10 tips to packing your home efficiently

Congratulations on finding a new house!

Easily said by all, but oh the horror of moving while imaging how much effort and hard work goes into moving houses. It is a time-taking process, where one constantly figures out how they are going to pack and move everything without breaking the bank, your fragile lamp, or your back.

It’s not until you decide to move, you realise how much things you own and how often does one actually use it.  The reality of having to pack it all up to move to your new house can be quite daunting. From purging household items to packing your belongings, moving an entire household is undoubtedly a tiring process which one never looks forward to. You have to clear your bills, clean your entire home before you leave, not to mention pack all your belongings.

So, how to pack up your house when one is relocating? Is there an easy way to pack your belongings? Can the process be made easier? Well, yes to all of the questions stated.

Graana.com has created a checklist that provides some guides, tips and tricks to help you pack up your homes efficiently, so you easily get done rather than feeling overwhelmed or frustrated.

Best of luck and happy moving!

 

1. Packing supplies you’ll need

Notepad:

While moving homes, one inevitably ends up having innumerable different things that are to be remembered and done. One must always remember that no matter how seemingly obvious a task is or a thing to be done is, it may slip your mind because of the stress. So the key first thing that you want is to make a plan and write it down somewhere. Get your hands on a notepad or jot down the tasks to be done in the notes app on your phones.

Save the date to simplify the process for yourself, distribute the workload and divide it over a span of a week(s), depending on how long before you have to move out.

*Free advice* the more time you give yourself, the less stressful and easier will the process be for you.

 

Boxes of every size and packing tape:

In Pakistan, empty cartons are saved up more than water, and a common trait of every typical mother is to save up everything because it is going to come in handy one day. But as they say, mothers are always right, and when the day finally comes to use those cartons, it will first be rubbed in your face and later the boxes will be used.

In a parallel situation, when the amount of furniture exceeds the cartons, mothers are sure to go out on a hunt for these boxes and the places to attack are fruit/vegetable vendors or general stores (personal experience). And by the grace of God, by using their superpowers of bargaining, mothers are successful in getting these boxes for FREE.

So if you want to save a little cash and acquire all the boxes you need for free, you know where to hit.

 

Bubble wrap and/or old newspaper:

A desi hack to save your money is that instead of buying soft padding, use bubble wrap/ newspaper/ cleans towels as soft padding for the furniture, or as a buffer in boxes carrying delicate items.

Coloured markers and coloured paper:

It may look like an art project but these items are equally essential, as it will be told further.

The real work begins as soon as your plan and supplies are complete.

 

2. Unclutter:

While sorting out everything, one goes through all the things that are present in the house. This makes moving houses a perfect time to think about all the things that you actually use and need and move to your next house. Hence, a massive preliminary purge is what one needs to do to have biggest impact on the efficiency of the entire packing process.

When you’re done with separating the items, and before you start packing the useful items, you must get rid of everything you don’t need. In order to do that, you can either donate those things or hand them out as charity. If there are furniture pieces that you don’t require, you can either opt for auction houses or conduct a house sale. It is a common practice done by people who are moving abroad.

Remember to make this effort to pare down your possessions, so your new home will be a bit less cluttered.

 

3. Start packing:

Before you start packing up for relocating, remember to prepare an essentials box. You must assort them items that will be used in the last few nights before you move and the first few nights in your new home.

A couple of mattresses, blankets and pillow (depending on the number of the family members) should be kept out for both situations, along with with a few kitchen essentials, as well as a change of clothes and toiletries.

Once you’re done, hustle up because it is the time to bustle…

May the packing of things begin.

 

 

4. Pack room by room:

This is the ultimate guide and the most important tip to packing up your things and moving your home which for some reason often gets neglected. To complete this step, one won’t need anything else except for packing supplies (boxes, markers, papers and packing tape) time and a lot of patience.

Packing room by room is the key to stay organised, through the entire process. It is ideal to start the packing process at least two weeks prior to the moving out date. Instead of spending a day cleaning out your entire bedroom, spend the day sorting through every article you own.

Scour through every clothing item you own, be it the closet, dirty clothes hamper, and laundry room until you’ve got all your clothes in one place. Separate those into either being packed in suitcases or being transported on hangers. Make sure to keep them wrapped up using biodegradable garbage bags in case you run out of coat covers. When you get to your new abode, simply take off the garbage bags. However, don’t forget to label so you know whose stuff is whose if you’re stocking all the hangers and suitcases in one place.

