When it’s time to move to another home, you might not know where to begin packing. Don’t wait until the last minute to get everything into boxes or to clean your current home. Gather all of the supplies that you need for packing, so you can get your belongings from one location to another without searching for tape, boxes, labels, and other materials.
Throw Away
As you go from one room to another, get rid of the things that you no longer need or want. You should also get rid of trash. You could donate clothing or other items to a charity or a second-hand store. Another idea is to have a yard sale with the things that you don’t need or want and then use that money to purchase items for your new home.
Store What You Don’t Need
Larger items that you can’t take to your new home right away or items that you don’t know what to do with but don’t want to get rid of can be kept in a storage unit. When you pack your unit, you need to put heavy items around the perimeter and on the bottom of other belongings. Leave a path in the unit so that you can get to the items that you need. Label boxes with bright colors to find belongings for each room of the home.
Go One Room at A Time
If you aren’t sure where to start packing, then do one room at a time. Smaller rooms are usually the easiest, such as the bathroom. You can probably get by with one or two large boxes or a few smaller boxes in these rooms. Larger rooms will take a bit more time, and they are the areas where you will find more things that you might not need any longer. Start in one corner of the room, working your way around until everything is organized into piles to keep, trash, or donate/sell.
Clear Pantries and Cabinets Last
When you begin packing your kitchen cabinets and pantries, put the food in boxes last. It’s also a good idea to pack your dishes, glasses, and silverware after everything else. These are items that can easily break, so you want to put newspaper between plates, beside and inside glasses and at the top of boxes to keep everything secure. Your food, especially items in the refrigerator, should be packed last, putting them in a cooler until you get to your new home.