feasible price?  Well, there are a couple reasons as to why this is the way it is.  One of them has to do with money.  Actually, all of them have to do with money.

Usually it’s the name brands that are the more expensive, and they generally tend to be the better quality.  U-Haul can afford to make really strong boxes because they bring in a lot of cash.  And they bring in even more cash from selling their really strong boxes and really strong prices.  Ridiculous prices, in fact.  And people will continue spending the ridiculous prices because they know U-Haul and they know they have a lot of money and can afford to put out a reliable product.  Is this making sense?  Not only that, you know that when you are dealing with a big company like U-Haul you are likely to have great customer service and also to be well compensated if something doesn’t work out well.  This is because they have the extra funds to compensate you sufficiently, instead of just the “I’m sorry”, or even the “I don’t really care”, from the lower income companies that make the cheap moving boxes.

But I mean, a box is a box is a box, you know.  I gravitate towards the less expensive kinds because I’m dealing with cardboard boxes.  If I wanted to buy an Xbox One I probably wouldn’t go the cheap route because I want the warranty and all the safety precautions.  If I’m spending a ton of money on something that I intend on using for an extended period of time (i.e. years) than I am going to go the extra mile to ensure the least amount of problem.  This isn’t a reality when it comes to boxes, which is why I will always go with the cheap ones.  It’s just boxes.  So I will order cheap moving boxes from a tiny online reality and chalk it up to the fact that I’m dealing with cardboard with one of them bends or breaks.

Most people don’t know that there are three kinds of shipping boxes.  This is, in part, because it isn’t an official designation, but one based off of observation.  I still like to say that the theory stands, though.  So the three kinds of shipping boxes would be: casual, serious, and professional.  Below, I will explain in greater detail the characteristics that make each of these categories distinct from one another.

Casual: something that is done without much thought, effort, or concern.  Now, when it comes to shipping boxes this doesn’t mean that you don’t care if what you are sending gets lost, or gets ruined along the way.  If you cared that little you probably wouldn’t even be investing in sending something to begin with.  It just means that you aren’t trying to make any kind of impression with your packaging supplies.  You can take an old diaper box and wrap it in paper grocery bag and write on it with sharpie.  You can let your kids cover it in stickers and scribble on it with crayons.  More than likely this is something you would be sending to a close friend or family member.

Serious: involving or deserving a lot of thought, attention, or work.  If you were going to send off your manuscript to an editor or publishing company, odds are that you wouldn’t be sending it like the first group that we mentioned.  If a serious person doing a serious job were to come across a sparkly pink package they would probably assume that the sender had no place in that community.  If you want your manuscript to be taken seriously, than you should be sending it in a plain cardboard box or envelope mailer, with tape that didn’t clash and addresses written neatly.

Professional: exhibiting a conscientious and generally businesslike manner.  This is where an individual or organization takes extra care that their product is being correctly represented right from the get go.  I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, that packaging is someone’s first impression (well, after the website or phone call or whatever that led them to sending away for something).  Usually you have some nice, clean, sturdy boxes.  Usually you have tape that has your company’s logo printed on it.  Usually you have shipping labels with printed addresses on it.  I don’t think it would be very impressive to buy something from a business and receive that had your name and address hand-written on it.