I made two important changes in my most recent move - and it made the process so much easier

Moving is the worst. We're all on the same page here, right? Lifting heavy objects is awful, as is moving said objects, as is carefully placing them down once more. 

Flickr / TheMuuj

Do you really need that set of antique pool cues? Probably not, but you're moving them anyway!

The process is tiring and stressful and expensive. Having lived in cities since starting college in 2006, I've moved... too many times in the past 10 years. I moved to Philadelphia, around Philadelphia, to Barcelona, back to Philadelphia, to New York City, and twice during my time here. A lot of moves.

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And earlier this year, I did it again.

My wife and I moved from one neighborhood in Brooklyn to another, just 10 or so blocks apart. But this time, we made two crucial changes:

1. We hired movers (not packers, but movers who would move our boxes and furniture and whatever else from our old place to our new place).
2. Instead of buying/collecting a bunch of cardboard boxes we'd end up throwing away anyway, we used a rental service that provided strong, re-usable plastic bins in varying sizes. 

The first option isn't viable for everyone, of course. Movers can be expensive (thankfully, ours weren't), and there's always a risk they'll break something (ours totally did).

The second choice we made, however, is viable for most people. And it made a huge difference in how we moved.