6 Tips: Packing Your Home
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When you’re moving, the list of things to do seems endless: scheduling start/end dates for utilities, contact the post office about mail forwarding, signing/sending/receiving paperwork so you can move into your new residence, registering your kids for school, let everyone who sends you mail know what your new address is, register your pets with the new city you’re moving into, quote movers, quote cleaning services, find a new pest control company, continue to keep up with your every day responsibilities, and oh yeah, PACK!
My husband and I are about to move to our 5th home in just a little over 5 years of marriage. That’s a LOT of packing!! Whether you like to pack or loathe to pack, are super organized or more carefree, have lots of extra time or no extra time, I’ve learned that keeping these 6 tips in mind while packing up my home always makes the packing piece of our moving adventure a little easier.
1. Start Immediately.
As soon as you find out you’re moving, begin to consolidate your existing packing materials (large boxes, packing tape, duffle bags, suitcases, permanent markers, labels, and stuffing such as grocery bags, packing peanuts, bubble wrap) so you know what you have to start working with and you can budget for the materials you’ll still need to purchase. This will help ease the unavoidable financial cost involved with packing.
2. Purge.
As much as I do not enjoy packing, I do enjoy purging! Take this opportunity to get rid of the clutter! What you choose to do with the clothes you don’t need anymore and the unused exercise equipment is up to you! Sell it for some extra cash. Donate it and get a receipt for a tax deduction. Give it to someone you know who could use it!
Also go through all the paper that’s accumulated in your home – old files, receipts, coupons. Bust out your shredder and shred the sensitive stuff, and then recycle it all.
Lastly, check everything in your house with an expiration date. You’d be surprised what expires! (Ah hem, toothpaste.) There is no reason to pay someone to move expired stuff. Take an inventory and toss what needs tossing.
3. Do A Little Every Day.
No matter the size of your home or how many belongings you own, doing a little bit of packing/purging every day goes a long way.
4. Pick A System & Stick With It.
Some people like to pack up everything in one room in the same boxes. Others prefer to pack similar things with each other no matter what part of the house they come from. As you get to the end of the packing process, your system is going to probably have to give a little bit. However, if you’ll stick with one system the majority of the time, it tends to help you stay focused and not get sidetracked or overwhelmed.
5. Label.
Labeling serves to benefit you while you’re unpacking, but it has to be done while you’re packing. I use bright colored sticky notes and a permanent marker. On the sticky note I write the room I want the movers to place the box in and its contents in as much as detail as I can fit on the sticky note. Then, I tape it very well to the box, so it won’t fall off. When I welcome my movers into my new home on move-in day, I show them the sticky notes and which rooms are which. This saves me lots of time and stress because they don’t have to ask me where each box needs to go, and once I start unpacking, I’m not hunting through my entire new home trying to find the box with the frying pan in it.
6. Receive Help.
There are a lot of us frequent-movers out there, and we have major empathy for others who are moving. That being said, if someone offers to help you with your move, take them up on it! Often those of us who dislike packing our own things love packing other people’s! It’s crazy but true! Whether someone offers to gather boxes for you from their workplace, to bring you dinner, or for you to use their vehicle during your move, receive it!
Are there any other frequent-movers out there? What tips do you follow when packing up your home?
Lindsay
