You are in the process of moving, and after the planning and organization, everything is finally falling into place. You have your moving date set, agreed everything with your moving company, and now the worst thing comes, packing. Whenever you try to search for packing tips to help you pack your belongings properly, you can’t stop feeling stressed once you see how much time you will have to dedicate to this.
Fear not, with some tips and packing mistakes you need to avoid, you can actually pack faster and more efficiently. Since you are already paying a fortune to furniture movers near you, you decided it would be more cost effective to at least pack by yourself. When you really think about packing, it does sound like it’s an easy job, until you actually start doing it. Tossing items into boxes, taping the boxes shut, and just doing the process on repeat. Well, think again.
- Packing actually takes a lot more planning than your entire moving process. Many people make mistakes when packing that the entire process ends up being costly, time-consuming and very boring.
Here are some of the most common packing mistakes and how you can avoid them to ensure a smoother and stress-free move.
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Plan everything on time
It’s not uncommon for people to wait until the last minute to do something, and that really never ends up being a good thing. Like for everything in life, you also have to plan your move and organize it. Just like you would plan your wedding and wouldn’t elope right away, moving requires your attention and planning.
Most people just dive right into it without putting too much effort. And that really is the most common mistake. The result of this is broken or missing items, disorganization, and loads of wasted time.
In order to avoid this mistake, make a packing schedule and write down dates on which you plan to pack your belongings. The fun part of all of it is that you don’t have to pack every day. You can do it only when you have time off work, or just on the Weekends or Weekdays. If you planned everything on time, you will have that luxury of time to finish everything.
There are thousands of articles with packing tips and guides, so take your time and read some of them. Since hiring packers movers was not an option, you have to learn how to manage your belongings so everything is in one piece when you unpack. Figure out which items you will pack first, how you plan to pack them and how you’re going to keep track of everything that is packed.
A list of your belongings is not a bad idea and planning ahead will make your efforts much more efficient. You will be able to maintain organization throughout the whole process.
Give yourself enough time
Just like you need to plan on time, you need to give yourself enough time to achieve your plans and goals. Start planning for packing months in advance, so you will have enough time to finish it. Start with items you almost never use or wear and pack them as soon as you find out you’re moving. Items you often use should be packed last.
The less time you give yourself to pack, the more pressure you will feel and the less organized you will be. If you don’t give yourself enough time to do everything, you can end up finishing last minute and be stressed and overwhelmed, or worst case scenario, not finish on time.
Before you even start your packing process, get rid of items you no longer need. Decluttering is a great way to do it. Divide your items into three categories: keep, sell/donate and throw. Once you figure out what items go where, you can organize a garage sale and sell your items while earning some cash along the way.
Items that didn’t sell can be donated, and you can hire a pair of hands or two to help you out with it. Money you earned from a garage sale can pay for furniture movers near you.
It’s important to be realistic about how much time it will take you to pack yourself. You surely won’t pack an entire house in just one or two days, so you need to calculate a reasonable amount of time to get the job done.
If you just rush into it, you can end up having damaged and broken belongings, and your professional movers can’t be held responsible for it.
Label your boxes
It will take you a second to take a marker and label your boxes. You can also buy some labeling stickers and use them. While it takes you seconds to label a box, it can take you hours or even days to find something if the boxes are not labeled.
Marking the contents of each box will make your life easier while you pack, not to mention how labeling is a life saver when it comes to unpacking.
As soon as you finish packing a box, label its contents and place it in one room. Make a packing station out of your empty room or living room, and stack your boxes in one place. Making a list of your belongings can also help you organize your boxes and make the unpacking process easier.
Packing heavy pieces
You will probably feel tempted to overpack your boxes, but if you do that, your belongings will fall out of the box during transit. It sounds appealing to use less boxes and just throw your things and overpack, but if you do that, be prepared for damaged or broken belongings.
After you pack a box, try to lift it. If it’s too heavy for you, it means you overpacked it and you should do it again. Not only will you strain your back and risk injury lifting those heavy boxes, but you risk damaging your belongings or breaking them. Boxes can break when they have a lot of heavy items or if they are overpacked.
