In 2016, both of Maria and Juancho Montecillos’ children were away for school, and the couple decided it was time for them to move. Maintenance and taxes on their 2,800 square foot home had become too much. But they never anticipated selling would take so long.
Over the course of a year, Maria says, “three times we had a buyer, and three times they fell through Then, out of the blue, someone sent us a note in the mail and asked us if we were still selling.”
The couple then searched for a smaller place that was close with easy access to Manhattan, where Juancho works. “We knew we didn’t want a house and we didn’t want to be pressured into buying again,” Maria says. “So, we decided to rent and signed a two-year lease.”
To fit into their smaller home and avoid paying for storage, they purged extra tools, decades-old wedding presents and spare Christmas decorations. From there, they went room by room boxing up what was left.
To avoid getting overwhelmed, the couple broke the move down room by room. They stored hanging clothes in specialty wardrobe boxes; expensive electronics slid into slim, padded containers; large furniture was wrapped in cling wrap and moving blankets; dollies and hand trucks helped with heavy items.
Maria even color-coded boxes with tape to make the unpacking process easy when the couple settled in a townhouse in Fort Lee, New Jersey.
Learn from the Montecillos’ experience for your own move. Follow these key tips to pack up each room.
WRAP IT UP: Keep corners and cushions safe in transit with cling wrap or foam padding.
USE WARDROBE BOXES: Move hanging clothes directly into these boxes to make unpacking easy.
SPECIALTY BOXES: With built-in padding, these boxes protect expensive or fragile electronics throughout the packing and moving process. Or, if you’re short on bubble wrap, clothes from your drawers can be wrapped around fragile items.
THE RIGHT TOOL: Don’t break your back. Lift appliances or other items with tools like hand trucks to ease the heavy load.
