Pack it Up, Pack it In, Let Me Begin

Packing sucks, and moving's worse, but unfortunately, these are the two areas I know best right now. Hopefully, most of you will never know the pain and want-to-kill-yourself-ness of an interstate move, but since none of us want to be in $5,000-a-month 1-bedrooms forever, here's some stuff to know about packing:

Here's what you'll need to pack: packing tape, cardboard boxes, bubble wrap, newspaper, and paper towels. Scotch tape and plastic boxes won't hurt either. If you have any original boxes, especially hatboxes, you're going to want to pack in those as well.

The most important things to know are as follows: The heaviest things go on the bottom (never glass), and the boxes should always be full. To fill boxes, conserve your soft, cushy items like sheets, towels, couch pillows, and even laundry--these will help make safe layers and protect items from scratching. The first thing to do, once you have a box assembled and ready to pack, is to crumple up sheets of newspaper and cover the entire bottom of the box, so there's a little bit of a cushion. Once that's done, you can start filling it with the rest.

Clothes are the easiest thing to pack--they're unbreakable, and all it takes is a plastic garment to ensure that your favorite dresses won't get stained. Pack them in duffel bags, suitcases, even garbage bags, whatever...but save some of those T-shirts and other non-delicates that are OK to wrinkle for padding other boxes.

On the flip side, the kitchen is probably the hardest. If you've got tons of bubble wrap--great. Wrap each dish securely in a sleeve of bubble wrap, tape, and stack. Little things that should be wrapped in bubble wrap if you've got some to spare? Pan handles and appliance plugs, so that they won't scratch everything else.

If you're lacking in bubble wrap, newspaper works well too--just be warned that newsprint ink is never fully dry, which means everything you pack in it will get grimy. How to fix? Wrap everything in paper towel first, and wrap the newsprint around that. Voila! Make sure to put layers between things that may move around, like mixing bowls (especially glass/pyrex) and stacked pots and pans. Glasses can be wrapped in newsprint too, and are easiest transported in something resembling a wine box with cardboard dividers.

For loose flatware, all you need to do is wrap it up in paper towels and put it in a ziploc bag. If you keep your flatware in a tray, just wrap up the entire tray in a plastic shopping bags and tape it tight with packing tape. You can do the same thing with a full utensil crock.

For appliances, try dismantling them into as many small pieces as possible, so that you can distribute the weight more evenly in the box. Always wrap up the plugs so they don't scratch anything else. If the appliance comes with a detachable cord, remove it and tape it to or pack it in the appliance.

When you're done packing the boxes, label them by which room you would like the movers to deliver them to. (This becomes much more relevant when moving to a house as opposed to an apartment.) If a box is heavy or fragile, make sure to indicate as such on the box, as these markings will effect its placement in the truck. You can even number the boxes and make a number key for yourself telling you what's in each box, which will be a huge help when unpacking.

The correct way to tape a box shut is to tape across the top (perpendicular to the opening) and all the way around the box, but if you need to conserve tape, just make sure you have these basic four tapes down--across the top, then down the entire opening, then two more perpendicular tapes, one on each side of the first. Et voila!