10 Tips for Moving From a House to an Apartment: Ultimate Checklist

Moving from a house to an apartment has many advantages, but the transition can be logistically tricky.

In this week’s home moving blog, we have compiled a checklist to help your move go more smoothly.

1. Create a floor plan of the new apartment

The living space in your apartment will feel even smaller when you’re coming from a large and spacious house.

Creating a floor plan of the new place will:

• Help you decide which furniture to move from the house, if at all.
• Help you decide whether you will be able to fit some of the larger furniture pieces into the apartment; maybe some of them just won’t go through the smaller door openings or narrower corridors.
• Know in advance where each household item will be situated in the new home by having the detailed apartment layout in front of you.

You may also like to read: How to Create a Floor Plan Before You Move. In this guide, we explain how to create a simple floor plan of your new home.

2. Reduce the number of items you’re moving

The new place will most certainly have less living space than the old one. Also, the storage space in the new apartment will be much more restricted as well, so you will have to reduce the number of items you’re moving to the new home.

Paring down your possessions before you move out will help you save money on transportation costs and save space by not having so many things to unpack and arrange after the move.

So, what should you do to move fewer things to the new apartment?

• Inventory all your possessions.
• Make a detailed list of the things you intend to move.
• Revise the above list again and again until you’re left only with the most essential items.
• Get rid of duplicate items, outdated things, unfashionable clothes, and outgrown shoes.
• Throw away for recycling household items that nobody will ever need or use again.
• As a rule of thumb, you shouldn’t bother packing and using any items that you haven’t used in more than a year.

You may also like to read: How to Get Rid of Unwanted Items When Moving. Once you have decluttered, you will have a pile of things to get rid of. This guide suggests the best places to donate, sell, or give away those items.

3. Think twice before moving any furniture

One of the major challenges faced when moving into an apartment is what to do with the large and heavy furniture pieces you have in the house right now.

So, what items should you take, and which items should be gotten rid of?

YES. Move antique furniture that is too valuable to leave behind. Move high-quality furniture that will be very expensive to buy after the move. Move practical and versatile furniture items that will let you maximize the space in the apartment.

NO. Don’t move any furniture that’s already damaged. Don’t move inexpensive, ready-to-assemble particleboard furniture; IKEA-type furniture items rarely survive a house move. Don’t move furniture that’s too heavy or too big unless you must.

You may also like to read: What to Do with Furniture When Moving. In this guide, we help you decide which items to take with you to your new home.

4. Earn some extra cash from your unwanted stuff

The last thing you need is to pay good money for hauling useless stuff, which you’ll wonder where to store after the move is over.

Try to sell some of the items you’re not taking with you; the money you make will be a useful addition to your moving budget.

• Sell your stuff online. As long as you have enough time to spare prior to Moving day, you can try to sell some of the things online by posting them on sites such as eBay, Craigslist, Amazon, Etsy, eBid, etc.

• Organize a garage sale. That’s usually a good option to sell your unwanted items for a profit. Again, you’ll need to find the time and invest some effort into organizing a profitable moving sale, but the hassle is usually worth it in the end.

You may also like to read: How to Organize a Garage Sale Before Moving. In this guide, we offer some tips for holding a successful yard sale.

5. Pack your things quickly and efficiently

Once you’ve purged your home of all unnecessary items, you’ll be left with fewer things to pack.

Keeping in mind that packing is the most time-consuming task when moving, here are some tips for making the house packing process faster and more efficient.

How to pack quickly for a move?

• Begin boxing up your things as soon as you possibly can, but not before you’ve inventoried your belongings, sorted them out, and gotten rid of the useless stuff. Each day spent without packing could hurt your chances of a successful house move.
• Follow a good packing checklist, a detailed to-do list that will guide you throughout the house packing process.
• Start packing your items from the rooms that are really hard to sort and pack, such as the garage, attic, basement, and any spare rooms.
• Set up a packing station in the room you’re packing at the moment and get all necessary packing supplies close by to save valuable time.

You may also like to read: Is it Worth Paying for Professional Packers? Packing is arguably the worst part of moving home. But will hiring professional packers make it easier? What do they do? And how much do they cost? This guide explains all you need to know about hiring professional packers.

6. Find the best apartment movers in your area

When moving into an apartment building, it’s best to use the services of professional apartment movers, especially if you are moving into a high-rise apartment.

Apartment moves come with a few extra challenges compared to house moves, and that’s exactly why you’ll be better off hiring movers who have extensive experience in moving household items into and out of apartment buildings.

