A Helpful Guide to Make Your Move Easier
Moving can be exciting, but let’s be honest, it can also be overwhelming. Between work, kids’ activities, packing, paperwork, coordinating with movers, and trying to keep up with everyday life, it’s easy to feel stressed during the moving process.
At Professional Organizer New Orleans, we’ve helped 1,000+ clients prepare for moves throughout New Orleans, Metairie, Kenner, and the Greater New Orleans area.
Whether we’re helping clients declutter before they move, professionally pack their home, or unpack and organize everything after moving day, we’ve learned what makes a move smoother and less stressful.
Here are our top moving tips and tricks to help make your next move a little easier.
Before You Move
1. Give Yourself Plenty of Time
If there’s one piece of advice we could give every client, it’s this: start earlier than you think you need to.
Many people underestimate how much time a move actually takes. Beyond packing, you may also be:
- Decluttering your home
- Selling your house
- Working with a Realtor
- Scheduling movers
- Shopping for packing supplies
- Managing work, school, and family responsibilities
Sometimes homes sell faster than expected, leaving very little time to prepare.
Starting early gives you the opportunity to make thoughtful decisions instead of rushing through everything at the last minute. It also allows you to pack neatly and stay organized, which makes unpacking much easier once you arrive at your new home.
2. Declutter Before You Move
One of the best things you can do before moving is declutter your home.
The less you have to move, the easier and often less expensive your move becomes.
Some of the biggest benefits of decluttering before moving include:
- Leaving behind items you no longer use, wear, or need
- Giving yourself a fresh start in your new home
- Reducing the number of boxes you need
- Lowering moving costs since there is less to transport
- Saving money on packing supplies
- Making unpacking and organizing much faster
- Creating a more organized home from day one
There’s no sense paying to pack, move, and unpack items you already know you don’t want.
If you’re moving in the New Orleans area, we’ve also created a local guide to donation centers where you can donate clothing, household items, furniture, and more.
3. Purchase High-Quality Packing Supplies
If your budget allows, we highly recommend buying good-quality packing supplies.
They cost a little more upfront, but they’re usually worth it. Stronger boxes are less likely to crush or fall apart, quality packing tape sticks the first time instead of constantly peeling back, and better packing paper and bubble wrap do a much better job protecting your belongings during the move.
Using the same brand and size of boxes also makes stacking them in the moving truck much easier and more stable, which helps reduce the chance of damage.
If you’re already investing the time and money to move, spending a few extra dollars on quality packing supplies is one of the easiest ways to protect your belongings and make the process go more smoothly.
The packing supplies you’ll typically need include moving boxes, packing tape, bubble wrap, packing paper, wardrobe boxes, permanent markers, and labels.
We usually buy ours from Home Depot, but Lowe’s, U-Haul, and sometimes even Amazon are also good options.
4. Pack in an Organized Way
Packing isn’t just about getting everything into boxes; it’s about setting yourself up for success in your new home.
We recommend:
- Packing one room at a time
- Keeping similar items together
- Clearly labeling every box
- Make sure boxes are packed right side up
- Writing the room and contents on multiple sides
- Wrapping fragile items carefully
- Avoiding “miscellaneous” boxes whenever possible
- Make sure not to pack any essentials you’ll need
Yes, it takes a little more time upfront, but it will save you countless hours during the unpacking process.
As professional organizers, we pack differently than most people. If a pantry, closet, kitchen, or junk drawer isn’t organized before packing, we’ll often organize it as we pack so everything arrives grouped together in logical categories. That makes unpacking and putting everything away significantly easier.
If you’d rather not spend days packing, we also offer professional packing services and can take care of the entire process for you.
After You Move
5. Unpack and Organize Your Most Important Rooms First
Once you arrive at your new home, resist the urge to unpack everything at once.
Instead, focus on the spaces you’ll use every day, such as:
- Kitchen & pantry
- Bedrooms
- Laundry room
- Primary closet
- Bathrooms
Areas like guest rooms, garages, sheds, attics, and storage rooms can usually wait until later.
Trying to unpack an entire home in one or two days often leads to frustration. When people get overwhelmed, they tend to start putting items wherever there’s space just to get the boxes out of the way. Months later, many of our clients call us because they still can’t find things or their new home never got fully organized.
Take your time and unpack intentionally.
6. Wait to Buy Organizing Products
One mistake we see all the time is people purchasing bins, baskets, drawer organizers, and storage containers before they’ve even unpacked.
Instead, we recommend:
- Unpack everything first.
- Decide where items naturally belong.
- Live in the space for a little while.
- Then purchase only the organizing products you actually need.
This helps prevent buying products that don’t fit your space or solving problems that don’t actually exist. You’ll usually spend less money and end up with systems that work much better for your home.
This is especially important if you’re moving into a New Orleans shotgun home, where storage space is often limited. Waiting until you’ve unpacked makes it much easier to buy products that actually fit your space and storage needs.
7. Create Organizing Systems That Are Easy to Maintain
As you unpack and organize your new home, focus on creating systems that are easy for you to maintain.
Just because something looks nice or is popular on social media doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to work for you or your family. The goal is to create organizing systems that fit your lifestyle and make everyday life easier.
Think about what you use the most and make sure those items are easy to access. Put everyday items where it makes the most sense so you can quickly find what you need without digging through cabinets, drawers, or closets. The easier your home is to use, the easier it’ll be to keep organized.
The same goes for organizing products. Just because a bin, basket, or container looks nice doesn’t mean it’s the right solution for your space.
Choose organizing products that are practical and that you’ll actually use.
What works for one family may be completely different from what works for another, so don’t feel like you have to organize your home exactly like someone else. Instead, create systems that work for you, because that’s what’s going to help you keep your new home organized for the long run.
Want more organizing tips? Check out our post, “Top Organizing Tips for New Orleans Homes“
8. Give Yourself Grace
A move is a major life event.
Your home doesn’t have to be perfectly unpacked and organized in a single day, or even a single week.
For many families, it takes several weeks or even a month to fully settle into a new home, especially while balancing work, school, and everyday responsibilities.
Don’t compare your timeline to anyone else’s. Focus on making steady progress, and remember that it’s okay to ask for help when you need it.
Need Help With Your Move in New Orleans?
Whether you’re moving across New Orleans, Metairie, Kenner, the Westbank, the Northshore, or the surrounding Greater New Orleans areas, or relocating to the area, our team would love to help make the process easier.
At Professional Organizer New Orleans, we offer:
- Decluttering services before or after your move
- Professional packing services
- Unpacking and organizing services
- Downsizing services
- Senior Downsizing services
- Senior Decluttering services
- Move Management services
- Closet, kitchen, pantry, garage, and whole-home organization
- Product recommendations and organizing systems
- Donation removal for small household donations
Whether you simply need help getting started or want someone to handle the entire process, we’re here to help make your move less stressful and your new home feel organized from day one.
Feel free to contact us at (504) 321-6792 or fill out an online contact form.
