Moving day is approaching, and you’re starting to wonder how best to pack your things. Because you don’t just have to get them well packed in the moving van, then you also have to unpack everything! It is quite understandable that you are a bit worried about packing for your move, but your worries are not really necessary. There are a lot of tricks that can make the whole process a lot smarter. We have collected 12 smart tips for you so that packing for your move becomes a piece of cake!
Tip 1: save time with garbage bags around your clothes
Taking all your clothes out of the closet one by one is time-consuming and really doesn’t have to be. By tying a waste bag around your clothes, you can leave them on the hangers and load them directly from the wardrobe into the moving van. In your new home, you can simply hang them back in the closet. It is wise to purchase extra large and sturdy garbage bags such as these.
Tip 2: kill two birds with one stone and pack dishes with towels
Reason with us: your crockery must go to your new home and preferably without shards. And your towels must also come with you to your new home. So if you pack your dishes with your towels, you kill two birds with one stone. Make packages of 2 or 3 plates in a towel and seal them extra tightly with packing tape. This way, you save on wrapping paper and bubble wrap, and you save space in your moving boxes! To reduce the risk of broken plates, place the plates vertically in the box.
Tip 3: Pack glasses with (freshly washed) socks
Glasses and socks don’t seem to belong together, but they are a winning combination when moving house. Your socks have to go with you to your new swim anyway, so use them as packing material (cleanly washed, of course!).
And to keep the chance of glass shards to an absolute minimum, it is best to also put old newspapers, towels and bubble wrap in the boxes as padding.
Tip 4: Packaging for your move without gunk? Close vials with foil
Shampoo, liquid soap and body lotion smell great, but if they escape from the bottle during the move, it turns into a nasty mess. You don’t want that, so pack bottles extra by putting a piece of cling film over the opening. Then you put the regular cap on it.
Tip 5: Organize your jewelry when packing for your move
If you have a lot of earrings, bracelets, and necklaces, read this tip very carefully. Because it is very annoying if your jewelry gets tangled during the move. Therefore, remember the following tricks to pack them:
- Ziplock bags or zipper bags are easy and infinitely resealable, so they are extremely handy to put in your necklaces, earrings, and bracelets.
- You can put small earrings in pill boxes
- You can thread chains through drinking straws or toilet rolls, so they certainly don’t get tangled
- You can keep earrings together by putting them through the buttonholes of a button (and sticking them with tape)
- You can simply pierce earrings through a piece of cardboard
Tip 6: everything runs smoothly with books on trolleys
Books are usually the heaviest items you have to carry during a move. But if you put them in trolleys, that too runs on wheels. Because you simply roll them to the moving van, and that costs much less energy. And so your trolleys are immediately moved, so again two birds with one stone.
Tip 7: Wrap cabinets with foil
Wrapping cabinets with protective film is a very smart plan. It provides two advantages: the doors and drawers do not open during lifting. You can also leave light items, such as underwear or cutlery, in the drawers. This saves a lot of packing and unpacking!
Tip 8: Keeping screws together is how you do it
You have to disassemble large furniture, and that is usually done quickly. But putting beds, racks and tables back together can be disappointing. Especially if you don’t remember exactly which screws belonged where… So look ahead when you take furniture apart and put the screws in small bags. Write on the bags which piece of furniture they belong to and stick the bag with tape on one of the parts of that furniture. This way, you have everything immediately at hand when you have to assemble the furniture in your new home.
Tip 9: Photograph the cords before packing
The back of your electronics, such as TV, modem, DVD player, and stereo system, is an incomprehensible tangle of wires and cables. Therefore: take a picture of the back of it before you start moving. It prevents difficult questions such as: where did that red cable go again? And why do I have a plug on this?
Tip 10: use color codes on your moving boxes
With tape in different colors, you can easily send movers or your friends who help you with the right boxes to the right rooms. This is how you do it: you choose a different color for each room in your new home. Then mark the boxes with the color that matches the color of the room where you want that box to end up in the new house. Because on the day of the move you have other things to do than stand at the entrance like a traffic cop and send the helpers to the right rooms every time.
Tip 11: Make a box with stuff for the first day
Finally, the time has come: everything has moved, tomorrow is day one of the rest of your life and tonight, you sleep in your new place. You are happy but exhausted. So you really don’t feel like looking for your toothbrush in all the unpacked moving boxes. Therefore: use a clearly recognizable box to store the things you need your first evening, night, and morning. Think toiletry bags, pajamas, breakfast items, and glasses. Pack your refrigerated items in a chilled packaging box containing a cooling pack to keep them fresh and cold.
Tip 12: don’t take everything with you!
A golden tip for a smooth move: don’t take too much with you! Moving is often a race against time, so don’t put energy and time into moving stuff you don’t actually need. Now throwing or giving things away is easier said than done.
We hope these smart packing tips help you prepare for your moving day. Do you have any other tips about packing for your move that is not on this list? Let us know in a comment on this post! For more beneficial articles, visit this link.