With downtown apartment occupancies at an all time high, people are settling for smaller and smaller apartments. This means that more and more people are running out of space for their belongings. Do you hold a yard sale and sell what you don’t really need or do you call the local self storage place and rent a shed? Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of both ideas.

The first question you should ask yourself is how permanent is you current living situation. If you see yourself living in an apartment like the one you are in now for the next few years, it may be time to sell some of your extra belongings since storing them for that long a period of time could get expensive. If you see yourself buying a bigger place in the near future, than hold on to your things and simply pay what you have to to store them.

You can also go through your entire belongings one by one and sell the things you really don’t need. Many people buy things like skis or exercise equipment with the best of intensions only to realize that they don’t really use them after all. Websites like Craigslist will allow you to place individual ads for items so that you don’t have to hold a complete yard sale.

If you do choose to store your items, make sure you choose your storage facility wisely. Most storage facilities offer climate control and around the clock security, but not all of them do. Check online to see if you can find crime statistics and ask the people who run the storage facility if they have had any recent break-ins or security lapses. If you can’t find a climate controlled facility, you might as well throw your belongings away since mold, mildew and pests will likely do them in anyway.

For many, moving day can be one of the longest days of the year. You often rise early to double check your list and go to sleep late after checking on all of your valuables. The minutes in between can seem like hours and the stress can knock you flat. Here are a few easy to follow tips to make moving day as simple as possible.

Try to book your move as early as possible. Not only will you have the majority of the day to unpack and find everything, but the roads won’t be as crazy. This can be tough if you are moving at the end of a month since movers often get booked months ahead of time. If you are moving yourself, you can theoretically start any time you like, assuming you have access to a vehicle.

Get kids and pets out of the way early. Your first trip out of your old apartment should be to drop off the kids or the pets at a secure location. In fact, if you can take care of this the night before, you’ll be one step closer to being done. Having kids and meowing pets underfoot as you try to move can be outrageously stressful.

Be sure you either keep a notepad that has the contents of all of your boxes written on it or simply take a magic marker and write on the outside of every box so you know what is inside. That way when you are searching for a plate and a fork so you can enjoy your delivery pizza later, you can find everything.

One final tip, try to drop off the boxes into the rooms where they will be needed. This gives you an organizational advantage right off the bat when it comes to unpacking. If you pile everything up, you are doomed to spend hours sorting through boxes.

Moving is one of those adventures that almost always costs significantly more than what we thought. More and more people are choosing to move without the aid of professionals, but even then, the cost of packing materials, gas and the sheer amount of time it takes to move from one place to another can be downright depressing. If you see a move in your future, consult this checklist to ensure you have the available funds.

First, you need to decide if you are using professionals or not. If you are, call and get a complete estimate. If you aren’t, you need to decide how you are going to get from point A to B. It is human nature to underestimate how many boxes full of things we own, especially if you’ve moved within the last few years. It is natural to assume that you have just about the same amount of apartment stuff, when the truth is that you likely have a lot more.

Next, you need to get an idea of how much you are going to spend on packing materials. If you live near a grocery store, you can probably get all of the boxes you need for free. Otherwise, you may need to buy them, and that can cost a small fortune. You also need to decide what you are going to use for packing materials or if you can rely on newspaper. You’ll also need tape and some kind of organizational system so you can keep track of what is in every box.

Finally, if you are going to be relying on friends to help you move, you are going to have to reimburse them in some way. If you want them to continue to be your friends after your move, you won’t cheap out. It is only when you really sit down and calculate how much a move costs that you can make an educated decision on whether you can afford it or not.