Moving is something most people do at some point, with the average American moving around 12 times throughout their life, and the average person under 30 already having made six of those moves. Even though people are constantly moving, very few really enjoy these moves. Maybe you need to hire movers. Find a new home, box everything up, and have movers take it from one place to another. Maybe you just need to do a little more planning. There are tons of ways to make moving easier, and we have gathered a few ideas to get you started in your next move.

1. First things first, make a plan. Packing up a house isn’t easy and it will only be harder if you don’t have a plan. Label boxes for different rooms, and keep things that go together boxed together. When unpacking later on, things will be much more organized and your new home will come together before you can blink your eyes.
2. Hire movers. Find a new home, prepare what you want to move, and hire movers. Especially when moving furniture that matters to you, having people with experience really matters. Movers will be able to best protect the things that matter to you and get them from one point to another in the best shape possible.
3. Pack what you’ll need as soon as you get to your new place and label it to open first. Make things you know you need for your first night in your new home easily accessible by having a few boxes on top full of necessities and clearly labeled.
4. Only take what you need; now is the perfect time to clean out. There is a good chance that you don’t need everything you have stacked up in all the bottomless closets of your house. Set some boxes aside and label them to give away. You will feel happy to have a cleaned out house, and moving will be much easier without extra items you are never going to use anyway.
5. Have a layout of your new house in mind. If you have completed the first step, all your boxes are planned out and organized based on what room they came from. Now it is time to figure out what room they are going into. Have a layout in mind for your new house so when everything is unloaded it can already be in the right place.

Moving isn’t fun, but it is a part of life. And the payoff can be really great. Hire movers. Find a new home. Live your dream. There are ways to make it manageable.