How to Pack for Moving House: 7 Best Practices
So, you just bought a new house! Congratulations! This is such an exciting time. Now that the house is yours and you’re about the settle in, you may be looking around your current home and realizing that you have a huge packing job ahead of you.
How to pack for moving house may seem daunting at first, but this is actually a great opportunity to declutter and organize. We all have items in our homes that we no longer use. It’s always a great idea to donate or sell these things and only take the stuff that matters most to us to our new home.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed, don’t worry! Here are the seven best practices on how to pack for moving house:
1. Create a To-Do List for Moving House
When it comes to moving house, the more organized you are, the better. Start by creating a to-do list of all of the moving-related things you need to accomplish. Things like decluttering, buying packing supplies, hiring a moving company, and so on.
You can refer back to your list whenever you start to feel overwhelmed. By sticking to your list and doing things one at a time, you should have enough time to complete everything and move houses with minimal stress.
2. Declutter Before You Pack
The sooner you get to decluttering, the better. Start with larger furniture items that will be difficult to move. Then get to your smaller items like knickknacks and kitchen items.
It’s a good idea to sort your items into four categories when you are decluttering: items that you’re going to donate, sell, throw away, and keep. Think long and hard about each item.
Consider if you’ve used it in the last two months. If you haven’t, try selling it online if it’s in good condition, or donate it. Some donation places offer a pick-up service, making it a fast and easy way to declutter.
3. Find a Reputable Moving Company
When it comes to moving, you want a moving company that knows these items are your prized possessions and treats them as such. The movers should treat your items with extreme care by wrapping furniture in plastic and gently setting down your boxes.
Reviews are so important when it comes to choosing a company to handle your move. See what other people are saying about the company and if they have good reviews, call them to see what they would charge to move you.
4. Get Moving Boxes
Drop into your local liquor store and see if they offer used boxes to the public. Most liquor stores do. This is a great opportunity to not only save some money but to do the environment a favour and use recycled boxes. Ensure the boxes you pick up aren’t damaged and you’re good to go!
5. Pack the Moving Boxes Room by Room
For the items you do use, start packing them up room by room, while making sure to label each box with what room it belongs in. This will allow you to see which box goes in which room and you can ask your movers to place the boxes in the appropriate room. This will stop you from having to sort through a wall of boxes and move them to their applicable room.
When you pack for moving houses, it’s also wise to write some of the inside contents on the box. Doing so allows you to see what’s in each box so you can pick and choose which items you would like to start unpacking first.
6. Pack Hang-Up Clothes in Garbage Bags
No one wants to take all of their clothes off of the hangers, fold them, pack them, and then hang them up again in their new home. What’s a good trick to make this job much easier?
Take a grouping of hangers, make a hole in the top middle of the bottom of a garbage bag, and slip the garbage bag over the clothes. Use an elastic band to hold the hangers together. Now when you get to your new house, all you have to do is remove the rubber band and garbage bags!
7. Use Packing Paper to Wrap Kitchen Items
When you use newspaper to wrap your dishes, you have to wash them when you get to your new house. A good way to avoid this is to wrap your clean dishes and other breakable kitchen items in clean packing paper. The packing paper will keep your dishes clean so all you have to do when unpacking is remove the paper. It makes your job much easier when unpacking all of those dishes.
Everyone has a different style when it comes to packing. Following the tips in this list will give you a good starting point and hopefully make your moving journey a little bit easier.
