Certainly most of us have moved house either once or twice… since I am also about to do this I thought it might be a good idea to ask for some tips and tricks and short cuts that you have found useful.
For example:
I use small to medium sized boxes to pack kitchen items so that they do not get too heavy to lift. True that I end up needing several more boxes than any other room, but at least they are easily moved and less breakage occurs as a result.
I’ll be starting my packing this weekend so any ideas are welcomed!
Hey Hey,
I have just moved too. Movers did all the packing for me but I saw how they did it all so I can do it all myself for next time. This is what the professional movers do...
They bring several different size of boxes. They use mostly medium boxes for kitchen stuff which like you said can get heavy. They didn't put too much stuff in each box so they could easily carry the boxes. They put all the like stuff together. Like baby toys go in one box... packet spices go in one box... and they labeled each box. I did throw a lot of stuff before my move.. all the things we didn't need or want. A lot of paper from my husband's work that he brought home. They kept all masterbedroom stuff together.... all living room stuff together. They used packing paper to wrap stuff. They wrap everything in paper which I kinda had a hard time putting it all up because I had to go through piles of paper to make sure I didn't leave anything in it. Tape everything with strong packaging tape. Oh and they also brought shrink wrap to wrap things like baby swing... sofas so they don't get destroyed in the move. Of course they couldn't pack this stuff in boxes.
As you are moving to new place make sure you put each box in the room where it belong. When you are opening boxes, its so much less work.
I have a few printer paper boxes at work if your interested.
I've moved quite a few times. . The easiest for me to organize things was to label every single box. Like njgal said, label everythign according to the room they wil belong too. . Also have the movers move each box to that particular room, instead of plunking them down in the hallway/foyer.
I also made a couple of boxes of stuff that I knew I would use immediately or in the next few days after I moved. (so i wouldn't have to open everything all at once to look for stuff). Like for example, some plates, spoons, glasses, toiletries, bed sheets, etc.
get rid of a lot of stuff. Everytime my cousins move, they always end up selling most of their big bulky furniture on craigslist (dining set, sofas, etc) ahead of time, so they wont have to deal with moving it themselves.
I would often use my sheet sets/scarves to wrap fragile things. Instead of wasting newpaper and havign all that garbage around afterwards.
the seasonal stuff is most likely already packed up anyways, so no need to unpack them yet. :)
have an idea of where u want to place things and big furniture items. So the mover can set it up before they leave, instead of doing it afterwards urselves.
my sister moves every year...i dont know how she does it. its insane.
We changed houses/apartments many times and most of the part, within same metro. In almost every case, our moving out and moving in dates had a a good 3-10 days overlap. We used that time to make several trips to new location, moving stuff not in boxes but in the back seat of car or trunk. That way, we were just picking stuff from one location of old house and transferring it to the similar location of the new place (closet to closet, vanity to vanity, cabinet to cabinet). That way, final packing and moving never gotten over whelming.
Also, we are always generous in discarding/disposing stuff. My goal always is to move with 30-40% less stuff than what I have at my older place. Give away, donations, garage sale, throw away , whatever it takes, but I am not moving old junk into new place.
Thank you Afshi.....I don't think one can ever have enough boxes......the really ironic thing is that I remember throwing out a bunch of really good ones early in the year when I was clearing clutter from the garage.
I will definitely be purging a lot of stuff TLK. I've found that I am no longer interested in holding onto "things".
I don't know if we will have early access to the new place.....in fact we haven't quite finalized where the new place is!!! And the move is less than a month away. Go figure! We may be moving to a temporary location for the next year and then moving again so I am packing with this in mind. Much of our furniture will likely need to go into storage.
If you have suitcases, I found it really helpful to take my clothes already on the hanger and put them in the suitcases....that way you can just pull them out and hang.
also we have chest of drawers and didn't really take the things out....just taped the drawer shut...if you have something fragile take it out but it works really well for drawers with clothes.
