Article Summary:
Twelve tips to organize your packing for a successful moving day.
Buying a new home is an exciting part of life, but along with buying comes moving. Packing and moving can be a very stressful event. Here are twelve tips to help make your move simpler and less chaotic.
1. Pare way down before you move.
This is the most important step of all. Get rid of absolutely everything and anything you can live without. One bonus to doing a pre-move purge is that if you have a weekend garage sale you can earn money to offset the cost of moving and may even be able to use the money you make to buy furnishings for your new place.
2. When packing, use a bold marker and write on each box which room the box should be placed into, NOT which room it came from. Also, write or attach a basic inventory list on the outside of the box (not the top) so you can easily locate specific items quickly, even when boxes are stacked.
3. If you are using movers and don't wish them to know the contents of the boxes, number each box and keep a separate inventory list of the numbered boxes and detailed descriptions of their contents.
4. Movers charge by weight, so to avoid paying to move a whole lot of brown packing paper, consider using your towels, bed linens, kitchen linens and even your clothing to wrap dishes and other breakables.
5. When disassembling furniture or things with hardware, keep Ziploc baggies handy. Put the hardware from each piece into a separate baggie, then write with permanent marker on the outside of the baggie what piece it goes with. You can also tape the baggie to the piece itself for added convenience.
6. Sell heavy items that you can replace for the same cost as moving them. Why pay to move an old washing machine or lawn mower when you can sell it and buy a new one when you arrive?
7. Remember to backup your computer files in case something should happen in the move and your computer won't reboot.
8. If you can, move early in the day. Things always take longer than you expect, and it's no fun to be moving in the dark when you're tired and hungry.
9. If you have access to your new place before you actually move in, do your cleaning and cosmetic work such as painting before you bring in your first box.
10. Pack a suitcase or box as if you were going on a trip. Put the things you need every day in there such as toiletries, toothbrush, vitamins, etc. That way, even if you don't get everything unpacked as quickly as you wanted to, you'll still be able to function.
11. Wrap fine art in brown paper before using bubble wrap, and box it in special picture boxes in the direction it will be hung. Mark 'TOP' on the boxes, so they don't get turned upside down.
12. Set up and clear off your beds first! After an exhausting day moving furniture and boxes, you won't want to assemble the beds and at bedtime, you'll be glad you did.
Monica Ricci has been an organizing and productivity specialist since 1999. She offers onsite consulting, as well as motivational seminars and workshops, which teach effective organizing and simplifying and effectiveness strategies for home and work. Reach Monica at www.Catalyst Organizing.com or ph: 770-569-2642.
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