Top Packing Tips for Moving House

I will soon be helping my mom to pack and move after she has lived in her apartment for about 20 years. The prospect of moving is both exciting and daunting, and I have been doing some research and gathering good advice for packing up a home.

Photo by Thomas Shellberg

These are the top ten tips I intend to use:

1. Establish a time line for what needs to be done before the move date and mark on a calendar deadlines of tasks that need to be completed.
2. Consider carefully what is worth moving and what can be recycled, sold or given away and do some decluttering in advance of packing up.
3. Gather a supply of boxes, bubble wrap, packing tape and markers well before the packing time. Rope in friends that are willing to help with packing and make the process fun by having a packing party.
4. As the move gets closer use up items such as food, cleaning products and anything else consumable that is not going to be moved.
5. Start to pack up some items such as decorations, sentimental keepsakes, books and other things that will be moved but are not needed on a daily basis.
6. Label boxes and keep an inventory of what is in each box. 
7. Clearly mark breakables on the side of boxes as well as on the top. Use a brightly coloured tape to make these boxes stand out as fragile. 
8. Use coloured tape or stickers to mark which boxes go in which room so it is easier to unpack. 
9. Use smaller boxes for heavy items and larger boxes for light weight things.
10. Keep aside things that need to be moved personally and that will not be moved with the bulk of the rest of the items. 

We are hoping the move will go smoothly and easily and that nothing will get lost or broken in the process!

What are your top packing and moving tips?  Please comment with your experiences and advice.