Whether you are moving long or short distances, packing for a move can be an incredibly stressful, frustrating and exhausting process. It can be overwhelming to think about how much stuff you have to pack, especially if you have no idea where to start. While moving can be a crazy process, there are 5 key things you can do to minimize stress and make the packing process go smoothly.
Start Early
Waiting the week before you move to start packing is probably not the best idea. This usually ends up with, boxes getting lost, items getting broken and no time to efficiently plan. Be sure to give yourself plenty of time! A good rule of thumb is to start packing at least a month before your tentative move in date. Keep yourself on track by setting small deadlines for yourself and focusing on packing room by room. One week you may want to focus on the living room and maybe the next week you focus on the kitchen. Start by packing things that are not essential such as out of season items. Breaking the process into small tasks will allow you to be more productive and feel less overwhelmed.
Minimalize
Moving is the perfect time to declutter and downsize some of your items. This will allow you to be more organized, have less stuff to pack and less stuff to move! If you start the moving process early then you will have time to get rid of some of your clutter by having a garage sale, donating items to an organization or simply throwing junk away. Decluttering will allow you to see what you need and what you actually have.
Label Boxes
Labeling boxes efficiently will help the packing and unpacking process tremendously. Be sure to label boxes in great detail to avoid confusion on where a box goes and to prevent them from getting lost! Start by giving each box an individual number such as 1 of 10, 2 of 10 etc…This allows you to keep track of boxes and see if one is missing. The next step is to color code the boxes by rooms using colored permanent markers so you know exactly where to put each box. Lastly, it is important to prioritize each box by their importance such as high, medium and low importance. High importance means it needs to be unpacked right away, medium importance is next and low importance boxes are very last to get unpacked. Using all these methods together will ensure maximum organization and prevent opening up a box labeled “bathroom supplies” only to find kitchen utensils instead.
Pack an Essentials Box
There is truly nothing worse than getting to your house for the first night and realizing your toilet paper, bed sheets and cups are somewhere in the maze of boxes. This can all be avoided with some ahead of time preparation! First things first, make a priority packing list of the most essential items you will need right away. This can include items like toiletries, snacks, garbage bags, basic tools, etc… Be sure to pack these last to ensure that they get into the home first. These items can be packed together in one or two boxes so that when you get there you aren’t frantically searching for the toilet paper. Carefully think and plan ahead!
Leave the Furniture to the Movers
This saves you so much time and is one less thing you have to worry about. Sometimes it can be difficult to move these items and more than often someone gets injured or the furniture gets scuffed. While you may want to move everything yourself to save money, this may be an area that you will want left up to the professionals. They know how to properly pack and safely move your furniture so it doesn’t get ruined. If you do choose to hire movers, allow them to move all of the furniture into the house first before moving any of your boxes. Doing both at one time will slow down the process and cause a lot of confusion for you as well as the movers.
We know moving can be a stressful time but we hope these tips can help ease the packing/unpacking process to make your move that much more enjoyable. Happy moving!