Early on I also figured out how heavy the larger boxes could get! I saved those for the movers. They sent 5 young, big & strong guys that made short work of the heavy stuff. It's amazing what those guys could pick up and carry! I did notice that none of them appeared to be over about 30 or so. Probably a good reason for that too. Their prices were quite reasonable too, at least I thought they were. Not nearly as much as I was expecting.
We also sold some things, gave a ton of stuff to Goodwill, Salvation Army, Catholic Charities and Habitat for Humanity. Then I ended up getting a LARGE dumpster (biggest they had) and filled it up as well. People kept coming by asking if we had anything metal in the dumpster. I started just putting the metal stuff (old shelves etc.) in front of the dumpster near the street and it would be gone by the next morning. Saved some dumpster space for other junk that way too!
I still have some things I wish I would have unloaded, but keeping them seemed like a good idea at the time. We labeled all the boxes and what room they came from, but it was still a mess when we got all moved in. Some of the best laid plans... Hope yours goes a bit better than ours did.
We also did what you are doing with less home maintenance. Didn't get a maint. provided place, but the exterior is vinyl siding with only a little trim to paint. Trim is all cedar so the paint doesn't peel like pine does. Then we have a lawn service to mow and shovel snow so it works out to be almost no maintenance at probably similar costs to the added HOA fees for the maintenance provided places. I think you will really like the no maint. part! Almost as good as having trains running!!
