Over the course of my twenty years of life, I have moved about ten times. From houses to dorm rooms and everything in between, there is really nothing quite like it. You never realize how much useless, space occupying stuff you have until it comes time to pack every ounce of your physical life into a four walled, flimsy, cardboard box. And that is the easy part.
Before you can even begin the boxing process, you have to decide what goes into the box. This might seem like a simple task but when you inherit your mother’s tendency to keep every item you have ever owned, including baby teeth and kindergarten artwork, this part becomes a little more complicated. On my first move, I ended up with several boxes of random trinkets and clutter that had no place in our next house and just sat in those boxes for the rest of their miserable existence. After several more moves in and out of dorms rooms and sorority houses, I have become a master at boxing only the necessities of life. Mainly my coffeepot and pillow.
The next hurdle in the packing process is the taping. After assembling and packing your little cardboard cube of life memories, you must then carry out the seemingly easy task of taping it shut. But wait, there’s a twist. Not only do you have to seal the top and bottom of your box with several layers of sticky, flimsy packing tape, but you also have to unstick the tape from itself. I honestly think packing tape is the worst invention since Glad saran wrap. You use about just as much tape on the actual box as you do on just trying to get it unstuck. For this reason, I recommend several packages. You can never have enough tape in the moving process.
One of the final challenges of your big move is the labeling. How are you supposed to label a box with Sharpie (it is permanent you know) in one word when the box contains so many different things? If you are like me your box will look one of two ways. Number one, it could look like a grocery list was scribbled on the sides. Or number two, you gave up about halfway through your mental battle of what to write and just labeled it “stuff”. If I were you I would go with option number two, it saves time.
Congratulations! You have officially boxed, taped, and labeled your items and are ready for the move. The hardest part is over…unless you plan on packing the U-Haul yourself. If this is the case you should save yourself the trouble and hire a moving company. They will be your new best friends. Trust me, they are worth every extra penny in that ceramic piggy bank you packed away and will probably never find again.
