Very carefully.

Put the soft stuff in last (on the top), and any potential weapons in first (at the bottom). This will maximize comfort both for you and for any potentially dangerous hitchhikers you pick up.

I’ve moved eleven times in the last six years so I have more experience in this area than I had ever hoped to get. (A couple of moves ago, the friend who was helping joked that if I ever needed a Miss America talent, I should pack the back of a U-Haul.) You absolutely must get some of
this -- it is the best stuff ever and has a thousand uses.

It may be too late but one thing that’s really helpful is to take a digital photo of the inside of the box before you seal it and then take a picture of the outside of the box after you’ve labeled it. That way, if you’re looking for something and can’t remember what box you put it in you can scan through the pics in your camera’s screen until you find it and go right to the correct box instead of making a huge mess by opening up a bunch of boxes on a search mission.

Experience has shown the best way to move is thus:

1) befriend an experienced tour manager, several years in advance.

2) invite said tour manager to help you move

3) leave the majority of the packing for moving day, and then proceed slowly without even a hint of efficiency.

4) Sit back and relax as he or she gets frustrated and takes charge of the operation, packing all of your belongings with ruthless precision, leaving not more than a cubic foot of space free in your box truck. And drives it to your new place, because we all remember that time he tried to make you drive a large vehicle somewhere east of Omaha.

It couldn't be easier.