Packing well is one of the most important things to do for your move. Properly packing your items can help prevent damage, and it will also help your move progress quickly and smoothly saving you time, money and stress. By packing smaller items together before your move, you can keep your move going at a quick pace because it’s easier to move a single box than multiple items on their own, it will also keep things organized and make it easier to settle in your new home. Our professional packers have compiled some of their best practices to make it simpler for you to pack.
Make sure you select good boxes. The material you use should be strong cardboard, you don’t want to select thin boxes as these can fall apart and often can’t be stacked without getting crushed. There are also different sizes and types of boxes depending on the items you are looking to move. For example a standard large box can hold quite a bit at 4.5 cubic feet, but shouldn’t be filled with books or other heavy items that will make the box difficult to lift. For these reasons large boxes are best suited for linens, the clothing in your drawers and other similarly light materials. Small boxes also known as book boxes can be used for a number of different items but these are the boxes you want to be using to pack books, paper, and other dense materials. Wardrobe boxes are specially designed to move your hanging clothes, these boxes are longer than any other boxes and have a special bar that you can transfer items into without taking them off the hanger providing a wrinkle free move. Dish or china boxes are boxes designed to transport fragile items and are made with a double layer of card board. Check out our blog post on tips to pack a dish box.
Once you’ve selected the appropriate box for the material you want to pack you need to assemble the box. Once you unfold the box, turn it over so that the bottom is facing you and fold in the bottom flaps. You want to be generous with the tape as you seal the bottom of the box to ensure that the bottom doesn’t fall out when the box is lifted. When filling the box it is important to fill each box to the top because empty space will cause the box to collapse when stacked, if you don’t have items that will fit in the space you can use crumpled wrapping paper to fill the space. Once the box is full close the top flaps and run a few extra layers of tape to close it. Finally label the box using a permanent marker you should mark the contents of the box the room where the items belong and a box count so that you know how many boxes you have in total.
If you don’t have time to pack on our own you can arrange for professional packing service, and have the movers take care of everything for you. Lastly there are also environmentally friendly alternatives for your move that can significantly reduce the amount of card board used.
