The one piece of advice that a lot of moving companies give to their clients is to pack in advance. However, this is not always possible, and some families have to pack last-minute.
If you’ve read other articles that offer tips on how to pack for a move, they most likely have told you to pack in advance. Ideally, you need to start packing early, especially if you have a lot of stuff to relocate. However, this doesn’t always happen. Certain circumstances can deter your packing schedule, or even leave you without progress for until a few weeks or days before the move.
Luckily, you can hire packing and moving services. Alternatively, you can pack everything yourself with these last-minute packing tips:
1. Declutter
Label three big containers as the donation pile, the recycle pile, and the garbage pile. Then, go through every room, drawer, closet, and cabinet in your house until you’ve significantly downsized your stuff. With less stuff, you will have an easier time packing them.
Donate things that are still in good condition to charities or shelters; give stuff away to your friends and family; take the recyclable things to the curb or the local recycling center. You can even sell some of your more valuable items to help with the costs of moving.
2. Pack fast
Having to pack a vast amount of stuff can be overwhelming, and can leave you frozen where you stand, thinking about what to pack first and how. If you have to pack fast, don’t think about it. Just pack.
Set up boxes in each room, then start packing. Don’t think about sorting the items for now. Just make sure that you’re packing everything safely and labeling the boxes with fragile items inside. You can deal with the sorting after you’ve moved into your new house.
3. Call in some help
To get packing done quicker, call in your friends and family to help. They can assist you in taking things to the donation center, wrapping up fragile items, and carrying and stacking boxes. The more hands on deck, the faster and more efficient the work will be.
4. Don’t forget the essentials bag
You don’t want to end up in your new house and not know where your toothbrush or towel is. As you pack, make sure you set aside the essentials in a separate bag, such as a change of clothes, toiletries, bed sheets, towels, etc.
5. Don’t overload boxes
Even if you’re packing as fast as you can, be careful not overload your boxes. A box that is too heavy can break from the inside and cause even further delays. As a general rule, pack light items in large boxes and the heavy items in small boxes.
6. Pack clothes as they are
You’ll save a lot of time in packing clothes if you leave them as they are. Pack folded clothes into boxes and don’t even bother taking the hangers out of the clothes. If you can spare space in the car, lay hanging clothes in the back of your vehicle, so they won’t get crumpled in the moving van.
Packing fast is ten times more difficult than regular packing, but it is possible. If you need to pack the last minute, these tips should help you out.
