Two-week move timeline with rental totes

Days 1–2 — Drop-off, sort, purge

We drop 20 totes at your door. They arrive stacked, lids on. Don't pack anything yet.

The first 48 hours are for the unsexy work: walk through every room and identify what you're not taking. The thing you bought in 2019 and haven't touched since. The clothes that don't fit. The kitchen gadget that lives in the back of the cabinet.

Three piles: keep, donate, trash. Get the donate stuff to a drop-off on day 2 — Goodwill in Albany is on Central Ave, the Habitat ReStore takes furniture and building materials. Trash goes to the curb on your normal pickup day.

You'll free up roughly 20% of your stuff. That's 4-5 totes you didn't have to pack.

Days 3–5 — Pack the low-use rooms

Now you start packing. Start with the rooms you almost never use: attic, basement, garage, hall closets, guest room.

Use one tote per category within each room. Pack heavy on the bottom, light on top. Click the lid. Sharpie the room name + the three highest-value items inside.

Stack the sealed totes in the corner of each room you just packed. Out of the way. Don't move them to the staging area yet — they'll just have to be moved twice.

Days 6–9 — Medium-use rooms

Next: books, decor, closet clothes you don't wear daily, secondary bathroom. You should still have full kitchen function and your normal daily routine intact.

At this point you might find you need more totes. Message us — same-day or next-day drops are normal. Each additional tote is $4 flat. Don't ration.

By the end of day 9 you should be at roughly 70% packed.

Days 10–12 — Daily-use rooms

Now the painful ones: kitchen, primary bathroom, the clothes you wear every day, the kid's room.

For the kitchen: pack everything except a single "survival kit" — one mug, one plate, one pan, the coffee maker. Same for the bathroom: one tote stays open with the toiletries you actually use that week.

Sharpie those OPEN FIRST in big letters. They go on top of the stack and into the truck last.

Day 13 — Move day

Load the truck. Furniture first, against the cab wall. Totes stacked four-high along the sides. OPEN FIRST totes go on top of the stack closest to the door.

At the new place: carry each tote to the room marked on its label. Don't open them yet. Just deliver them home.

Tonight: unpack the OPEN FIRST totes only. Coffee maker, toothbrush, kettle, kid's pajamas, phone chargers. That's it. Order pizza. Sleep.

Day 14 — Unpack what matters, schedule pickup

Hit the kitchen and the bathroom hard. Get those fully unpacked. Everything else can wait — you have the totes for at least the rest of today.

Message us when you're ready for pickup. We come the same day if it's morning, next day if it's evening. Stack the empties by the door — no need to break anything down.

If your move ran long and you need a third week, we add $29 to the bill. No drama. Just say so when we ask about pickup.