To pack books, important papers/documents or other accessories, use a medium-sized carton and fill up spaces by utilising cases that can easily be fitted into spaces. To avoid breakages, use newspapers to fill up the gapes. While fitting your belongings in the boxes.

Use a box-cutter to cut square or triangle-shaped holes on either side of your heavier boxes to give you makeshift handles for easier lifting. Also, fill up boxes as per their sizes. Instead of fitting everything in a small box, use a large-sized box. This will minimise the number of boxes used, will contain maximum things and make it easier to lift later.

Assign different colours using coloured markers to mark the belongings.

Keep items from one room in boxes separate from the others, it’ll save you a lot of sanities when you finally unpack.

 

5. Use plastic boxes/ compartment boxes:

Another tip is to incorporate plastic boxes in your life to store away your seasonal/holiday items. This makes the overall process of storing easier for your life. Once you’ve moved in, you can simply transfer the plastic bins to your closet or storage rooms without having to unpack their contents. This also helps in making up more space in your closets.

Apart from storage, the plastic boxes are ideal to be used while shifting places as an alternate for carton boxes and storing either bedroom items or kitchen utilities like cutlery or boxed food items. Using soft wrap like bubble wrap or old newspapers to pad the breakables, the items can be stored in these plastic boxes.

To store your glassware and keep it in an organized manner, store the glassware in an upright manner and stuff newspaper in and around it. If you have time on your hands and are in a mood for DIY, create compartments. To create 8 compartments, the sides of unusable carton boxes come in handy. Take 6 sides and using a cutter, cut them halfway to create a web to store glassware.

While storing the glasses and breakables, don’t forget to wrap some padding to protect them.

Use a separate colour to label the boxes and write what the box contains. This practice will make it easier once you’re storing them in a loading truck or unpacking later.

 

6. Packing furniture efficiently:

Want to reduce your work, yet make sure that your wooden furniture is well- protected? Say hello to plastic wrap. If you own dressers, a chest of drawers or have side tables that you want to keep safe from scratches, wrap these with the plastic wrap. This will help you save time as you won’t have to pack the contents of the drawers. Wrapping them up will keep the dressers drawers shut when the moving truck jostles them about, and also protect the trays of items that would be just fine staying in the trays as long as they don’t fall out.

7. Organise bolts and screws

While moving houses, it is very common to dismantle furniture. However, losing the screws and bolts is equally common as well. If you have to dismantle any furniture for your move, don’t forget to keep all the loose screws and bolts organised. Put the screws and bolts in separate plastic zip-lock bags and label them so you know which piece of furniture they’re for and you don’t lose any.

8. Tape cables to electronics

Even though technology has greatly improved over time, but sorting and figuring out the cables and avoiding the confusion is something no technology can prevent. To prevent the confusion of what cable belongs to which electronic, tape the cables and cords to the base of the appliance. One can use any tape, as it won’t leave sticky marks… not that it’s so worrisome since it will be on the bottom of the appliance.

 

9. Keep liquids aside

Any liquid, be it cleaning supplies, dish-washing supplies, or other fluids can be put it in a separate plastic bin. This is essential because if it falls or spills during the move or you pack it in a carton box, and god forbid it falls… it will soak everything and is going to make a mess.

So be sure to store all kinds of liquids separately, in a bin to avoid any kind of a mess.

 

10. Loading things in trucks, finally

What goes on the first round? This question is what runs through the mind of everyone.

Have you ever played a game of Tetris? Loading furniture in the truck is exactly like that.

To make it easier for yourself, load all the heavy things first. Sofa sets, fridge, ACs, washing machine, TV set and mattresses are some the things that one must shift first. As it is, make sure to start running the fridge (get it cleaned beforehand) as soon as it is unloaded.

The things that come after are beds. With bed sets, stack boxes in groups and according to the rooms they belong to, which will be indicated by the labels on them. This is why labelling the contents of the boxes are important. Then finish with lighter items, the pieces of the same room.

That way, you can unload all the boxes from the same rooms at the same time, which makes unpacking everything a cinch.

Don’t be afraid to flip things over. To save a ton of space in the process, couches actually transport well on their sides.

Remember to be gentle with everything you load in the truck.

With these tips and tricks on your sleeve, packing up your house efficiently becomes easier. If we have missed out any tip that you think can add up and making packing up easier, let us know in the comments section below.

 

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