It’s Summer and the move is on for many folks, including a few of my dear friends who are re-locating for new jobs.
Boo to not having them in town with me, but yay for more out-of-town places to visit!
Moving is never fun, and pretty much always overwhelming, unfortunately.
There’s lots to do and a definite deadline in place.
Staying organized during the moving process will help to ease the anxiousness quite a bit!
Today, I’m going to let you in on 10 packing secrets for a more organized move.
In no particular order, here are my packing secrets:
1. Start packing early.
In fact, get a move on as soon as you know that you’ll be moving.
It always takes more time to pack than you anticipate.
You really don’t want to stay up late packing the night before your move or be packing as the movers arrive.
Just get it done now because there may not definitely won’t be time later!
2. Declutter before you start packing.
There’s no sense in paying to move stuff you don’t want or need. Get rid of it now!
Alternatively, declutter as you pack.
Keep two boxes near you. Label one box for donations and toss in unwanted items.
Pack items you want to keep in the other box.
Just don’t confuse the boxes!
Temporarily labeling the boxes with these decluttering signs will help keep your boxes straight!
3. Label all boxes.
Be specific. Include not only what room the box should go to, but also a summary of what’s inside.
It’ll help you prioritize what to unpack first and you’ll be able to quickly locate needed items that haven’t yet been unpacked.
If the boxes are just labeled with a room, you’ll have to rifle through a bunch of boxes looking instead of being able to zero in on the clearly labeled box.
Also, “Misc.” is a label you should never use.
It means nothing and having no label is essentially the same thing because “Misc.” could mean anything and everything.
Broad categories are better than no categories.
4. When packing, put like with like.
Don’t dump random stuff in a box and call it a day.
During the unpacking phase, you’ll open that box and will be overwhelmed or will want to chuck the whole box without unpacking it.
Put book ends in with books, extension cords in with small appliances and keep groups of stuff together.
Be kind to yourself and don’t do the dump!
5. Don’t pack with newspaper.
The ink will transfer to the items (and your hands during the packing process!) and you’ll end up with a whole lotta things that need to be cleaned.
Get a big box of unprinted packing paper instead.
Costs a little bit, but it’ll save time in the end since you won’t have to be unpacking and cleaning items at the same.
6. Schedule a donation pick up or sell unwanted items before the move.
Visit Donatestuff.com and schedule pickup of your donation or list the items up for grabs on Freecycle or a Facebook Buy/Sell/Swap site.
Need some guidance on how to sell your clutter online?
Check out my How to Sell Your Clutter Online Super Fast guide.
It has everything you need to know from what to do to get started to the essential steps to take after your item has been sold.
7. Paying movers? Don’t empty dresser drawers.
Movers can handle a full dresser.
If you’re handling your own move, empty those drawers to save your muscles or pull out the drawers and move the dresser separately.
8. Use laundry baskets, luggage and totes as moving boxes.
Never move an empty container!
9. When packing, don’t make the boxes too heavy to lift.
Not only will the chances of breakage increase, but odds of injury and exhaustion skyrocket as well.
If you’re moving books, chose small boxes to pack them into.
10. Keep jewelry and important documents with you during the move.
You don’t want to risk loss or theft of heirloom jewelry or passports.
Moving is stressful enough without having to worry about replacing or recovering these items.
Bonus tip! 11. Don’t use cheap tape.
The last thing you want is for the bottom of a packed box to give out and have everything come crashing down to the floor.
So use high quality tape.
This Scotch brand packing tape happens to be my favorite and go-to packing tape for all sorts of uses.
It doesn’t rip easily and can be used for adhering labels and a ton of other uses too!
A packing tape gun will make the task of taping the boxes so much easier and it’s more economical to use than the smaller tape dispenser.
It’s well worth the extra ten clams for the big gun.
Over to you!
What’s your favorite tip?
Have another tip to share?
Let’s chat in the comments!
Disclosure: I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. This means that when you click and make a purchase at a site via a link I have provided, I make a small commission, with no additional cost to you.
Regardless of whether or not I receive a commission, I recommend products that I personally use and genuinely recommend, and I always have my readers’ best interests in mind.
