Shearer and Teplin shared their best tips for a big move with Real Simple—from prepping weeks before to getting everything organized the day of and unpacking afterward. Take a look at their step-by-step guide, and you’ll be ready to tackle moving day, so you can go straight to celebrating and decorating your new home. But beware of being too eager to pack unless you want to live out of boxes for a long time. “We do caution against packing your house too early, though—you don’t want to live surrounded by boxes!” Shearer says. “Depending on the size of your home, five to seven days should be enough time to pack with the purging phase already complete.” “We suggest moving room by room and leaving no stone unturned,” Shearer says. “Look in every drawer, cabinet, and closet and consider if the items fall into at least one of these buckets: You use it, you love it, or it has strong sentimental value.” Pack the keepers and donate or toss out the rest. “Once you’re in your new space, you can unpack the container and pop it into its new place, rather than having to deal with free-floating items. Since you might not know the exact dimensions of your new cabinets and drawers, try to buy products that are modular or a universal size that would fit most spaces.” “Take note of the height, width, and depth so that you can shop for product supplies that take advantage of every inch. We always suggest buying a few different options to experiment with and extra quantities in case they are needed. You can always return anything left over or use them in other areas of the house.”
