Pack your pantry to keep your perishables fresh, organized and ready for meals in your new home.

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The edible contents of your kitchen require special care to move, of course.

When the time comes, consider that the less you have to move, the better. Begin your kitchen move prep by using or getting rid of what food you can.

For the foodstuffs that you do move, we share ways to pack your pantry that will keep your perishables fresh, organized and ready for meals in your new home.

Sort it out
Start your kitchen packing by taking inventory of all you have there. You may have items that are well past their prime; check the expiration date of every item. Chances are, you can eliminate some of your pantry supplies right off the bat because they’re too old to eat.

If you have open bags of snack food, pasta or baking ingredients that have been there a while, toss them out. As your move approaches, do the same for cold food, throwing out long-open condiments, sauces and pickled items, as well as old, open bags and boxes of frozen foods.

When you’re left with everything that could be consumed or moved, start planning your meals.

Eat it now
Having minimal food stores to transfer is the best bet for an easier move. When you know a move is imminent, go through your refrigerator and freezer to begin using up everything there, without replenishing anything except the daily essentials.

Start early with kitchen organization that includes meal planning to use up your stores. Look to consume open containers of grain and items stored in glass containers. Cans are fairly durable, but heavy. To reduce your volume of heavy movables, cook with recipes that use beans, canned vegetables and canned fish. Soups and stews are great ways to use up frozen meats and vegetables.

If you have bags of flour, sugar, chocolate chips, coconut flakes and other baking ingredients that are open, why not get busy baking? Go on a bread or cookie-baking blitz, and say goodbye to friends and neighbors with some homemade treats from your kitchen. You’ll leave them with fond memories — and have a portion of your pantry that you won’t need to pack!

When you pare down the pantry, you’ll save money and have less to move, in the end.

Donate it
If you’ve got too little time before your move to use up the sealed dry goods and canned foods in your pantry, make plans right away to donate them. Many towns have a food bank or shelter that would be happy to take your food supplies to share with others.

How to pack food
Once you’ve depleted your stock down to the essentials you want to carry with you – cans, sealed boxes and bags that don’t require refrigeration, for instance — you can prepare them for packing.

• Bagged food should be placed in Ziploc bags or plastic grocery bags, then sealed with duct tape to limit leaking in transit.
• Sealed cake mixes, cereal and cookies are best moved in their own original packaging, with heavier items at the bottom of a medium-sized box.
• Wrap spices and jarred items in protective paper or plastic wrap, and pack them as you would any glassware.
• Be sure to label any boxes containing food as PERISHABLE; you may have a rude discovery later if you leave edibles packed up for too long!

Knowing how to pack your pantry and its perishables requires a little more advance planning than the other rooms in your apartment. Weed out what’s expired and not worth moving, eat what you can, and share or donate what you have left over. You’ll fill stomachs, while emptying the kitchen, making movers and mouths happy.

Photo Credit: Shutterstock / Tigger11th

Take a look at the benefits of going home again for a while. Consider these tips to make the arrangement as harmonious as possible.

In the years following 2008′s recession, the number of adult children who chose to move back in with parents skyrocketed. In 2010 alone, nearly 80 percent of new college grads moved back home when faced with a tough job market and high rent prices. While young people make up a large percent of so-called boomerang children who return home to what was formerly an empty nest, the trend of adult children — of any age — to live with their parents rises when times get tough.

If you’re faced with the prospect of moving back home, you might feel guilty, upset, even annoyed. But according to psychologists, you can go back home at any age without feeling like you’re doing something wrong. In this guide to moving back in, we’ll look at the benefits of going home again and share tips for coexisting peacefully with parents.

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The case for going back home
Living with your parents while you search for a job can be of great benefit. In a recession, many people are tempted to accept jobs that are below their education level or pay grade. But research shows that taking this route can really hurt your career — and your self-esteem.

Statistics show that job seekers who accept positions below their education level generally take about 15 years to recover. It takes them that long to catch up financially with peers who did manage to snag more appropriate, challenging jobs. That statistic makes a pretty convincing case for using all available resources to help you find the right employment, including moving back in with your parents for a time.

Psychologists indicate that attitude is everything when it comes to living with one’s parents as an adult. If you regard your living situation as miserable, then it will be. But if you’re able to look at the experience as a valuable moment for learning and regrouping, then you’ll walk away from your time with mom and dad with a positive sense — and you may even be less likely to have to return to the nest again!

While most adult children regard moving back in with parents as a real downgrade, it’s important to note that this attitude is a particularly Western sentiment. In many countries, it’s normal for several generations of family members to live together under one roof — and this arrangement works quite well. When you consider cultures where it’s possible for grandparents, parents, children, and sometimes even cousins to all live under one roof without killing each other, it’s a promising reminder that you, too, can return and live in harmony with your family.

