5 Technologies I Wish I Had Known About Before I Started This Move

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I’m moving right now. And I hate it. And every time I do it, I approach it poorly, like Kermit flinging his hands above his head and running around. That is how I move. And if I weren’t an idiot, I’d be using the following technology things to help me move. But I am an idiot, so I haven’t. LEARN FROM MY MISTAKES.


Moved

Last night my wife found the box for the knife block after she’d packed all the knives and she cried. Today I found Moved after we’d done most of the move and I cried. Finding Moved after doing most of this is exactly like finding the knife box after packing the knives, so we were essentially crying over the same thing. Moved pairs you with a move concierge, an actual real person, to help you organize your move. They do everything from finding a storage unit to booking movers to changing your address. And that concierge? It’s free. Having an actual real person help you coordinate all those things costs you zero dollars; you only pay for the services and supplies you order. I’m dead. I’m. Dead. Why didn’t I research this sooner? Why didn’t I know about this? DON’T BE ME. DON’T PACK THE KNIVES YET. Also maybe we’ll use this to get us out of storage when we’re done being on a farm for the summer because HOT DAMN.

Moved is free for iOS and as a web app.


Sortly

Instead of labeling boxes “random crap,” I could’ve inventoried our apartment and packed everything neatly with Sortly. I could’ve made labels for the boxes with QR codes on them, scannable, so I know what’s in each box INSTANTLY. It even makes MOVING CHECKLISTS. Moving. Checklists. I DON’T HAVE A MOVING CHECKLIST! I barely have my wits.

Sortly is free for iOS and as a web app. They’re currently working on an Android version.


Cleanify

I think of myself as a pretty clean person. But with our vacuum broken for the past few weeks, it’s awful in here. Cleanify lets you book a one-time, move-out cleaning and I am SORELY TEMPTED but I probably won’t do it because I LIKE TO SUFFER. Moving is a weeks-long exercise in self-destruction for me, and if anyone has attempted to human at me during this time and gotten no response, THIS IS WHY. Because I’m over here accidentally mopping myself into a corner and washing literally every single thing in my kitchen before it enters a storage unit. Cleanify hooks you up with independent cleaning professionals who are GOLDEN GODS.

Cleanify is a web app, a sweet, sweet web app that leads to people who are smart enough not to mop their own body into a corner.


ThredUP

While I am super glad we donated clothes to Housing Works, the idea behind ThredUP makes me cry, it’s so easy. Seriously, I am literally crying right now as I type this, I’m going to go to the grocery store to get a frozen bullshit thing because all of our pots are packed and our fridge is empty and I can’t think through the hunger, I’ve been living off cookies for two days.

Okay, back. What’s so easy about ThredUP is that you can order a free closet clean out kit. They’ll send you a bag and you just fill it up and mail it back. ThredUP looks through it and finds what they’re willing to buy off you, and then… they pay you for it. If you’re like me and you never want to see those items again, you can elect to have anything they don’t use be recycled into stuffing for pillows and such. If you’re not really looking to make extra cash, you can choose to donate it to a cause.

ThredUP is an online store with free apps for iOS and Android. Heads up, this is for the femmes — my suit jackets would not do well here.


Flip

Okay, this hasn’t been a problem for me during this move, but I’ve got friends who are doing academic stuff in other cities for the summer and have had trouble finding subletters. I figured some of y’all might be in the same boat. Flip is a market that looks a lot like AirBNB, except it’s for longer-term sublets rather than shorter-term rentals. Listing is free; flip makes its money through rent paid through the app (5% off it). If you’re looking to sublet your apartment (or move somewhere for a bit!), Flip is an excellent option with its custom legal documents and its “rent release” button, where you release your first month to your new landlord when you’ve got the keys in your hands.

Flip has a web app but they also have a free iOS app.

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A.E. Osworth

A.E. Osworth is part-time Faculty at The New School, where they teach undergraduates the art of digital storytelling. Their novel, We Are Watching Eliza Bright, about a game developer dealing with harassment (and narrated collectively by a fictional subreddit), is forthcoming from Grand Central Publishing (April 2021) and is available for pre-order now. They have an eight-year freelancing career and you can find their work on Autostraddle (where they used to be the Geekery Editor), Guernica, Quartz, Electric Lit, Paper Darts, Mashable, and drDoctor, among others.

A.E. has written 542 articles for us.

11 Comments

  1. Gahhhh these are so good and smart it makes me ache thinking of how stressed I was during our last move. QR codes!? Genius!!!! I recently had to unpack a box that was labeled only “Lamp… Towels … Folders+stuff” ?

    Also, a note on ThredUp: I’ve heard some not great things about their timeliness with paying you back for your stuff, and the amt of $$$ they give you for your stuff. My cousin recently got ripped off, and then I googled and apparently other ppl are pissed too:

    https://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/www.thredup.com

  2. Ahh I am getting ready to move right now and this list is sooo helpful!! Thanks!

  3. I’m in the middle of moving and I’m SO PUMPED for Moved. So far, it seems like it works and isn’t a scam?? Someone is looking up moving truck prices for me. I’m so excited. THANK YOU

  4. I’m too much of a control freak to let someone else plan my move for me, but I will use the FRICK out of Sortly, and maybe ThredUP.

  5. Am reading this in my new home (YOU GUYS I JUST MOVED INTO A BOAT AND I AM SO LEGIT EXCITE) and going ‘wow, these would have helped me avoid my “stuff” boxes issue’.

  6. I recommend googling any deals on move out or one time cleaners (even if its not ‘move out’ special)–Having moved twice in the past few years mostly under my own steam, as a single person unwilling to invite friends over to help me scrub the floors… it was amazing and took so much stress off. I always moved my stuff out first, then arranged for the landlord to let the cleaners into the empty flat. Tip them well if the app or otherwise allows you to. Trust me on this: if you have a one or two bedroom apartment the extra time you spend not scrubbing but staring up at your new ceiling going “omg I am dead” is worth it

  7. are you coming back to new york?

    also, flip would have helped so much with my apartment drama a month or so ago!

Comments are closed.