Make Your Move Easier with These DIY Packing Ideas

  • Written by News Company


Once you leave your hometown only to settle elsewhere, you have a huge task on your hands. A certain amount of preparation is required especially if you are moving to a new state.

You can, of course, get a professional moving company to handle that grandfather clock that has been in your family for many a generation or your wife’s favorite rocking chair for that matter. However, top-notch professionals also charge premium rates, and this can mean a hefty dent in your wallet. Other not so professional moving ‘specialists’ may be inexpensive, but you don’t want your precious bone China crockery set, to end up in several pieces.

Under the circumstances, the only way to take care of your precious property that you want to move to another state is to do the job yourself. DIY (do it yourself) is not difficult, provided that is, that you know how to go about doing it properly.

Let us see how:

  • Start the process at least a fortnight ahead

Procrastination is the bane of a sound moving strategy. As a matter of fact, a fortnight may seem like a long time to many, if not most people. The fact is that should you start working the day you decide to move. You will be extremely surprised how it has passed away in a twinkling, and before you know it, it is moving day!

This is why it is more imitative to help get all of those boxes sorted out and organized, irrespective of whether you are re-using those or you have been buying new ones. You can reuse plastic containers even if you have to dust off them off after a long time in storage.

You can start the preparations by allotting a certain number to each individual room. You should also measure your supplies of packing paper and a bubble (or shrink) wrap to make sure that you have enough supplies to go around.


  • De-clutter your way before you begin your work

Sometimes, one of the best possible attributes of a move is that it can also help you clean and de-clutter. Cleaning your home and de-cluttering provides a great opportunity to get rid of all of that junk that you have been holding on to, for purely sentimental reasons alone. Apart from that, it also has the dual advantage of simultaneously reducing the total amount of stuff that you need to pack and, it also makes it a lot easier to fit it all as you settle into your new home. It would be helpful if you were to sort through each room quite methodically and also putting aside all those items that you feel that you no longer use or won’t probably ever need.

Once you have a pile that you can safely label “to be discarded” you can either hold a garage sale or donate everything to your friends and neighbors or the local YMCA. Then the look and feel of an empty shelf and cupboard will take away the stirrings of panic that you used to feel, whenever you thought about packing all of that junk up, before your move.

  • Buy the right equipment beforehand

As mentioned earlier, you have to essentially make sure that you have enough packing material and equipment for the arduous task at hand. This can include, paper cutters, twine, and cord, cartons, wraps packing boxes, tissue paper (for the fragile items) and bubble wrap.
Of course, tape dispensers, as well as yards and yards of scotch tape, will also be of great help as well. These supplies are pretty inexpensive, but they are worth a lot more than their monetary worth. They will effectively ensure that all of your precious stuff is properly packed, and your boxes and cartons are taped effectively enough, and also adequately reinforced along the bottom and sides. This means that even if they are mishandled, there is considerably less chance of an inadvertent mishap, come moving day. You should also add a soft point marker and a notebook so that you can mark individual boxes and record them in the notebook. This will mean you won’t need to open every box in case you need something urgently.

  • Always pack what you use the least first

You should start your packing activities with all the usual non-essential stuff, such as decoration pieces, framed photos knick-knacks, and books. Once you have moved and have unpacked, books will be the last thing on your mind, because you would be busy, to say the least.

Apart from the above. Out of season clothes and sports shoes can also be safely packed away first. After all, you are hardly likely to use that thick woolen sweater in the middle of summer.


  • Pack by room and make sure your cartons are color coded as well

One of the most difficult task in any DIY moving experiment is to ‘attack’ multiple rooms simultaneously. Remember, wars are lost when leaders open multiple fronts simultaneously. You should start off in one room only and then steadily move on to the next one, only after the previous one is completely done. Give each room its own color code and mark all the cartons from that room with the same color. This way, you will easily be able to figure out which box contains what. And this holds true, regardless of the size of the house that you will move into.

Now that you know the details. It is time to ‘get moving’ so that you can settle in and start decorating your new house.