Tips for boomerang children
When you move back home with your parents, it’s important to note that there’s been a change in the relationship. The relationship used to be strictly parent-child, but now it’s adult-adult. In order to make this new relationship work, you and your parents have to make adjustments and draw up some ground rules.

The following tips can help make coming back home to live much easier.

1. Show your gratitude. It’s not necessarily your right to move back home whenever you want. Your parents are doing you a favor, after all, so say “thank you” whenever the occasion calls for it.

2. Help out financially. If your parents ask you to pay rent, don’t balk. Discuss rent terms that you can live with.

3. Plan an exit strategy. Make a plan to move back out before you even move in, and gently let your parents know about it. This way, living with parents won’t become a crutch.

4. Communicate like an adult. Your parents might have driven you crazy as a teen, but it doesn’t have to be like that anymore. When issues arise, use phrases like, “when you say that, it makes me feel ____” and talk things out in calm, adult conversation.

5. Be considerate. If you’re going to be late, call. If you leave your shoes on the floor, pick them up. If your laundry’s dirty, do it yourself. Try to behave as a polite guest in your parents’ house.

The key to making a successful move back home is to treat your parents with respect. When you keep the lines of communication open, the arrangement should work fine for the time that you need to spend living there. Your attitude and behavior can make a situation that might seem unpleasant work out all right in the end.

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Cover all your moving costs when you construct a reasonable estimate in advance.

Moving costs can throw a wrench in your budget if you don’t know what to expect. Luckily, there are straightforward ways to estimate how much it’s going to cost you to pack up and move out.

Learn how to consider moving costs in a few different ways with these tips.

Estimate moving costs like the pros do
You may have noticed that professional movers and rental truck companies typically give out moving estimates based on two factors: time and weight.

Time
Local and residential movers typically charge by the hour, so time is the most important factor when they estimate moving costs. For a local move, companies tally up the distance they’ll drive between your old apartment and the new one. They’ll factor in that travel time along with the number of work hours it will take for their staff to load and unload your stuff, based on the number of rooms you report you’ll need to be moved.

These movers usually have a minimum, often an amount equal to two hours’ charges. Even if your move doesn’t take that long, you’re usually on the hook for at least that much money. Hourly rates may be as little as $80 an hour and go up depending on the size of the metro area where you live and the number of workers needed for the job.

Weight
When it comes to a longer move – say, across the country — it would be unrealistic for moving companies to charge by the hour. So for long distance moves, the professionals usually estimate moving costs by weight. For these types of moves, a representative from a moving company visits your apartment and walks through your place, providing you with a written estimate of approximately how heavy he thinks all of your furniture and boxes will be. Once your truck is packed on moving day, the entire truck gets weighed on a certified scale. The true weight of your truck determines the final amount you’ll owe movers.

Estimating costs by weight may sound like an inexact art, but there’s actually a pretty easy formula pro movers use to determine how heavy your stuff will be. You can use a moving calculator to see how it works.

If you go this route, be sure to get more than one estimate to compare how competing companies calculate the weight of your items. Inquire whether the truck load will be weighed at the beginning of the trip (origin weighing) or at the end (destination weighing). Take some time to research any moving company you consider, and keep in mind that you shouldn’t necessarily go with the company that offers the lowest estimate.

You might consult the U.S. DOT Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration website for detailed information about moving regulations. The American Moving and Storage Association (AMSA) also offers great advice on understanding the professional moving process.

Also, don’t forget that the cost of a professional mover goes up if you hire the company to pack and unpack your belongings, or if you purchase packing supplies directly from them. To help you make up your mind, companies should provide you with a charge schedule for these services in advance, as well.

Estimating DIY moving costs
What if you’re not using a professional mover? No problem. You can still plan for your moving costs by thinking about the following:

• Transportation costs: If you’re moving yourself, you may opt to rent a truck. Besides the truck rental fee, don’t forget you will also have to pay for gas, plus additional insurance if your auto policy doesn’t provide coverage. Your rental truck company can likely provide you with an estimate of fuel costs, or charge a fuel fee to return the truck without filling it up. Consider that, for a longer trip, you will be paying for food and lodging, as well.

• Packing supplies: Boxes, bubble wrap, tape, and movers’ plastic can all get pricey, depending on where you purchase them and how much you need. But these important tools are necessary for safeguarding your stuff. Go through your apartment and think about how many boxes you’ll need and which supplies are necessary, such as special boxes for electronics or fragile items, for instance. Consider buying convenient box kits from U-Haul or home improvement stores to save some time and money.

In general, whether you hire pros or do it all yourself, the more stuff you have and the longer the distance you’re moving, the more you’re going to spend on a move. Being realistic and planning ahead for the costs of a move, however, can help you maintain a budget.