Use appropriate size boxes for your belongings, and try not to overfill them with items. Heavier items such as books, dishes, or heavy electronics should be packed in smaller separate boxes while lighter items including blankets and pillows should be packed into larger boxes.
For example, if you have a computer, you shouldn’t pack every piece of it into one box. Instead, take two or three boxes and pack it separately. Light items such as pillows can be packed in one large box because considering their weight, chances for the box to break are low.
Use proper supplies
Yes, believe it or not, proper supplies are a thing these days. Packing requires more than just boxes and tape if you want your belongings to safely arrive at your destination. Packing paper, packing peanuts, bubble wrap, furniture pads, and glassware dividers. Imagine you pack all of your plates or glasses into one box without any paper or dividers.
During transit, your boxes will move in the truck and that will result in all the plates and glasses ending up broken. If you don’t have the proper supplies you will risk damage to your belongings and you will also waste time, making multiple trips to the packing supply store.
Before you start packing, buy everything you need for packing. If you miss a box or two, it’s easy to run to the supply store and buy them.
This is why it’s important to plan everything ahead. Get the supplies as soon as you decide you will do it yourself and not hire packers movers. Make a list of supplies you will need and go to your local supermarket to get some boxes.
You can even ask your moving company to sell you some wrapping paper or packing peanuts. Think about how many fragile items you will be packing and be sure to gather plenty of wrapping paper, bubble wrap and packing peanuts.
If you don’t buy enough, you can always run and grab some, if you planned everything beforehand. If you don’t plan, you won’t have enough time and space to pack, and that can result in not finishing on time.
Pack a box of essentials
Just imagine the scenario where you finally moved into your new home, and you want to brush your teeth, or change into comfortable clothing. It can take you hours, if not days to find your toothbrush or some change of clothes in the pile of packed boxes. If you forget to pack an essentials box, you will be searching endlessly for all of those items that you need right away in your new home.
It can be very frustrating to find items when they might not be easily accessible.A box of essentials should contain everything you’ll need right away once you move in. Toothbrush and toothpaste, change of clothes, toiletries, phone or laptop charger, soap, or anything else that you personally need once you move into your new home.
If you want to avoid this mistake, you should make a list of essentials you will require once you move in. Pack that box, keep it close to you, and if you can move it yourself. You can keep it in your car during the moving process, so it doesn’t get lost.
Roll clothes, don’t fold them
If you ever packed for a trip, you probably folded your clothes nicely in your suitcase. When you’re moving, in order to save space and pack as much clothes as you can in one suitcase, instead of folding your clothes, roll them. Not only will more clothes fit in your suitcase, but it will also prevent them crumbling during the move.
Don’t pack air
We already mentioned how overpacking your boxes can result in damaged belongings because everything may fall out of it, but one of the golden rules of packing is that you shouldn’t pack air as well. If you leave too much space in boxes, your items will move around during transit, and you guessed right, you can expect damaged belongings.
If you can’t fill in the empty space in boxes, use packing peanuts. They are invented for stuff like that. You know the time when you order something from Amazon, and they send you a large box with a small item inside, but with a lot of packing peanuts?
The peanuts are there to prevent the item you bought moving during transit, and to prevent that item being damaged or broken once it gets to your location.
Don’t pack last minute
Literally the worst packing mistake anyone can make. If you pack at the last minute, it is a guarantee you won’t finish on time. Movers are going to come, and you will still be in a pile of boxes trying to finish packing.
Packing is a process that is time consuming, and when you decide doing it yourself is more cost effective than hiring packers movers, you need to do it right. Last-minute packing is one of the worst mistakes you can make when moving a house.
Once again, plan everything beforehand. Like everything in life, moving requires planning and dedication. The only thing worse than packing last minute is finding last minute movers. Take a moment to breathe and calm, and once you’re done, it’s time to get to work and start packing.
If you decide that this is too much for you, and you aren’t sure if you will have enough time or not, maybe it would be best to pay a bit more and hire professional movers and packers to help you out.
If you end up deciding that you can do it yourself, go for it. Just remember, it’s important to plan and do things calmly. Haste makes waste, and we all know you don’t need that.