Space Saving Tips For Packing & Moving

StorageArea Moving, Packing

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There’s nothing quite like moving home to get you in the mood to throw out more of your stuff than you thought possible. Once you have gone through your home with a fine-tooth comb and decided the things that you want to keep, how do you pack the rest of your gear so as to save the most amount of space, and thus get a smaller moving vehicle hopefully saving yourself some money?

Moving Home: Dare To Be Different

Over the years, we have worked with many people in need of self-storage, most of them moving house and looking for a well-priced storage solution in their area or the area in which they are moving to. One of the most important things that we have learned over the years is that no two moves are the same, and no matter how many times you move house, there is always an amazing amount of stuff that you can get rid of in order to save space and save time.

Reduce Your Stress

Moving house is a stressful business, and most people really don’t look forward to the moving day at all, but with careful planning and precision, there is every chance that your moving day could be as easy as a breeze.

Here are seven ways that you can save space when packing and moving home.

1.    Sort Out Your Stuff

First thing’s first, you really can’t even consider moving home until you have sorted out your stuff. You really need to be quite brutal with this and ensure that you put your things into the categories of keeping them, trashing them, donating them, or selling them.

We all know how to do this with clothes, but when it comes to treasured possessions, you need to consider whether keeping them will actually add anything to your life, or will Nana’s chipped teacup just become another forgotten relic in your attic?

As a small ninja tip to add to this one, if you want to throw something out but it does evoke strong memories for you, try taking a picture of it that you can print out and put in a memory box. That way, you keep the memory without having to keep all of the objects and possessions that are taking up space.

2.    Get Decent Stackable Boxes

Here at Storage Area, boxes are our thing! We are in communication with thousands of storage unit owners and users across the US, so we know a thing or two about boxes and how to ensure you pick a good set. For people who are storing things in a storage area, we would usually suggest going with strong plastic boxes, but if you are moving house, you may wish to go with strong cardboard boxes instead, as these will be cheaper.

The main thing to be careful of is that they are actually strong boxes and not likely to break apart on you!

3.    Keep Box Weight Manageable

It doesn’t matter how strong your boxes are if you can’t lift them properly! This is especially true for objects like books, which are very heavy if you pack a box full of them. When packing your boxes, think about how heavy the box is going to be and whether or not you can easily lift it and manhandle it around. If it gets too heavy, consider swapping out items for lighter items or, at the very last resort leaving the box with some unpacked space.

4.    Pack To A Schedule

Packing your home for moving is a really tough job; not many people look forward to it, and it can be one of those tasks it is very easy to procrastinate on. It’s for this reason that we suggest people pack on a schedule.

Set aside a time every single day to pack a few boxes. The closer you get to your moving day, the more time each day you can devote to packing, but if you have followed a simple recipe of an hour a day packing or packing five boxes a day, for example, you will find that your house is mostly packed up already and there are only a few things left for you to worry about.

5.    Get The Right Size Boxes

Just as overpacking a box is a bad idea, getting the wrong size boxes is also a bad idea. The general rule of thumb is that you want a box to be as big as possible but as light as possible too. These things are usually not compatible.

If you are packing light things into a box, for example, clothing and blankets, then the box can be a lot bigger than a box that may contain heavier things such as tins and jars of food which can be quite heavy while taking up only a small amount of space.

6.    Roll Your Clothes (Don’t Fold Them)

When packing clothing, it’s usually best to pack all of the suitcases you own, to begin with, as this is the easiest way to transport your clothes and carry them around into your new home.

When traveling on an airplane, most people don’t consider the way they pack; rather just the weight of how they pack. If you roll your clothes instead of folding them, you will generally find you have more space to add more clothes in.

Just as a word of caution, though, even rolled-up clothes packed in suitcases are still heavy and you should only pack your box or suitcase to the weight that you can carry.

7.    Go With Categories

Packing with categories is a great idea, and it will hopefully help you to save a lot of space that can be wasted when packing. While many people use a color-coded system for each room, you may wish to pack all kinds of things together, such as ornaments in one box, books in one set of boxes, or any other category that your family has.

Packing in categories will allow you to ensure you had the right size boxes for your items, and it should also help you to stop over packing your boxes.


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