Let’s face it, one of everyone’s worst first world nightmares is moving day. Moving day consists of being hot, sweaty, and worst of all vexed because how do I pack all my stuff into a limited number of boxes? Don’t you wish that all your items could just magically teleport to another location? Well, sadly we won’t have the fortune of experiencing something like that anytime soon, so instead, here are some ways to help you pack in a more systematic and organized way that is sure to soothe your perplexed mind.
Stock Up on Storage Bags
Here’s where you should get yourself one of those sustainable storage bags that can be vacuum-sealed. Folding and unfolding your clothes is a chore and honestly, a waste of effort. So, these bags are helpful because you can simply store the hanger along with the clothing inside the bag and when you reach your new place, all you have to do is take it out!
Keep Your Clothes in Drawers
For those of you who keep your clothes in drawers, here’s a good way to kill two birds with one stone when moving. Just take out the individual drawers and cover them up in plastic wrap or a large bag to protect it. This saves you from folding and unfolding again, and the effort to lug your dresser over to the new place!
Use Your Suitcases
If you have travelled before, you must own a suitcase. In that case, skip the boxes and use this instead because it is way more efficient when it comes to carrying heavier objects. If you want to move things like books, use a suitcase so you don’t have to carry it and can simply drag it around to places. Of course, don’t overpack a suitcase and bring it back to square one by making it too heavy!
Pack a First-Night Box
This is more for the aftermath of moving. Everyone tends to get exhausted and honestly, really cranky if they have to immediately unpack their items. So, prepare a box where you stock the basic essentials that you will need for the night. This way, you don’t have to go through the effort of going through everything in order to find your pillows, toothbrushes and etc!
Plastic Wrap Your Utensil Holder
Another troublesome thing to unpack is utensils because it requires re-organization of the items. So, save yourself on that effort and plastic wrap the whole thing instead to keep them in place so that when you arrive at your new place, it’s as simple as sliding it out of the wrap!
Protect Your Frames
Hard-furnishings and pointed edges are the frequent victims of moving as they are the ones most susceptible to getting bent out of shape or broken. So, you can simply head to your friendly, neighbourhood dollar store to get bubble wrap or even pool noodles (if you want to use them in the pool again later), to protect these edges and prevent more casualties!
Colour Code
This is important when it comes to reorganizing the items back into their individual rooms. When they are in the boxes they all look the same and save yourself the hassle of opening each box to determine where it goes. You can colour code the boxes according to the room that they are supposed to go into and you can even number the boxes like “1 out of 4” so that you know how many boxes are supposed to go into a particular room!
Recycle What You Have
Save your wallet and the earth by making use of makeshift boxes and honestly, there are a ton of things that can substitute these boxes. Some of the things can be like laundry baskets where you can store all your lighter loads like appliances, fabrics and clothes!
Use Foam Plates
Wrapping every single plate you have is a tedious effort and we don’t want you to go through that. So, get yourself some foam plates and put these in between the fragile plates so that the plates will be protected from any impact. Doing this will help ensure that plates remain intact and save you the effort of wrapping and unwrapping!
Fill Your Pots
Just like how your laundry baskets can serve as a makeshift box, pots are another great alternative for all the loose items like dry ingredients. This will not only reduce the number of boxes that you need to use but also help you categorize your items so that when it comes to unpacking, you will know that all the kitchen items can be found in the pots. Plus, if you have items that deform easily, you can place them inside this durable box!
Use Your Clothes as Packing Material
Remember the main gist of the previous few strategies, the main takeaway is that use things that you already have in another way so that you can save more space in the process. This means instead of plastic wraps or the such which creates more waste and takes up more space, use your own clothes as a substitution (of course please use clean ones). For example, instead of using plastic wrap for your utensils, like your glass cups, you can wrap them up in a clean sock to protect it from breakage. For bigger items, just use bigger articles of clothing or any fabric like towels or bedspreads!
Put Cables in Toilet Paper Rolls
We don’t mean using your toilet paper to wrap the cables, but rather, don’t throw away the toilet rolls and hold onto them so that they can be reused. Cables are the easiest to get entangled and enrage someone. So, putting them in toilet rolls can solve that problem and you can label the cables accordingly!
In conclusion, the trick to saving space when you are moving is to always cut down on the unnecessary packing materials by trying to recycle your existing belongings and also to think of ways to cut down on the effort spent in re-organizing.