• Stairs. Moving into a high-rise apartment involves navigating bulky furniture and endless moving boxes up multiple flights of stairs. The staircases of some older apartment buildings are way narrower, too, which further complicates the move.
• Elevator. Some larger household items may not fit inside the elevator. Besides, the building elevator will have to be reserved for the day of the move and properly protected inside with furniture blankets.

Bear in mind that the apartment building you’re moving into may not have an elevator, or it may be out of order on Moving day.

7. Organize moving to the new apartment

Organizing a smooth move from a house to an apartment often comes down to how well you plan it.

• While a packing checklist will help you pack up your things faster and safer, a good moving checklist will introduce structure and order into a seemingly chaotic period. A moving checklist will also help you organize the entire moving process so that you don’t waste any valuable time wondering what to do next.
• Change your postal address with the USPS before moving out. The easiest way to start the change of address procedure is to do it online, but you can also visit the nearest USPS office and do it in person.
• Cancel any home-delivery services and subscriptions. Also, discontinue your membership to clubs, gyms, hobby groups, and so on.
• Schedule the disconnection of your household utilities with the utility companies, and if applicable, arrange for their reconnection at the new apartment. When moving into a rental apartment, your landlord or property manager should inform you which utility providers are recommended or exclusive for the apartment building, as well as whether some of those services are included in the monthly rent.

You may also like to read: Moving Checklist: The Greatest Moving Checklist of All Time. A moving checklist is invaluable to ensure that you do not miss any important home moving tasks. Here, we have created one of the most comprehensive moving checklists available.

8. Help your kids and pets adjust to apartment living

Moving into an apartment can prove to be a drastic change for your children, especially when moving from a big house that had a spacious backyard. The smaller living space can also be a serious issue; if each child had their own room in the house, they may be forced to share one room now in the apartment.  

Adjusting to apartment living when coming from a large house will not be easy for anyone. In most cases, a change of lifestyle is inevitable.

Be sure to sit down and discuss the issue with your children and brace yourself for a bitter clash of expectations vs. reality.  And of course, the winning strategy is to make compromises.

Your pets are likely to have a hard period of adjustment, too. That’s especially true when moving with a dog simply because Fido will lose their backyard, a particularly hard blow for a pup.

You may also like to read: How to Move With Children to a New Home. In this guide, we offer some tips to make the transition to your new home easier for your kids.

9. Create more space in the new apartment

Multi-functional furniture works best in an apartment.

There are some tricks to maximize the storage space in the condo so that it doesn’t look too cluttered.

• Use the vertical space that’s available in the new apartment, and get storage cabinets or shelves that go from floor to ceiling.
• Position storage boxes or containers on top of tall furniture pieces to make the best use of the available vertical area inside a room.
• Use multi-purpose furniture items in the new apartment; pieces that usually have extra storage inside them, for example, a bed with several drawers inside the wooden frame.
• Store various items in places that remain out of sight, such as the space under the bed or the one above the fridge.
• Use blinds on the windows instead of heavy curtains that tend to steal some of the living space.
• Use lighting well (layered lighting) to create the illusion of more space.

You may also like to read: 5 Superb Tips for Moving Into a Studio Apartment. In this guide, we have gathered 5 essential tips for moving into a studio apartment.

10. Enjoy the advantages of living in an apartment

Moving from a house into an apartment can mean the living space is limited, and you’ll have neighbors too close to you, who may be too noisy and nosy, too, but it’ll be best for you to focus on the advantages of living in an apartment building in the city.

• Lower utility bills. Expect to pay less money for utility bills thanks to the smaller space inside the apartment. If you’re moving to a colder state, then having lower electricity bills during the wintertime will be a godsend.
• Low maintenance costs. The maintenance costs of an apartment should be less than those of a house, at least in most cases.
• More time. Not having a backyard and a garden will save you loads of time you would have spent otherwise in maintaining those areas. Also, the extra rooms in a house will need to be cleaned and tidied up on a regular basis.
• Unrivaled location. Arguably, the best thing about moving from a house to an apartment will be the location of the new place. If the apartment building is located in a big city, then you’re basically trading a bigger living space for an excellent location.

You may also like to read: How to Move Into a High-Rise Apartment. Moving into a high-rise has its own unique moving challenges. In this guide, we offer some tips to make the whole moving process so much easier.

Good luck with your move, and be sure to visit our home moving blog, which is packed with guides to make every aspect of your home move easier, cheaper, and safer.