After a little prep work we are finally bringing you what we know you have been waiting for. Our HUGE collection of moving and packing tips. If you are relocating your home or business. Within the same city or town or even across the country then today’s massive guide is going to help you.
Don’t forget to share the love and point those you know are moving soon towards this article. Use the social icons to your left to share! This blog post is for packing. Part two is the moving part of the series.
Moving Is Tedious!
Moving home can be a very tedious task! You don’t have to tell us that! As we know it and you know it after you move for the first time in your life.
Because moving has so many fine details that you need to remember to cross of it’s important to have some kind of packing and moving check list to work from.
Today is the day we turn you boring and tedious packing experience into something that makes sense and is a little fun also.
Our Packing Checklist
Here is our packing checklist. If your stick to this checklist you should have no problems with your move as everything will be covered.
- Self Pack vs Professional Pack – Pick what you will pack yourself and what you will leave to a professional packing company.
- Buy Packing Supplies – You can buy moving boxes for the local store if you are on a budget or if you have more cash to splurge your can pick up very high-quality packing boxes from your local removals company.
- Buy Packing Supply Extras – You need more than boxes. You need bubble wrap, markers, zip-locks bags and heavy duty packing tape just to name a few. Make sure you stock up!Bonus Tip: Buy from a store that is happy to accept returns so you can stock up once and not have to go back to the store several times juggling a budget.
- Clean Packing – Don’t use old newspaper even if you’re on a budget. Use packing paper. The same paper a butcher uses to wrap meat. Newspaper will stain everything!
- Strong Boxes – Use strong reinforced boxes. Don’t use cheap boxes. If you think a box is going to be problematic. Then tape down the sides, the top, and the bottom of a box with 5+ layers of tape. If anything, you should do this for every box just in case.
- Systemise – Come up with a basic system for what you’ve packed. Maybe write what is in each box (eg. Clothes) and then also write where the box needs to go in your new place. That way it’s easy to manage when you move into your new place.
- Make Lists – Number all your boxes and make short lists of what is in each box. This way when you just move into your new home and are unpacking for the first week or so you will know where everything is if you need something “in the moment”.
- Pack Small First – Start by packing all the small things that are not used too often. For example everything in your garage, books, old DVDs, paperwork and so on. This way you get all the little and annoying things out of the way and you’re not trying to cram them into random boxes at the end.
- Pack By Room – Pack each room separately and don’t start packing a new room until you are done packing the previous room. Also, leave the boxes in the middle of the room as you fill them, tape them up and label them. This way nothing will go missing and you will know where everything is.
- Spread Weight Around – Don’t cram all the heavy things into one corner of a box. Spread the weight around the box as you pack.
- Don’t Over-pack – Boxes can only take so much. If you over pack you might end up carrying a box and everything will fall out of the bottom and potentially break. Most boxes are rated to 20kg so keep that in mind.
- Fill the Void – Don’t leave empty spaces in boxes. Pack in spare towels, clothes or even packing paper. If you have empty spaces in boxes things might move around and break during transport.
- Don’t Force Boxes – If a box needs to be really forced to stay closed and taped down then remove some items so the box closes easily. And put the rest in a new box.
- Use the Right Box Size – Use big boxes for light weight items and smaller boxes for heavier items. If you use big boxes for heavy items there is a good chance that the boxes will break when you carry them.
- Empty Everything – Don’t transport draws, cupboards or anything else in a lazy fashion. Empty everything out. Not only is transporting furniture with things inside dangerous but if you do this you risk damaging everything that’s inside.
- Your First Night – Have a think about your first night in your new home. What will you need? Make sure it’s easy to access. Maybe even label one box ‘First Night’ and put all the essential in there like toiletries, some clothes. And so on. And of course since it’s 2018 you phone chairing cable!
- Furniture First – The first thing you need to do after you finish packing is to dismantle your furniture. Take apart everything that is easily dealt with. Make sure you don’t do something that can injury you. It’s best to have someone help your with bigger furniture like a friend or even hire a professional moving company to do the work.
- Box all the Screws – All the screws that you end up with should be sorted. Use several zip lock bags and write what furniture item the screws were from on the front of the bag. Then keep all the zip lock bags in one box so you know where they all are.
- Flat Pack – Everything that can be flat packed should be flat packed. It’s much easier to flat pack than it is to transport fully build tables and desks around town for example.
- Re-use What You Have – Not everything needs to be packed in packing boxes. If you have suitcases in the house for your holidays then use them to transport your clothes during your move.
- Stack Plates Sideways – When packing plates don’t stack them on top of each other. Stack them sideways and wrap each one with bubble wrap. This is the safest way to transport them without any breakage.
- Take Pictures – Unless you have a photographic memory it’s best to take pictures of all your electronics. With 20+ cables going in every direction for a home cinema setup it could take hours to reconnect. Or it could take 5 minutes if you know exactly how to reconnect everything from a photo.
- Spill Proof – Make sure everything is spill proof before packing. Tear off a piece of plastic bag and open a container and then screw the lid back on with the plastic inside.
- Cut Proof – Make sure anything sharp is adequately packed with extra material so no-one gets hurt.
As a bonus you can watch this video also for 30 more packing tips:
That is it for the packing tips. Hopefully these tips were helpful and make your move easier. Next up are moving tips in part two.
You can read part two here.