Unless you are a very lucky individual it is likely that you will find yourself needing to move at least two or three times in your life. As anyone who has had to pick up their life and shift it down the road will tell you, moving sucks. Take it from me. My husband and I have had to move numerous times and there are some elements to the experience which are a ritual by now. For example, we will always have an argument over where the boxes go in the new place. Always.

If you need to move than I only have two pieces of advice for you. This advice will not help you to avoid arguments with your spouse, but it will likely cut down on how dangerous and exhausting a move can be for the uninitiated.

1. Hire movers.

Do not bother with pods, or rental moving trucks, just give up on all those ideas. Long distance movers are especially worth the investment because as soon as you need to move so far that an airplane is a faster way to get to your new home, then that is when things become difficult to coordinate and manage.

After my fifth moving experience ended in me collapsing on a grouping of boxes to take a nap, my husband and I resolved to never attempt the Do It Yourself move ever again.

2. Hire movers with experience, insurance, and a good reputation.

As in any realm of service providers there will be trustworthy companies, and there will be bloodsucking, backhanded, wastes of capital. Must I stress that you want the former and not the latter? My point is that one should always exercise caution when hiring a moving company. When it comes to your personal belongings you want to be able to turn your back on the movers to enjoy your iced coffee and not worry whether or not they are fishing in the boxes and nabbing your IPod.

If possible, only employ a moving company which comes highly recommended to you, which can supply references, or at least has a handful of reviews online that look like they were not whipped up by the 15 year old nephew of the company manager. If possible, purchase insurance. Lost or broken items are a bummer, and sometimes even the most careful preparation will not prevent an accident.

Take it from someone who has been there more times than she would care to admit. Moving is best done by professionals. Save yourself some sanity and hire the best that you can find.