It may seem impossible to do but if you follow these few steps, you can be moved in and unpacked ready for Sunday night dinner.
Get packing materials ready and organized. Collect as many boxes as you can. Small sturdy boxes for heavy items, medium size boxes for other items. Stay away from really big boxes. Everyone tends to overload these, and then you end up moving twice because most of your big boxes will break. Get as much packing material together as possible. Use bubble wrap, Styrofoam peanuts and newspaper, shrink wrap. Blank newspaper is preferable as the ink in newsprint can dye your china and other items. Use old blankets and duvet covers to help pad delicate items.
Useful tip: Used boxes are a great way to save money, just make sure you know where they came from and check that there’s no “surprises” inside. Also make sure they haven’t been wet or things have spilled inside them. Best boxes are usually found at liquor stores and sometimes come with the dividers which can be handy. Newsprint can leave stains but is a cheap way to pack non staining durable items.
In each room, have enough boxes and packing material to do the job. Create a big enough space in each room to make packing easier. This will save you lots of time if it’s easier to do and you don’t have to keep running to the next room to get another box or bubble wrap.
Useful Tip: Get large colour coded markers. Use a different marker for each room to label the boxes. Put a big star, dot or symbol on each box. Use only 1 colour for each room. In the new residence, tape the appropriate colour to the doorway for the appropriate room. This way your slaves/ movers will know exactly where to drop your boxes…hopefully not too hard! If you have lots of rooms and not enough markers, use a combination of colours.
Now that you are all organized, this should go quickly….that’s if you can refrain from reminiscing over all the stuff you haven’t seen in a while! Put heavy items in small sturdy boxes. Use solid items to line the bottom of medium size boxes. Use only large boxes for light stuff like bedding and sheets. If you’re using a professional mover, they should loan you as many wardrobe boxes as you need.
Useful Tip: If the nightstand or small dressers aren’t too heavy, wrap them with shrink wrap to prevent the drawers from opening. Most professional movers don’t require you to empty your drawers, they just shrink warp and move the whole piece of furniture. If the dresser, night stand or desk is too heavy, take the drawers out and shrink wrap the drawers to keep your stuff from falling out. If you can do this you really eliminate a lot of packing and need for boxes.
Go room by room (remember the colour codes). Start with the bedrooms, office etc… and then bathrooms and kitchen. That way the essential rooms will be unpacked first and dinner that night will be a snap! First in, last out!
Useful tip: If you are lucky enough to have a bunch of helpers, get them organized into an assembly line to pass boxes. It goes much faster this way. Try to divide the amount of moving for each person so there is equal share. Of course if you’re lucky enough to have “Mr. Fitness” helping you, assign him to the heavier items…he’ll be happy to show off his hard work at the Gym! Always have an “essentials” box for important items you need to keep with you. Put this box (well labeled) into your own car.
Your assembly line worked great, and all of the boxes and furniture made it quickly into the van. Do the same thing into your new place. Unpack the kitchen and bathrooms first. You’ll appreciate being able to shower and get clean before making dinner. Unpack your bedroom last. It will be easier on a full stomach and you can take your time deciding where to put the coffee table in the living room.
Useful Tip: Takes measurements of your new space so that it’s easier to know where the 65” HD TV will go. Have a layout for each room based on your measurements, so that there’s no messing around with moving your heavy items. You want to do this now while you still have helpers around.
