Packing Tips

Moving house sounds exciting, but is never an operation we look forward to because, very often, we don’t know where to begin. You’ll need to contact utility companies, clean the entire home before you leave, book Simply Moving for your moving day (no brainer!) and not to mention: pack all your belongings.

So, how to pack up your house before moving day and make sure you don’t forget something in the process? We’ve got some handy tips:

Packing supplies you need…

No matter how many boxes you have lying around the house, you will need various box types to accommodate all your belongings. You will also need to make sure that they are sturdy enough to weather the moving itself. Many often overlook the fact that purchasing moving boxes and other packing materials are a necessary part of moving home, Simply Moving can provide all the packing materials you may need by clicking here.

Another option is to book a full packing service from us, we will provide all the required packing materials along with all the skills to get it done safely and efficiently.

How to pack for moving house

Begin packing well in advance

The average time it takes to pack all of your items depends mainly on their number of items, are you minimalist or a hoarder? Of course, there is no exact figure on the time taken, but you get the idea.

Start with rooms and items you use less often

The kitchen will take a long time to pack but you may need a lot of the things in here, the attic is going to be full of things you probably no longer need but you will have to live with the attic items downstairs till moving day. The garage or the shed are the rooms of doom that people avoid, pick a dry day and get out there! Once the garage is done, you can start stacking things in there out of the way so your home stays liveable.

Declutter and donate

Car-boot sale, charity shops, friends in need, eBay, your options are plenty. Do not make the fatal mistake of thinking “I’ll declutter later or at the new house” Do it early, be ruthless, be minimalist, you may find it liberating!

Get a marker pen and write on the tape

Just write on the tape the room it’s going to, a very brief description and whether its fragile or heavy i.e.  – Kitchen – plates – fragile or  Bed 2 – books – heavy , you don’t need much more info on the box than that! And speaking of tape, good quality parcel tape, no cheap stuff, no sellotape, no tape you found in the shed. Good tape, top and bottom of the boxes, simple!

Pack one room at a time

This is essential for your sanity, pack up everything you do not need prior to moving one room at a time then you won’t be over-run with boxes and bags. Pack it, stack it, move on to the next!

Packing the bathroom

Be really careful if you’re packing any liquids. It’s a good idea to place liquids and cosmetics into a sealed container before packing to ensure other boxes and items are protected if there is a leak.

You can use towels to protect any fragile items, or to provide cushioning in other boxes where they won’t get damaged. Squeeze out the sponges and wring out the washcloths. Also, empty that loo brush bowl and seal it in a bag, you don’t want that dripping everywhere!

Heave ho!

It sounds fairly obvious, but heavy things in small boxes, light things in big boxes. The more things that are in boxes, the better, but don’t overload them. Simply Moving’s guys are strong, but not superhuman. Anything smaller than a microwave should be in a box, or a large strong bag.

Take all of your documents with you

Keep all of your moving paperwork somewhere safe, like in the car. The last thing you want is us to pack your filing cabinet into the Simply Moving truck and then you realise you need something from it! Some people, the very organised amongst us, make a moving folder

Please mind the gap

Whilst keeping the weight sensible, it’s also important to remember to fill the boxes. A half full, or half empty box, is a weak box. Pad boxes out with cushions, towels, anything you can, but make sure its full.

TVs

If you didn’t keep the original box for the T.V. then we would recommend you bubble wrap it and put it in a box big enough to cover it.

Food and drink

Try to run down your cupboards as much as you can in the weeks running up to moving day, the things at the back of the cupboard are probably out of date anyway! Get working your way through those last bits of booze you brought back from Spain in the summer of ’96 and make a cocktail, not the night before moving though! The fridge food can go in a cool bag, the freezer food is generally ok to stay in the freezer, don’t stock up on the heavy lamb chops though. Check any bottles to make sure the lids are sealed, tape them on if necessary.

Garage and shed giving you a headache?

The garage and shed can be a problem in several ways, but with careful planning you can create an organised space leaving you wondering why you haven’t done this sooner.

Large items in the garage and shed, such as cushions from the patio set, or tool chests can go as they are. When it comes to tools there is weight to consider, if you have plastic crates then that’s great, otherwise this is one of the only instances where half -filled boxes make sense, too heavy and they are going to collapse, or break our backs lifting them. If you have a lot of very heavy industrial tools make sure we know. They don’t stack very well and the weight means we have to account for this when loading, drop us an email to make sure we are aware.

Garden tools such as brushes and rakes, get them in a bunch of 5, tape around the handle, perfect. Petrol powered tools should be emptied prior to moving, cut the lawn till it runs out or decant it into a suitable container.

Petrol and flammables, gas canisters, patio gas, paint, we don’t carry these. People usually leave the paint for the next people as it matches the house, but if you really want your tin of red ochre from the 90s, it need to go in your car, with the canister from the barbeque.

Garden plants need to be dry and trimmed. If your rose bush is growing out of the pot, it is going to leave a lot of petals in the back of our trucks, trim them back where you can. Don’t water them for a couple of days before moving and if it looks like rain try to cover them. Check for ants nests in pots well in advance, we don’t take animals or insects, especially not ones that are going to make a home in the back of the lorry. Some people dig out plants from the borders, if you are doing so you need to put a strong bag around the roots to contain all that soil. And no, we can’t store your plants in our storage, they will die!

Chiminea, fire pit, pizza oven or charcoal BBQ, empty the ash, we don’t want it in the trucks.

Moving a shed, greenhouse, garden office. We can do it, call us to discuss this as every one is different and they all come with their own challenges.

Working up a sweat over the home gym?

We move everything from a single weight bench to a whole gymnasium, the one thing they all have in common is they are heavy. If they can be dismantled then it’s usually better that they are. Lots of treadmills don’t fit through doorways in one piece, weight cages certainly don’t. If you can’t take them apart, we can. We will charge for the service but it’s one less thing to worry about. Free weights, pack the small ones into small boxes, no more than 30 kgs per box, the others, leave as they are and we’ll take them like that.

What can’t you pack?

There are things that are not allowed in our trucks, camping or BBQ gas, explosives, flammable liquids, (petrol etc.)  radioactive materials, fireworks, weapons, live animals (best to contact the cattery instead). It’s also wise to ensure that bottles are fully sealed, olive oil seeping through your box because you didn’t tape the bottle lid on is not something you want.

Don’t pack anything that doesn’t belong to you!

This might sound odd, but if you live in rented accommodation then don’t forget to leave behind anything that came with the property! If you live in a furnished property this might include things like lamps or pictures, but even when you live in unfurnished property make sure you don’t pack things like window keys, gas meter keys or doormats!

Set aside your box of essentials

Think of everything you’re going to need straight away in your new home such as cleaning equipment or the TV remote, and everything you need till the last moment in your current home such as the Wi-Fi router, these should all go into the “last minute box” Most importantly, the kettle and the biscuits for your Simply Moving team!

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