Moving in New York City is an entirely different experience than moving into a college dorm or into a new home. Streets are small; stairways are even smaller. If you’re looking to move to New York City or to move anywhere within the city, here are my tips for you.
Moving always comes with a combination of feelings…the feeling of excitement that you’re about to start a new chapter of you life in a new city, state, country, or apartment and the feeling of dread that you have to pack your entire life into boxes and hope everything makes it to your new destination unscathed.
Moving in New York City is an entirely different experience than moving into a college dorm or into a new home. Streets are small; stairways are even smaller. It seems like moving companies want to charge you an arm and a leg to get your furniture up and down the stairs.
The goal is to not end up carrying your couch up six flights of stairs.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I appreciate what moving companies do for us because there is no way that I could do it myself. But $700-900 to move my one bedroom a few blocks away? I hope I’m not the only one who finds that utterly ridiculous. If you’re looking to move to New York City or to move anywhere within the city, here are my tips for you.
1. Check Out Prices and Apartments Online
If you’re a first time NYC resident, you might want to consider using a broker to help you determine which area of the city you want to live in and to help you navigate the real estate market. Things move quickly in NYC. You can find and rent an apartment in the span of a couple of hours. Since I’ve been in the city for two years now, I looked on StreetEasy. This website lists all of the latest and greatest apartments that New York City has to offer. You can customize your search based on price range, bedroom/bathroom, amenities, and area of the city to find the apartment of your dreams. I found my newest apartment on StreetEasy, and I couldn’t be happier.
StreetEasy's hilarious ads are all over NYC.
2. Call Multiple Moving Companies for Quotes and be Flexible with the Time of Your Move
Moving companies can be easy to find but hard to narrow down. Everyone thinks their company is the best, but you have to find the best fit for you. I went on Facebook and asked for recommendations from my NYC friends. Then I called every single company to get a quote. In the end, I chose Piece of Cake Movers because they offered me the best price and had many happy reviewers. The main reason I got a low price is that I agreed to move from 3pm-6pm. I had a great experience with their company. Most people want to get their move over with in the morning, but I knew saving money was my main focus because I didn’t have that much furniture to move.
3. Help Your Friends Move
You should help your friends move. I know it’s not the most fun activity, but moving is insanely stressful. Having a friend there to comfort you brings down the anxiety that surrounds your moving day. Friends will be there for you, and helping each other move is going to make the process more enjoyable in the long run. My boyfriend Liam was there for me throughout my entire move and it meant so much that he was ready to help. Friends will always remember that you were there to lend a hand.
4. Put Everything in Boxes
I learned this the hard way. Moving companies find it much easier to lift boxes down stairs than carry bags of clothing or shoes, so make sure to pack it all up before they get there or pay extra for the packing services most moving companies offer. You can find boxes at your local hardware store for an inexpensive price.
5. Roommates Should have Individual Moving Days
During my current move, I was going from a 1 bedroom to a 3 bedroom apartment. My roommates and I are all on different schedules, so we decided to split up instead of having one giant “move-in” day. This made all of our moves so much easier. By the time I moved in, my first roommate had all of her furniture and stuff unpacked in her room. Give yourself space and time to move.
6. Breathe
Don’t worry if your move doesn’t go perfectly as planned. You will get to where you need to be with all of your belongings some way or another. I needed to tell myself to take a deep breath multiple times throughout the moving process, and if you aren’t able to do it yourself then your Apple Watch will do it for you. Pretty sure my watch thinks I’m a stress monster now!
I hope these tips help you! Good luck with you move!