Photo Credit: Shutterstock / Lisa S.

Consider these questions when making your plans with a professional moving company.

When you are planning your move, there are many important questions you will need to ask your professional moving company. But it might surprise you to find out that they will have some questions for you, too.

Here are some common questions that professional movers likely will ask you to get pertinent information about your moving plans.

What is your basic moving timeline?
To start to plan your move, your moving company needs your initial set of moving details, including the date you intend to move, your old and new addresses and what time you will want to start your move. Once the professional movers have a basic idea of your moving plan, they can dive into some of the logistical details.

How far will the goods be traveling?
Your moving company will want to know about the distance of your move. The price of your move will vary whether you are moving across town, across the state or farther.

Do you have renter’s insurance? What does it cover?
If an item is damaged during your move, it may be covered under your renter’s insurance, depending on the details of your policy. Check your policy or call your insurance company to ask about your coverage. This will affect how much additional moving insurance you might need.

How much moving insurance will you need?
Once you know what your renter’s insurance will likely cover, you can work with your moving company to determine how much moving insurance you might desire to safeguard your move. Your moving company will be able to help you figure out the amount of coverage you need based on the value and amount of items you are transporting.

Valuables will require extra care and sometimes extra insurance. Moving companies will want to know if there are particularly valuable items in the moving mix, taking this into consideration when helping you make your moving plans.

Will you be packing your things yourself?
Some professional moving companies offer packing services. If you are moving on a limited timetable, it might be worth the cost to hire a professional company to pack your items as well as move them.

Is there parking for the moving truck near your apartment?
It is easier in some apartment communities than in others to find parking for a truck nearby one’s apartment. If the movers have to carry your belongings a long distance from your apartment to their truck, you might be charged an additional fee.

Are there stairs or elevator access at your old and new apartments?
Getting your things off of ground level is another obstacle for professional movers. You might be charged an additional fee depending on how many flights the movers have to traverse.

Look over these questions when you are making your moving plans and, where possible, come up with the answers before you approach professional moving companies. Armed with this information, you will find yourself better prepared to set your move underway.

Photo Credit: Shutterstock / De Mango

Make your list of what to pack up each day in your apartment. A little strategy can make moving a breeze!

Is packing up your apartment NOT your idea of a fun time? It is surely not at the top of many lists of favorite activities. When you break packing down into manageable pieces day by day, however, it tends to progress more easily.

Make your list of the day – each day! — for what to pack up in your apartment. Apply this strategy to your efforts, and moving can be a breeze – or at least less stressful!

Grab a pen and paper
You are going to write a lot of lists in this process. Designate a notebook so you can keep all of your packing information in one place. It will be much easier to write all this down than to try to keep it straight in your head, and the list-making is part of a disciplined approach to packing.

Set a moving and packing timeline
The first step is to break up your packing into daily tasks you can handle. Take a step back and look at the big picture. How much time do you have to pack? How many rooms do you have to pack? How much time during the week can you dedicate to packing? Once you know the answer to these questions you will be able to set your moving and packing timeline.

Set a packing strategy – and follow through!
Once you know how much time you have to pack, set a packing strategy. Pick a method that works best for you and that will keep you engaged in the packing process.

Here are two possible strategies to try:

• Each room has a day: Say you have five rooms in your apartment. Assign one room to each weekday. On Monday, you can pack the kitchen. On Tuesday, pack up the living room, and so on. Use the weekend to catch up on the rooms that need additional time. 
• Each room has a week: Again, let’s say you have 5 rooms in your apartment, and 6 weeks to pack. Each room gets one week, with the last week set aside for odds and ends, or items that you have to pack at the last minute (your priority box).

If neither of these works for your timeline, make up your own system that does. The only limits are time and energy.

When you are done for the day
When you are done packing for the day, take a moment to reflect on the job you have done. Write down two positive things about the packing session for today. For example: I finished packing the linen closet, or I decluttered the filing cabinet. These small successes will keep you motivated for the next day’s effort.

After you are done listing the things you are proud of, take a few moments to list what you want to tackle tomorrow. That way you won’t waste time tomorrow hemming and hawing over your list — when you could be packing!

Photo Credit: Shutterstock / MariusdeGraf

Keep the following factors in mind as you estimate just about how long your move will take.

Wish you could look into a crystal ball and find out exactly how long your move will take? Constructing a ballpark estimate for your moving timeline may be more doable than you think — no magic tricks necessary!

These moving considerations can help you come up with a pretty solid idea of the time involved in your move. Keep the following factors in mind.

