Ingenious Moving Tips, According to Twitter

Whether or not you’ve outsourced the actual loading and unloading of your precious belongings to professional movers, the planning and packing process necessary for any move is enough to make even the most organized individuals contemplate climbing inside a cardboard box themselves.

To resist the urge, Twitter user “Shameless Maya” asked her followers to share their best tips and tricks for her own move—and, as was the case with hotel hacks last month, the Twittersphere rose to the occasion spectacularly. While it might be an exaggeration to say that these hacks will make moving fun, they can definitely help take the edge off your moving-day headache (or backache). Take a look through some of the most ingenious responses below, compiled by Thrillist.

1. Pack your dishes with your clothes.

Wrapping dishes and other fragile items in your sweaters and socks will not only keep you from generating extra waste with newspapers or packing peanuts, it’ll also save you some space. (@yuffieh_)

2. Protect your floors with a set of furniture sliders.

Even if the pros are packing your U-Haul, you will probably move your furniture around your new home while you’re getting set up. Prevent those beloved hardwood floors from getting scratched with furniture sliders. (@GabberWaukee)

3. Save space by packing with vacuum-sealed bags.

It’s impossible to accurately describe the awe you’ll feel—and the space you’ll save—when watching your vacuum-sealed bags shrink before your eyes. (@HunniB_Rose)

4. Use trash bags as bulk garment bags.

Skip the hassle of taking your clothes off their hangers and wrap groups of them in large plastic trash bags. That way, they’ll stay on their hangers whether you’re packing them into boxes or wheeling them out on a portable rack. (@thegirllogan_)

5. Tape loose hardware to its corresponding furniture.

It’s easy to lose screws, washers, and other small hardware during a big move. Instead of throwing everything into a bag and hoping you’ll remember which tiny bits of metal go to what, just duct tape them to their corresponding furniture. (@NebFeminists)

6. Hit up department stores for free cardboard boxes.

Before you splurge on cardboard boxes that you’ll end up throwing out immediately after your move, see if department stores have any that they’d love to get rid of for free. (@jackseve)

7. Ask your local liquor store for special partitioned boxes.

And before you painstakingly wrap each and every glass you own, see if your local liquor store has a stash of those special partitioned cardboard boxes that bottles are often shipped in. (@SuzPageWrites)

8. Invest in a few of IKEA’s giant shopping bags.

Nothing beats IKEA’s big blue reusable shopping bags for transporting oddly shaped items or last-minute things you forgot to pack—they also make great laundry bags if you’re moving to a place without an in-unit washer and dryer. (@PaigeUnabridged)

[h/t Thrillist]