🤪📦 Kinda chic to move on Sept. 1

🫵 Hey, you! Ya, YOU! Did you love the outdoor social districts? Missing 3 a.m. last call? The City of Boston wants your feedback on all the summer festivities, so fill out this survey. Ready … set … GO!

👀 What’s on tap today:

Up first…

‘Tis the season to start packing! Fa la la la la la la la laaaa.

We’re T-22 days till the dreaded Sept. 1. So for the next few weeks, we’ll be sharing our favorite tips and tricks from serial movers, professional packers, and Allston Christmas experts to get you moved out and settled in. 

To start, we asked readers who’ve moved *a lot* to tell us everything they wish they knew before they broke out the boxes.

Here’s what they said:

🧳 Pack a suitcase with a week’s worth of clothes. Plz make this one of the first things you do before you pack up. That way you won't worry about finding your daily work pants or gym clothes while you’re drowning in boxes.

👕 Use a garbage bag for your hanging clothes. If they have built-in ties, it’s super easy peasy: Just put the bag over your clothes and tie it by the hanger. If your bags don’t have ties, cut a hole in the center of the sealed end for the hangers to go through, then tie a knot at the bottom. Voila! 

🍽️ Fold your dishes inside your clothes and linens. Your blankets, towels, and sweats just became your moving besties. These are *perfect* for storing your beloved dishes, mugs, wine glasses, etc. safely, so they don’t clang around in boxes willy nilly.

📦 Ask local liquor stores for boxes … orrrrrr buy storage crates instead. If the box is good enough to keep wine bottles from breaking, it’s good enough for us. BUT if you want to spend a lil’ extra on solid storage, one reader finds heavy duty bins (like these Home Depot ones!) > cardboard boxes, since you can easily stack them.

💪 Hire movers (if you can swing it). One reader recommended finding movers on TaskRabbit if you don’t know where to start. On a budget? King’s Hill Church will help you move for free if you’re in Fenway, Back Bay, Mission Hill, or South Boston (sign up here!). 

✍️ Label, label, label. I.e., Write down the room the box is going to AND a breakdown of everything in the box. This will save you tons of time, especially if you have extra hands helping you move and wanna keep track of everything.

🏠 Build a Sims model of your home. One reader said they do this to pre-plan where everything goes, and it probably looks something like this. (We’re mad we didn’t think of this earlier.)

🙌 And lastly, have one misc. box for the night before. Ya know, for all those random things you didn’t know what to do with (plant you swear you’ll revive, the umbrella you forgot in the closet, etc.). 

😩 The Blue Line is in its flop era. She used to be the least problematic line of the bunch, but lately, she’s been a bit of a diva (think: slowdowns, stalled trains, a small fire). While MBTA officials said there’s “no common root cause” for these issues, experts say that it’s prob in part ‘cause the Blue Line is getting left behind in all the T repairs (yikes, 50-year-old wiring!). Thankfully, T officials said they’ll reno the Blue Line power system starting sometime this fall. 

🏀 The final stop of the JB goodbye tour: Boston Common. Good (sad?) news: Former Celtic *cries* Jaylen Brown and his athletic brand 741 are hosting 741 Frequency Fest on Aug. 30, a free last hurrah block party on the Common. Expect giveaways, games, a 741 pop-up shop, surprise performances, and more — all open to the public. “This is our way of saying thank you to the city that’s shown love from day one,” the 741 post caption reads. We’re not crying, you are …

💸 Need extra financial aid? It’s great to BU. Starting this fall, Boston University is expanding their financial aid program, meaning first-year students with U.S. families who make <$200,000 will pay $20,000 max a year, while those earning <$75,000 won’t have to pay a dime. This comes after several colleges in the area, like MIT and Harvard, have started to cover more families’ tuition costs. And they’ll definitely need it, as full tuition at BU this year (plus books, transportation, etc.) can ring you up to ~$100,000 …

💪 Boston’s hottest new club: the gym. Yup. Local gyms are seeing *massive* gains in members within the last couple of years — there were 150,000+ more gym members last year, compared to 2021. Why now? A shift away from COVID-era home gyms + more people in office + health and wellness trends = more people willing to invest $$$ on their fitness, whether it’s at Planet Fitness (~$15/month) or Equinox (~$300/month). Plus, as Gen Z is saving on booze, they’re spending more on gyms instead, according to Bank of America data.

⚾ Practice your “You’re killin’ me, Smalls!” ‘Cause we’re headed to The Grove’s outdoor showing of “The Sandlot” TONIGHT. 

💃 Dance under the Boston stars. Just sayin’, the weather is looking *perfect* for this free outdoor salsa and bachata dance class at The Anchor tonight …

🎨 Paint like Picasso (on a budget). PSA: There are free watercolor workshops every Tuesday and Thursday this summer on the Common. RSVP here!

🍷 Give your wine glass a glow up. The plan: Head to Pier 6 on Aug. 11 for a free night of DIY wine charms and Whitehaven Savvy B tastings. Bonus: You can take home a branded wine glass for the road, too!

🎶 Learn the science behind your fave song. A Berklee prof will pull back the curtain on why certain tunes move us (through the lenses of neuroscience and songwriting!) at this Lectures on Tap event on Aug. 11. 

🤑 Imagine: A thrift store, but everything is FREE. That’s exactly what’s on the agenda at this Fenway free market on Aug. 11. Expect clothes, decor, home appliances, and more! 

🎤 Head to a cool kids open mic. I.e., This Moth StorySLAM: Schooled event at CitySpace on Aug. 11. Your job: Prep a five-minute story about the lessons that shaped you to share with the class.

💞 Collect $200 (and a boo) as you pass go. Enter: Board game speed dating on Aug. 13 at Boston Public Market. It’s part game night, part date night, and at the very least, is a good story.

🎵 Tickets are almost gone … Berklee's Homecoming Block Party, the homecoming for some of the music school’s most well-known alums, is Sept. 19 and the star power is worth noting. See Susan Tedeschi, Tiwa Savage, Fabiola Méndez, Dogs in a Pile, and Dreion perform in the same place for a historic music moment the city will be buzzing about. Get your tickets here!

Here’s a name we think you all should know: Payton Tolle. ICYMI, the rookie Red Sox pitcher threw the game of his life last week, with a career-high 14 strikeouts (!), making him the youngest Sox pitcher to do so since 1986 (he’s 23). Plus, he did that all in just six innings AND helped the Sox win 13-1 that day.

But not only is he becoming a clear star for Boston — this isn’t the first time he’s pitched several perfect innings — but he’s also THE biggest goober on the team right now. 

From shaving “USA” on his chest, to conquering a 72-ounce steak, Payton’s already had *lots* of meme-able moments this season (here’s a compilation video for ya). 

One user commented on a video of him maybe stealing the Declaration of Independence inside Fenway: “Payton Tolle is a National Treasure!”

— Written by Kelly Chan and Emily Schario

⚾ Thanks for reading! Payton Tolle > Nick Cage.

🚇 The results are in: 44% of readers commute 30 minutes to an hour for work, but many said it’s at the whims of the T … One B-Sider wrote: “Depends on the Red Line's mood.” And somehow, she’s always pissed.

💃 Keep up with us @BostonBSide on IG, TikTok, and X. Send comments and suggestions to [email protected] and [email protected].