Planning for Less Stress
Planning is the most integral part of your move. Planning takes away the stress on your moving day, without the proper planning, can really be stressful indeed.
First off, establish a time table of when you'll be doing all the tasks related to your move. Packing, sorting your items, etcetera. Speaking of sorting your items, it would be best to discard all the unnecessary items as they'll just be wasting space as well as boxes. You can even earn a bit more by selling these in a garage sale or be a bit more socially responsible by donating the remainder to charity. The trash bin should be the last resort.
When making a time table, take into consideration all the other things you normally do - are you still going to work everyday? So maybe you can make a schedule that allots an hour or so at night and more time on the weekends to accomplish everything.
You also need to research and canvass for good moving and or / van and truck rental companies. Especially if you're going to go the DIY way, then the more time you need, as you'll be having very limited help, as your friends won't always be there.