For those who have experienced moving house before, they can vouch for how stressful it can be. All the paperwork, dealing with utilities providers, and trawling through the boxes of school books and clothes that don’t fit in the attic (boxes that haven’t been opened since you last moved, 10 years ago…) is not an enviable task but, where packing is concerned, there are ways to make it less of a strain.

Grabbing some boxes and throwing your stuff in as you find it is a recipe for organisational disaster. But good planning, good materials, and insisting on a strong degree of packing management can make getting ready for your move, and unpacking at the other end, much less of a chore. So, here’s how you can do just that.

Take it step by step

When packing up your house for a move, give some thought to how you can break it down into a series of smaller tasks — rather than expecting yourself to get it all done in one swift manoeuvre. Look at your belongings on a room-by-room basis and allocate boxes and other storage materials to each room to start with.

Try to tackle one room at a time, this will help to prevent you getting overwhelmed and confused about where you’ve put that matching set of candlesticks. Package like with like (so all your books together, or all your hiking gear) and clearly label your boxes so that they end up in the correct room at the other end of the journey.

Some people even put a list on the outside of every box, detailing every item that’s inside it. While you may not want to do this with everything you own, it can be useful for things that you will need straight away, like crockery, cutlery, and perhaps your computer equipment.

Packaging odd stuff

Some items might fit perfectly into boxes, but there will always be those odd items that don’t seem to fit anywhere. They’re nearly always awkwardly shaped, breakable, or just don’t really have a home amongst the rest of your stuff. Where do you put your hoover, for instance, or your Christmas decorations? Where do you put those fancy-dress costumes, or the impressive collection of fridge magnets you’ve acquired over the years?

Items like this, from the back of drawers or those dreaded boxes in the attic, can be difficult to place when you are packing to move home. But there are a couple of options for managing them that you might want to try.

Pack your miscellaneous items together

When you are in your new home and you can’t think where you would have packed your battery recharger or your sewing repair kit, you will be able to feel reasonably confident that you’ll find it in your ‘miscellaneous’ box. It’s ideal for all your bits and bobs.

Packing efficiency

Use these miscellaneous items to pad out half-filled boxes from the rest of your home. It may not be as easy to find stuff at the other end, but filling empty space in the rest of your packing helps to prevent items moving around and breaking. It’s also a great space saving tip for when all your stuff is transit: you don’t want to not be able to fit that last box in the truck and have to make a return trip.

Where is it all going to live?

In your new home, where do you want to keep those craft items, or that stationery set? Put the items in the boxes that correspond to the room you intend to keep your odd items in, and that way you will be organised when you start to unpack.

The box choice you make for packing these miscellaneous items will influence what you need to do to pack them up carefully and safely. You will probably do most of your packing using cardboard boxes, but remember that there are other items available, such as plastic storage boxes. Also, consider protective packaging materials, like bubble wrap or scrunched up paper, that will help to prevent items from moving around in the boxes.

Choosing the right equipment and materials at the start of your packing process will help to make your house move a more straightforward and streamlined process. There’s no need to run out of boxes or space, and you can feel confident that you have high quality products that won’t tear or break at an inopportune moment, scattering your smalls all over the drive in front of your brand new neighbours!

To find out more information on the types of boxes you might need for moving house, head on over to our moving kits range. Using our house moving kits, you will have a range of materials at your disposal to help avoid any added stress, and they can even include specialist packing items such as wardrobe boxes, plastic clothes covers for delicate items, and bubble blankets for to keep furniture and kitchen appliances safe and undamaged.

The following two tabs change content below.

• Bio
• Latest Posts

Rick Stanford

Rick has been a salesman in the packaging supplies business for more than thirty years. Now semi-retired, he divides his time between tending his allotment in north Devon, getting depressed at the continuing travails of his home-town football club Macclesfield Town, and sharing his considerable experience and knowledge with the readers of the Davpack blog. Davpack

Latest posts by Rick Stanford (see all)

• Davpack’s Top Tips for Secure Strapping - 7th September 2022
• The Paper vs Plastic Bubble Wrap Debate - 10th August 2022
• Save Money with Royal Mail Sized Packaging - 8th July 2022