I see that you're going to hire movers....making sure that you stack the boxes in one location of the house and make a clear path to the doorway is helpful in speeding up the process.
A couple of years ago when we moved, it was helpful to make sure boxes ended up where they were to be unpacked as they were brought in. Its so hard hauling bedroom stuff to the living room and vice versa. Simply labeling clearly and making sure things stayed organized helped a lot in terms of unpacking.
Moving sales are a great way to get rid of things you don't need although the weather might not be ideal for it anymore.
The movers I hired , ended up repacking kitchen related stuff/fragile things they said it is a requirement from their insurance company , but they did not charge extra , it was included in their moving charges.
I think all the tips that I would've offered have already been posted. One thing that I do recommend if you have floors/carpets that you want protecting in either the new house or your old house is to get some self adhesive carpet protector down as obviously the movers are not going to be removing shoes, and loose dust sheets or rugs on the floors are a hazard for tripping.
Also pack a box with essentials that you'll need straight away i.e tea making items, toothbrushes, toilet roll, mobile phone charger, one change of clothes, any toiletries, snacks etc. Make sure this is the last box to go into the removal van (or take it with you in your own car) so that it's the first box out at the other end. Same goes for your vacumn cleaner too.
keep the stuff you’re going to need first handy and move it to the new place last (move it yourself if possible just for to make it easy to find). For example, kitchen stuff to cook with (tea kettle, plates, glasses, cutlery), generally put together a care package, pack that together so that you can access it quickly.
have the movers place the boxes in the correct rooms.
when you disassemble furniture, make sure to CAREFULLY collect all screws, nuts, bolts and put them away in individual, labelled ziplock bags by piece of furniture and don’t forget where you’ve packed the nuts/bolts away
make sure your toolbox is readily available (one of the last things to pack away and first things to unpack).
make a special box for bathroom stuff so that it can be immediately opened and made available.
if possible, measure your new space to figure out if the furniture can be moved to where you want to place it. Ask the movers to remove doors where possible to widen the openings. Our sofa was not able to fit downstairs in the basement. Now it’s stuck in the living room where it wasn’t meant to be placed.
don’t take clothes off of hangers - try and box it/pack it while still on the hangers - saves a lot of time when unpacking.
purge as much stuff as possible - moving is a great excuse to get rid of non-essential stuff that we’ve been hoarding without any reason.
1) do more smaller boxes, specific to each place, e.g. your closet hanging formal, hanging business, folded a, folded b etc. This may sound ridiculous but this way you can hit boxes you need first right away. otherwise you get mega boxes and have more
2) purging etc before the move, ...look, if its easy and obvious stuff, toss it, but don't stress yourself have the stuff you think u need to purge but need to go through go in different boxes, and purge when you are in your new place, one box at a time. btw if these boxes end up in your basement, they will be there for ages, in attic, even more so. have them stay in the garage because you will see them and sort them.
ppl use newspaper to wrap dishes, and then get print ink all over and have to wash them before using. get some white wrapping paper, recycle it, save unnecessary washing etc.
using white packing paper is a good idea....I always end up washing before I put away when I unpack. Although I am a bit paranoid and will wash anyway, it will still be an easier wash than when there is print ink all over.
self-adhesive carpet protectors sound nice.....where do I get that sort of stuff?
I am using skid wrap to cover as much furniture as possible.....especially the sofas and chairs.....hopefully that will keep them from getting marked up during the move.....particularly the white leather suite.
we have some floor to ceiling cabinets with gloss finish doors (the kind from Ikea).....I was wondering what the best way to protect those would be......hubby thought we should remove the doors before transporting but I don't know......
i find the best boxes for moving heavier items like glassware and books are from the liquor store. they're available for free here and because they handle liquor bottles that can be quite heavy, they're built very sturdily. a lot of them will also come with the cardboard inserts that divide up the space so your glasses can make it to the new place even more safely.
