Tips and Tricks for Packing Moving Boxes
When it comes to moving, the most tedious part of the entire process is packing. If you don’t know what you’re doing while packing your moving boxes, you not only risk major breakage issues during the move, but you waste precious time that could have otherwise been saved.
Here are the guidelines we follow when packing, to ensure efficiency, safety, and protection of your valuables during the move.
- Gather all the necessary supplies ahead of time.
The earlier you are able to get everything you need to pack your home up, the easier it will be to get it all done at once.
You’ll want to have the following on hand:
- boxes of various sizes
- markers
- plenty of plastic wrap
- bubble wrap
- packing paper
- a few rolls of packing tape
- you might also look into a mattress bag and a wardrobe box
- Pack heaviest items on the bottom.
Packing the heaviest items on the bottom and lighter items on top of them ensures the heaviest items do not end up crushing anything else in the box.
- Use small fabric items to stuff boxes.
Having extra space in your box will allow items to move around and break, which we never want to happen. If you run out of packing paper, a quick and easy fix is using things like your socks, pillow cases and scarves to fill in any extra room left in the boxes.
- Secure small items before packing.
Place small items together in a smaller box or bag before packing them in a larger box. This will keep them together and make it easier to unpack once you arrive at your new home. Items containing liquid should also be covered in plastic wrap and taped around the lid to ensure they do not leak onto everything else.
- Pack very heavy items in small boxes.
Packed boxes should weigh less than 50 pounds, so packing heavy items like books in a small box will ensure you don’t overfill it and make it too heavy to carry. Often, we overestimate how much we can safely carry when it comes to these items. A book may seem very light on its own, but once you have many in the same box the weight adds up fast.
- Label every box.
The more detailed you are, the easier it will be to unpack on your own time – but at the very minimum label each box with which room it should go in upon arrival. Don’t forget to mark ‘fragile’ on any boxes holding breakables.
- Make sure the box closes flat.
It is very important that you do not overstuff the box – so that when you tape it, it closes flat. This not only protects your items, but makes it much easier to stack moving boxes in the truck during the move, and ensures they do not fall over once stacked. You really don’t want your boxes flying around during the move and causing breakage.
