How do renters arrange their moving?

Just let the current or new landlord know which you'll be doing, and they usually won't care, especially the new landlord. Also, note that Jan 31 falls on a Sunday, and if you're building doesn't allow weekend moves, you'll have to do Friday or Monday anyways.

How about instead of an extra month, pay for an extra week. If your new landlord won't let you start an extra week early, perhaps your old landlord will let you stay another week. Yes, there is a week of overlapping rents but it is in my opinion, worth it. You don't have to compete for moving vans, use of elevator and pther benefits.

how about moving out a week or so before your lease ends. you'll likely get better rates for moving if its not the middle (15th) or end/beginning of the month too. seems like trying to do it all in a day or two is an unnecessary hassle.

oh, i'm sorry. your new lease doesn't start until one ends. my bad. sorry.

You do a one-month overlap and build it into the overall cost of moving.

This enables you to pack and move more gracefully.

So the landlord had to clean, paint and the like and the old tenant was out anywa, so they let us move in early. NYCMatt, the point is not to waste money and who knows what graceful moving is.

You're "wasting" money just by moving in the first place.

Ask your old landlord to extend your lease by 2-5 days, or your new one to start 2-5 days early, so there is some overlap.

Any landlords and brokers out there know how long the periods are between occupied apartments in well run buildings? A month? A week? Couple days? None?

Don't overlap by a month, its too much (not just $$$, but it actually becomes stressful when you have stuff in both places).

2 weeks can often work well.

You might be moving out Jan 31, but so is probably the guy from the apartment you're moving into. They generally need a week to clean and paint and whatever anyway. So say you'll start on the 15th, and they're happy not to lose a full month.

A lot of overlap might sound relaxing, but it actually allows you to "dwell" and isn't good for a lot of people. You want a solid deadline, get it done and get it over with. I've tried that "gradual" move thing and its really just a pain. No matter who much "pre" you do, the move ends up wtih aton of stuff being just piled in at the end.

Pick a short window and stick to it. The "rush" is actually good for people generally.