Packing Tips To Make Your Move Smoother

Moving is one of those trials that almost everyone has to face at some point. It can be stressful, and never exactly fun, but the outcome is usually positive. Of course, how successful your move depends on avoiding mistakes and planning ahead to make the process as smooth as you can. Here’s how to pack to make things as hassle-free as you can. 

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Use The Right Size Boxes

When you pack your books for moving, pack them and your other heavy items in small boxes. Lighter items, like pillows and linens can go in bigger boxes. Large boxes crammed with heavy items is a common complaint of professional movers. They make the job harder, and have a higher change of breaking. 

Put Heavier Items On The Bottom, Lighter On Top

Heavy items go on the bottom of boxes, with lighter things on top. If you’re loading the moving truck yourself, put the heaviest boxes in first towards the front of the truck, for balance. 

Don’t Leave Empty Spaces In The Boxes

Fill in any gaps with towels, clothes, or packing paper. Movers don’t like to move boxes that feel loosely packed or unbalanced. 

Don’t Mix Items From Different Rooms In One Box

If you keep things separated by room, it will make both packing and unpacking much easier. 

Label Each Box

Label each box with the room it goes on and what’s inside. This will help you and your movers know where everything goes. Numbering each box and keeping an inventory list is also a good way to track what you’ve packed and to make sure you have everything when you unpack. 

Tape Your Moving Boxes Well

Use a few pieces of tape to close the top and bottom seams, then use a movers’ trick, and make a couple of wraps all the way around the box’s top and bottom edges, where the stress is concentrated. 

If You’re Moving Expensive Art, Ask Your Mover About Special Crating

Understand how you pack your artwork to keep it safe. Never wrap oil painting in normal paper as it will stick. When you pack pictures for moving, make an x with masking tape across the glass to strengthen it and hold it together if it breaks. Wrap the pictures in bubble wrap or paper and put them in a frame box with a piece of card between each piece. Ask your movers, like Allied Van Lines Canada, for their advice on getting your art there safely. 

Take Care Packing The Kitchen

The kitchen has a lot of different items to pack. To pack dishes for moving, wrap each dish in paper, then wrap bundles of five or six dishes together with more paper. Pack dishes on their sides, not flat. Use lots of scrumpled-up paper as padding above and below them. 

Cups and bowls can be packed inside one another, with paper in between, and wrapped three or four in a bundle. Pack these in dish-barrel boxes.  For glasses, use a box with cardboard dividers to protect them, and wrap them in plenty of paper, to keep them safe.