In a growing, business-centric city like Columbia, moving into a new apartment can be difficult. Busy workers and students don’t have the time to plan out their moving schedule, and traffic-heavy areas like downtown or strip malls are hard to get around with moving trucks. Luckily, we have some tips that will help ease the moving process!

If you’re moving from a previous apartment, fill out a change of address form by the U.S. Postal Service, cancel or transfer utility or cable bills, and call your bank to move accounts (if necessary).

Call ahead of time or check out the website to see which furniture or items you need to buy. For example, the apartment may come with a TV but no sofa.

Apartments aren’t always the biggest, but bookcases, racks and shelving units are helpful for saving space.

Get moving boxes from office supplies stores or grocery stores where they’re free, color code or categorize your packing boxes by room so you know where each box belongs, and wrap breakables in towels or sheets to save space!

Move furniture like mattresses and couches at the same time because the area around the apartment complex may be crowded. Try to move boxes and the rest of your items at the same time as well.

Clearing a path to easily move into your apartment makes the time go by faster.

If your car is big enough, roof bars can be a good option for quickly moving one large item. If you don’t have roof bars or a spacious car, borrow a pickup truck from a friend or family member, or rent a U-Haul. Make sure to have one or more people with you to move pieces like mattresses and couches.

After you’ve dropped off all your boxes, double check to make sure the electricity and utilities are working in the apartment. Contact the landlord if not.