The Twenty-Something Series: 5 moving hacks that actually work

If you follow me on Pinterest, you’ll know I can be pretty Pin-happy sometimes. Mostly about blogging and social media, but over the last few months with my impending (actually, at the time of posting this piece, NEW!) move to Durham to live on my own for the first time ever, in my first rented accommodation ever, I’ve been scouring Pinterest for moving tips.

Some of them are a bit… Well, let’s just say, some ‘hacks’ are kind of convoluted, or they just wouldn’t have worked for me.

Which is why I decided to make this Twenty-Something Series post a collection of moving hacks that actually work. (You’re welcome.)

 1. Bin bags over hanging clothes.

OH. MY. GOD. Yes, a thousand times yes, does this make the top of the list. 

When I moved to uni, I carefully folded all my clothes, packed a carrier bag stuffed full of hangers, and spent a lot of time re-hanging all the clothes I’d folded. And you’ve probably all seen that hack, right, with the bin bag over the clothes? It’s been making the rounds a lot lately, even though it was around a few years ago.

So I tried this one and initially, I was thoroughly disappointed. Our bin bags back home don’t have that elastic thing around the top with the tie that would stretch over the hangers. They’re just normal bin bags, with a handle each side you tie together when you’re taking the bins out. 

I tried it as the hack suggested – raising the bag up over the clothes to loop the handles around the top of the hangers, but the hangers stuck out awkwardly and ripped the bags, and there wasn’t enough room in the bag for the clothes after they’d bunched up at the bottom.

Easy solution: I turned the bag upside down, poked a hole in the bottom, and put the hangers through that hole. I also added a hair tie (I’d already packed my elastic bands away somewhere) to keep the hangers together and stop them all falling about. It saved me so much time and a lot of fuss.

2. The ‘overnight bag’.

Know where your deodorant, moisturiser, pyjamas, and clean pants are. Have them in a separate bag. You’ll want to be able to get your hands on them easily. Seriously, just pack an entire overnight bag, as if you were going to a hotel for the night. I know, I know – you’ve got shampoo somewhere, and you’ve packed loads of knickers and bras… But where? Do you remember? Are they at the bottom of a suitcase? Split across several different boxes? Who knows! Trust me: pack the overnight bag.

3. Know where your ‘essentials’ are and make sure they get to your new place first.

When I say ‘essentials’ I’m talking: bath towel, hand towel, tea towel. I’m talking pillows and bedsheets and duvet. I’m talking mugs, teabags, kettle and teaspoons. I’m talking loo roll, kitchen roll, your phone charger. 

By all means, pack the bulk of your towels somewhere else, and the ‘good bedding’ you’re keeping spare for guests, but you don’t want to be searching the Kitchen Box for your kettle, the Utensils Box for a teaspoon, the Bathroom Box for loo roll, and so on – when you could pack all those things (more or less) together.

4. Pack according to room, or item type.

Sounds obvious, because it is, and because it’ll save you a lot of stress. Try to keep kitchenware together, bathroom items together, clothes together. Don’t throw them all in wherever it looks like there’s space. Wait until you’ve got odds and sods that don’t belong anywhere to do that. (Pack of cards? Uh, shove them in with the books, maybe? And your scented candles? Well, there’s room with your toiletries, so they might as well go there!)

5. Bags > boxes.

(Less a Pinterest hack, and more a personal find.)

Unless your boxes have good sturdy handles that make them super easy to haul up behind you when you’re going from the car up a couple flights of stairs to your new flat, that is.

Suitcases are all well and good, too, but then you hit the issue of storage, just like you do if you have a plastic crate full of kitchenware that’s… suddenly empty and you have nowhere to put. Plus, if you’re like me, the only suitcase you own is your sturdy little cabin-baggage sized one, and won’t fit all your stuff.

Primark do these great storage bags, kind of like giant, boxy totes. They’re a shower-proof plastic-y kind of material with two small canvas handles, and they fit everything. I mean, seriously. I have about eight. When you fold them up, they take up next to no space on their own, and they will literally hold your king-sized duvet, bedding, two pillows, and mattress protector, with room to spare. And they’re so goddamn sturdy I’ve never worried they’ll break. And, it’s easy to carry about two or three up the stairs – at least compared to carrying one box of stuff, anyway.

A duffel bag would work just as well. If you’ve got a big bag that folds down pretty flat, try and fill it if you’re planning to take it with you anyway. And if you’ve got structured handbags, don’t let that space go to waste! Even if you fill them with your stash of carrier bags or a few books.

There you have it! My five favourite moving hacks that are actually worth spending time doing, because they work wonders. (Okay, so maybe that’s pushing it a little, but it’ll feel like a wonder when you haven’t spent half an hour hanging your clothes back up or get flustered because where is the goddamn toilet roll already?)

Do you have a favourite moving hack? Share in the comments and let me know!