Be Light - Moving and Shaking in Manhattan

Jen and I recently moved to a new apartment not far from the area we’ve been living together for the past two years. The move was instigated by several little things, but mostly, we were just antsy for something new. This will be the third New York apartment we have shared. When I first moved to the city, we successfully shared a studio for a few months on the east side, then we moved into a converted one bedroom across town. Before that, Jen lived downtown for awhile when I was living back and forth between a couple of cities in Florida...and this is just the short list of post college residences! Needless to say, we have become accustomed to the standard operating procedures of moving. So, after navigating the summer rental market in Manhattan...again, we decided our next move would be to yet another neighborhood, and that this time, we were going to do it ourselves. It was no small job and despite the frequent fits of laughter, it wasn’t exactly fun either. Regardless, if our success can be measured on the basic level of getting all of our possessions from point A to point B (not without a little help) then we were wildly successful movers! Here are some things that we did right, which mostly derivied out of a need to be thrifty, and some other things we could do better next time... because there will be, of course, a next time.

1. Plan Ahead. We could have done a little better job of this. But as much as time permits, plan, pack, and organize.
2. Once you’ve started packing and organizing, separate things into categories: keepers, give aways/sell, recycling and trash.
3. Hopefully your trash is minimal after allocating things into the other categories, but keep in mind that a lot of things that you may want to dispose of can’t just be thrown out with yesterday’s milk. i.e. electronics, anything pressurized, chemical solutions like cleaners and paint. These all contain extremely hazardous toxins that can leech into and pollute our groundwater supply if left to the elements in a landfill. Contact your city to locate the specific resources you may need so that so don’t move anything that is unnecessary. Conserve energy, mainly yours!
4. Assess your give away pile and have a yard/garage/(in our case: stoop) sale (although, this was one of the things we didn’t do). Someone’s trash can always be another’s treasure and live a very happy second life. What doesn’t sell or if you skip this altogether, schedule a pick up with a local charity. We found out that pick up’s were booked weeks in advance, so if you can’t load up your car (like us because we don’t have one) then get to work on this ahead of time or at least think ahead and get the truck scheduled before moving day.
5. Your recycling may take a little thinking ahead as well in order to get everything able to be recycled to a place that will accept it. It’s worth the effort. It will give you loads of good moving Karma!
6. Now for the keepers. You are going to need some sort of receptacle and packing material to get everything you want to the new place in one piece. Become a “master packer” and utilize everything that already has handy compartments like luggage and even trash cans. For everything else, there is no need to buy boxes new. They are expensive, serve a single purpose and end up in the trash. Be on the look out around retailer loading docks for clean, reusable boxes, especially if they sell large hard goods like furniture. Liquor stores are the best for packing up a kitchen because they already have the separated compartments which are perfect for glasses. I’ve never had an experience where these locations weren’t happy to give them away (see, trash to treasure)! The boxes we used were from a friend who had recently moved and had saved them from a precious move. Re-used twice and then recycled - i’d say they served their purpose.
7. Bubbles are for popping not for packing. What a waste! Use your blankets, sheets, towels, pillows, old newspapers - anything but bubble wrap! And if you underestimate the amount of “stuff” you own, as we did, and you have to resort to the garbage bag packing method, as we did, save all the bags after unpacking for the future more appropriate uses.
8. Rent don’t buy. Yes, the opposite of what we are working towards in terms of equity and assets, but in this case, renting a moving truck to fit everything in one trip is much better than making several trips in your personal vehicles especially if it isn’t a relatively close move. We got a state-of-the-art smallish moving truck at a really cheap rate, rented (or as I like to call it, recycled) furniture blankets, other moving necessities like, Jen’s mattress bag (necessity is apparently subjective), and even though it wasn’t a hybrid (I inquired about one being available, they laughed. I guess that’s still a little too state-of-the-art for the do-it-yourself moving market) we did the move in two, short, fuel effiecient trips, under 8 total miles, and, you better believe, with style! (Picture the two of us in a moving van cruising around Manhattan: style can be subjective, too)!
9. Head ‘em up and ship ‘em out. Moving yourself has the added bonus of providing a pretty dynamic workout. Lift carefully and move quickly for entire body toning. You’ll especially tighten the upper arms and lower half (lift with the legs, right ladies!) and burn 100’s of calories by default. If it weren’t for all the hassle, you might want to make moving a part of your every day routine.

Whew! I’m exhausted just having to think about the moving process all over again! But this is a pretty good to do list for starters at moving all of your earthly belongings in a more earth conscious way. Jen and I, although ferociously confident, are able to admit that we are not the most experienced movers, but we’ve experienced a lot of moving together. Now that we are more or less unpacked, we are settling in and making another new place ours. Here’s hoping we won’t need to shake things up and out of another apartment for awhile.