How long?
While the actual amount of time it takes to move can vary greatly from move to move, professional movers provide these general timelines based on the size of an apartment: 

• Studio or one-bedroom moves take about 2-3 hours.
• Two-bedroom moves take about 3-5 hours.
• Three to four-bedroom moves take up to 7 hours.
• Five or more bedroom moves can take 8 to 10 hours.

Keep in mind that these figures are general timeframes that moving companies use in order to estimate the amount of manpower and time required for a move so that they can make reasonably accurate moving rate quotes. 

Moving considerations
There are other factors involved in a move, however, that may speed up or slow down the process. Here are a few other moving considerations besides apartment size to keep in mind. The time of your move will be affected by factors such as: 

• The number of boxes you have
• The amount of furniture you own (and how much assembly/disassembly is required)
• Moving truck accessibility (how far your movers have to walk in order to load and unload the truck)
• Weather conditions
• Any loose, unpacked items to move
• The number of fragile items you move (artwork, electronics, collections, etc.)
• The flights of stairs you’ll have to navigate, and/or your access to a moving elevator
• The number of long hallways or walkways to travel over
• The number of people helping you move
• The distance between your old apartment and your new one — and traffic or weather conditions on roads in between 

All of these factors come into play when you think about how to determine the time your move can take.

The bottom line: it’s best not to try to rush a move. Always plan for things to take a bit longer than you imagined they would.

Photo Credit: Shutterstock / Ljupco Smokovski

Check out our list of important moving considerations to think through as you’re making a decision whether to pack up and move.

Getting the itch to move? Typically, if you’re thinking about moving, something pretty important is prompting the decision. It might be the allure of a new job, a new space or even a new lifestyle. Or maybe you just want a change.

Check out our list of important moving considerations to think through as you’re pondering a decision whether you should pack up and move out.

Moving considerations
Not quite sure about the reason for your desire to move? These questions will help you think about the rationale behind your moving decision.

1. What’s the main reason you want to move? Are you looking for an exciting change? Or do you have to move out of necessity?
2. Do you already have a job lined up in your new locale?
3. How will moving affect your finances? Will you be able to afford an apartment and a comfortable lifestyle in a new place? Or will your new place include hidden moving costs that you might not anticipate? (For instance, is the rent higher in a new part of town? Will you have to spend more on gas to get to work?)
4. How will your move impact your family members and friends?
5. How is the weather in the new locale?
6. What particular needs must you consider if you move? (Where will your children go to school? Do you have medical needs that require you to find a specialist? Will you find a new church?)
7. Do you plan on moving to a city that’s much bigger or smaller than your current one?
8. How will a move affect your social life and your emotional support system?

The answers to these questions may help you understand the rationale behind your moving decision. You may unearth hidden reasons you hadn’t previously considered as you think through what you want out of a move.

Moving with a purpose
You might not have considered it, but there’s actually a lot of psychology behind the decision to move. According to counselors, moving is one of the more emotionally challenging life events a person can go through, and most people resist the urge to leave their home unless they have to — as in getting a new job, moving in with a significant other or graduating from school.

The act of moving can represent many different ideas to a person — everything from a new and exciting adventure to a crushing disappointment, depending on the circumstances. As our homes typically represent safe, comfortable, personal zones for us, the idea of leaving a home can be challenging, even under the happiest of circumstances.

Check out some of our favorite blogs for helpful moving advice.

Moving blogs are great sources for tips to help you get everything moved to a new apartment. Check out some of our favorite blogs for helpful moving advice.

The Moving Blog
The Moving Blog has a great design that makes it easy to find the information you need fast. This blog not only features great moving advice, it offers tips to help you nail down the costs associated with moving. The tips in this blog can help you stay on budget and make a move that doesn’t break the bank.

The Moving Planner Blog
The Moving Planner Blog prides itself on making moving as simple as possible for its readers. Here, you will get easy to follow, no-nonsense advice on how to plan and execute a simple, stress-free move.

ohmyapartment Blog
Apartment Ratings’ ohmyapartment blog offers much moving content. The blog might appear to be simple at first glance, but it has a powerful collection of tips. You can spend hours delving into this moving blog and only scratch the surface of the great moving advice it has to offer.

MovingToday.com
What sets Apartment Guide’s moving blog apart is the sheer number of posts it contains. MovingToday.com contains a vast library of diverse moving tips, a mouse click away. Whether you are using a professional moving company or performing a do-it-yourself move, you will find information you need in the deep archive of this moving blog.

Apartment Guide Blog
Ok, we’ll toot our own horn, here. Just so you know, the blog you’re looking at right now offers great moving tips to help with every step of a move, from apartment hunting to packing and loading up the moving truck to settling into a new place. The AG Blog is easy to navigate and chock full of helpful moving information. New tips are added every week. You’re already here, so bookmark this blog and keep coming back for the latest tips and tricks!

Photo Credit: Shutterstock / Andresr