Apps to keep you organized during a move

When you move during the busy summer months, time is of the essence. And I completely wasted it when I moved last year for one simple reason: I lived in a pigsty.

My house was a mess, and my digital space was even worse. Admittedly, I was going through a lot at the time and was forced to move after spending years in the same place. As I sank deeper into the stress of trying to figure out the move, the clutter piled up. It got so bad that I missed out on buying some potential apartments. because I lost the app link or completely forgot it.

I'd like to say that I learned from my mistakes and developed a great system for physically tidying up, but that wasn't the case. My house remained a pigsty until the day I left. However, did achieve Research tools help me keep track of the digital aspects of the move. And thanks to those tools (which I've listed below), I quickly found a new place to throw out my trash.

When I first started apartment hunting, I was one of those people who always had 1,000 tabs open at once. Now, I only have 500 and I'd like to thank OneTab for that.

This browser-independent tool (Chrome, Firefox, Edgeand Safari,) let me easily view and organize multiple tabs and even different browser windows, which made it much easier to keep track of links and listings I needed. Not only did it close all of my tabs, but it also generated a list of them (timestamped by session) that I could reopen, export, share as a web page, and more. As a result, I no longer avoided looking at the mess that was my laptop, which meant I started responding to owners faster.

But that only helped me a little. The real game changer was Notion.

My biggest mistake was not having an organizational system in place from the beginning. Once I I created a dedicated workspace in Notion From tracking my apartment search to storing all the checklists I needed before, during, and after the move, life just got a whole lot easier.

I tried other apps, but they weren't as customizable or intuitive for me as Notion. Creating a dedicated workspace for the different parts of my move was easy because I could easily break everything down into different pages for researching moving companies, estimates, organization, and more. Notion also offers Ready-to-use templatesMany of which are free, created by other people who have been through similar situations, such as This I used it in my search or This template My colleague Emma Roth used it. Having a predefined database with fields for rent, location, etc. saved me a lot of time.

What I really appreciated, and what really sped things up, were Notion's web cutters and third party integrations. He cobweb cutters For example, it allowed me to quickly save Zillow listings or Yelp research directly into my Notion workspace. That in itself reduced my tabs much more than OneTab. Notion also allowed me to sync apps like Google Calendar so I could more easily keep track of all my tours and deadlines in one place.

Okay, I'll be honest: I didn't come across the Gmail Tabs Until after I move, I know I’ll be relying heavily on the desktop app extension for my upcoming move. The extension, which I raved about in this post, gives you a level of flexibility that goes far beyond Gmail’s built-in tab options. It lets you turn your labels or search queries into tabs that you can pin to the top of your inbox, right where Gmail’s Social, Promotions, Updates, and Forum tabs are located. You can then set up filters to funnel all relevant emails into the appropriate categories.

That means, for example, you can create categories for property notification emails from sites like Zillow or HotPads, rental apps, and other things for quick and easy access. You can delete and edit the tab names as many times as you like, making it a useful organizational tool throughout the moving process. After you find a place, you can get rid of that tab and add a new one for all moving company-related emails, another for incoming emails about stuff you might be selling on, say, Craigslist, and more.

Those last few weeks before moving are killers, and I found myself running back and forth frantically. I was juggling dozens of things at once and felt like my brain was about to explode with information and dates. So I delegated half my brain to Alexa, sort of. I synced my Google Calendar with my Echo Show 8. That way, whenever an opportunity to see a house came up, I could tell Alexa to add it to my calendar. Alexa was also helpful in keeping track of all the things I suddenly remembered at the last minute, like a change of address for a subscription or a business.

Those are the most important ones, but there were smaller tools that also helped me or people I know and I think they are worth sharing.

ai chatbots like ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini may not always be the brightest, but they can be helpful for planning and research purposes. ChatGPT helped me a lot when I needed to break down the moving process into smaller steps to feel less overwhelmed. I found it was also helpful in summarizing articles and finding the best real estate sites in my area.

Many property websites offer features that can help you stay organized as well, so be sure to check them out. I used Zillow a lot, so Zillow Rental Center Featured. Provides an easy, centralized way to compare listings, manage tours, track requests, message potential owners, and more.

Last but not least, there are many inventory apps that can help you keep track of where you've stored everything. I know a few people who have used Neatlyan iOS app that helps you create a visual inventory of your stuff, complete with photos. The premium tier, which costs $50 per month, also lets you create QR codes for your moving boxes (though most people won't need to use it for more than a month or two).