Where Should I Start?
It's important to get organized! Designate a place in your home for all your packed boxes and packing supplies. (If you have a multi-story home, you may want to have a designated area on each floor.) Keep all your supplies in that room and put filled boxes in that room as well.

Start packing a couple boxes each day for the few weeks before you move - just make sure these are items you won't need for a little bit.

By pacing yourself, you will be much more organized and won't be so overwhelmed. Always have plenty of trash bags handy so you can discard as many items as possible - don't rush.

What Should I Pack First?
Start packing the least used rooms or items first, such as books or clothes that are out of season, or the attic or garage. You can also pack up items ahead of time that you may have a lot of - do you really need three radios in the house the last few days you are there?

Start boxing up kitchen items you rarely use or scale down to a smaller amount of dishes and utensils, many people pack up the kitchen closer to their moving date, but this will just depend on how it fits into your lifestyle.

It's important not to mix totally unrelated items together, so don't pack up items from different rooms in the same box and try to pack up certain areas of each room together.

Start taking an inventory of the items you packed, whether you write the items on the box or use a coding system. Label boxes on each side so you will always be able to see its contents.

Helpful Tips

• The biggest cause of damage to items while moving is improper packing. Try to keep boxes around 20 or 30 lbs. and no more than 50 lbs. Make sure boxes don't have bulges and that they close flat on the top.
• Use household items, such as trash cans, laundry baskets and suitcases, as a way to move your items.
• As a general rule, put heavy items in small boxes and lighter items in larger boxes. Be especially careful when packing books.
• Carefully label and place items you will need immediately at your new home. In the same sense, know which items you can do without for a while.
• Don't mix fragile and heavy items together. Don't forget to clearly label these boxes as fragile. Also, remember to cushion everything properly.

To help save yourself the trouble later on, manage where boxes are placed as they arrive at your new home while there are still people around to help. This will make unpacking much more pleasant, and will give you more time to enjoy your new home.