Top 6 Packing Tips for a No-Hassle Moving Day
Whether your upcoming move is your first or your fifth, you may already be familiar with the stress moving day can bring with it. While you’ll never be able to control the weather or traffic delays on the way to your new home, packing is an aspect well within your control. By following these six packing tips, your next moving day can be the easiest one yet.
Start Early
As with any big project, packing up your home won’t feel as daunting when you break it up into pieces. This will also allow you to be more strategic about the way you pack. Even if your moving day isn’t for another few months, it is never too early to start packing your belongings, especially from those rooms you infrequently use. Doing so can help you ensure you aren’t still packing while the movers are taking things away.
Proper Supplies
Not having the correct supplies for the job can mean a moving day full of fear over whether your items are properly packed. Before you begin packing any room, take stock of the fragile items in it and determine not just what type of packing materials you’ll need, but how much of each material the room will require.
Eliminate Clutter
When you’re packing your home well in advance of moving days, start with the storage areas that can become havens for clutter and junk. Rather than moving unnecessary items from home to home, determine whether each item you pack needs to come with you or would be better suited for donation or the garbage. As you move to each new area of your home, keeping this “no clutter allowed” mentality with you can help you reduce the number of boxes your movers have to deal with.
Box Weight
Unfortunately, an item’s size doesn’t always determine its weight. While you may be able to fit two shelves of books into a single box, be realistic about how heavy the box is. Even when you have professional movers assisting you, your move will go faster when each box only requires one person to lift it instead of two.
Group Items
While you may have a little room leftover in a box from the guest bedroom, resist the urge to add a few items from the kitchen to fill it. Ensuring that the items inside each box make sense together can make unpacking a breeze. The one logical exception to this rule is when you use linens to wrap fragile items.
Label Boxes
In addition to writing on boxes, looked for colored moving tape you can use to mark each box. While your movers will be able to identify the kitchen on sight, labeling the door frame of each room in your home with the same color tape as the boxes that go in it can speed up the unloading process. Since your movers won’t have to ask where every box goes, you’ll be free to begin unpacking any boxes you’ve labeled to unpack ASAP.
And the sooner the movers can get all the boxes out of the truck and into the correct rooms, the sooner you can start making your new house feel like a home.