Packing up your house for moving day can be a stressful task so it’s crucial you’re well prepared. That means thinking about packing well before moving day so it’s not all left to the last minute, as well as packing your things in the right order so you’re not suddenly caught short without your essentials to hand.

In this blog, we’ll tell you how to pack like a professional so you can feel excited about moving to your new location without facing any hassle about packing your belongings and getting them there safely.

What You’ll Need for Packing

When you start thinking about packing up your house, you should make sure you have a supply of essential items to help you pack up your things. 

Essential items for packing include:

• Boxes to pack things in
• Thick tape to seal your boxes
• Permanent markers to label your boxes
• Cling film to wrap up items that need protecting and full drawers that simply need moving
• Bubble wrap to wrap up your items 

Most people will have some boxes and containers already which come in handy when packing your house and save you some money. So make the most of your suitcases, laundry basket and boxes under your bed. But you most likely won’t have enough containers for all of your belongings so have some cardboard boxes or plastic containers for the rest. 

You can usually ask in supermarkets or your local shops for spare boxes and save money buying any; just make sure you overestimate how much you have as it’s better to have a few boxes left over than realise too late that you don’t have enough. 

You can also save money on packaging materials (and be more eco-friendly) by wrapping your fragile items in clothing, bedding and towels when you pack. But you’ll probably run out of materials and it may get confusing when you start unpacking if your clothes are all mixed up with other items, so have plenty of bubble wrap on hand to help too. 

Tip #1: Give Yourself Time

The most important thing when it comes to packing up your house for moving is making sure you have enough time. Whether you’re in a small rented flat or a large detached house, you’re always going to have more things than you can instantly think of, so giving yourself time to sort through your items and pack them up is essential so you don’t spend your final week before moving day in a mad panic. 

2 months may seem excessive but it’s the ideal amount of time to pack in, as you can start with the items you don’t use and progress through your packing until you just have essentials left in your final few days. Think about everything that’s in your loft, garage, under the bed, in the garden shed… There are a lot of things that need packing that you won’t see at first glance, so make sure you start packing with plenty of time – and pack things in order of use.  

Tip #2: Sort Your Things Before You Start Packing

When you don’t leave yourself enough time to pack before moving house, it’s easy to make one of two mistakes:

• Pack everything, including things you don’t need
• Become overly harsh with your belongings and throw away things that you do need

By giving yourself plenty of time to pack, you’re also giving yourself time to sort through your things before you start packing them so you don’t end up bringing lots of random objects with you that you’ll end up throwing away when you unpack anyway. 

Moving house gives you a great opportunity to declutter your life, as most of us accumulate things that aren’t particularly useful but potentially sentimental over the years when we live in the same place. When packing your house for removal, you can assess the value of each of your things and throw away anything that has seen better days or donate things to a charity shop that no longer serves any purpose for you. 

If you’re downsizing, you can put together old belongings for a jumble sale, car boot sale or reselling on eBay and make some money to put towards your moving costs. 

Most removal companies will charge you according to the amount of space your boxes take up in their van, or by which size van you hire from their fleet of vehicles to move your things. So throwing away unwanted items before you move can also save you money on your moving costs. 

Tip #3: Choose Your Removal Company Wisely

Choosing the right removal company should be your first step when planning to move house as it can make the whole process significantly easier. You’ll want a trustworthy company so you know your belongings will be transported carefully, as well as feel comforted in the knowledge that they’ll give you an accurate quote when sizing up your objects for removal. 

To make things easier, you can also choose a removal company that provides other services such as packing, unpacking and storage. This can be a great help if you’ve got items that you don’t know how to pack properly or if you’re moving house alone and need help getting all of your things put away to save yourself time.

Some removal companies have their own storage facilities too, so if you need to relocate bit by bit or your moving date changes for some reason, it’s good to know your removal team has got you covered. 

Choosing the right removal company should be your first step when planning to move house as it can make the whole process significantly easier. You’ll want a trustworthy company so you know your belongings will be transported carefully, as well as feel comforted in the knowledge that they’ll give you an accurate quote when sizing up your objects for removal. 

To make things easier, you can also choose a removal company that provides other services such as packing, unpacking and storage. This can be a great help if you’ve got items that you don’t know how to pack properly or if you’re moving house alone and need help getting all of your things put away to save yourself time.

Some removal companies have their own storage facilities too, so if you need to relocate bit by bit or your moving date changes for some reason, it’s good to know your removal team has got you covered. 

When packing your belongings, you should always pack similar items in the same box so you know where everything is when you begin unpacking, or in the event you suddenly need something that’s already been packed. This can be made even easier by packing one room at a time, so when you unpack, your job of arranging your belongings is even easier. For example, your pans and plates aren’t going to be stored anywhere other than the kitchen, so putting them all together, as long as they’re packed securely, is best for when you’re unpacking your kitchen. 

However, be wary that you don’t want to overload any boxes which makes it harder to transport them or risks breaky the box they’re in. So if you are packing up your kitchen, you may want two or more separate boxes for all of your pots and pans so that they’re not all in one unliftable box. Most boxes are suitable to hold up to 20 kg but check the side of the box to make sure. 

It’s also perfectly normal to have some random objects left over that didn’t fit in a box or don’t necessarily fit a category, which you can put in a box of random things together. Just make sure you don’t have many of these, as one box of leftovers is fine, having 25 boxes of random items is going to make unpacking a difficult task. 

Label Everything

While you’re packing everything together, it’s also worth mentioning that you should label each of your boxes clearly. As a bare minimum, you should write KITCHEN or BATHROOM on the outside of the box when you’ve packed it up so you know which room it’ll need to go into to be unpacked. This is also especially helpful for your removal people to help put your boxes in the right places without you needing to waste time micromanaging. 

If you’ve packed everything well you should be able to label things even clearer, so while you may not need to write each individual item of contents on the outside of the box, you can write KITCHEN: SPICES or KITCHEN: CROCKERY on the outside so you have an even better idea of what’s where. This helps when unpacking as well as finding something you may need urgently. 

Tip #5: Pack a Case Like You’re Going on Holiday

While you should start preparing your boxes as early as possible, you don’t want to pack everything up and realise you’ve still got two weeks before you move and no pots or pans, toiletries or bedding. So try to pack everything in a sensible order so you aren’t left without your essentials. 

In your last week or two, however, you can also benefit from packing a small suitcase with essential items as if you were going on holiday. You don’t need sunscreen or a swimming costume, but enough clothes to last you until just past your moving day (in case any plans change last minute) as well as anything you need day to day, such as:

• Toiletries
• Wallet
• Chargers
• Medicine
• Children’s toys

You can even add some small comforts in there such as a bar of chocolate so if you get overwhelmed by the moving process, you’ve got something on hand to relax you. 

Is There Anything You Can’t Pack?

There are some items that removal companies won’t move for you as they may be dangerous when transported, so make sure you check what your removal company won’t take before you pack up your boxes. 

Some things that you shouldn’t pack in boxes when moving house include:

• Lighter fluid 
• Matches 
• Aerosols 
• Plants
• Perishable foods 

Try to use up all of your fresh food before moving day so you won’t have to throw anything away, or give decent leftovers to your neighbours to avoid waste because most removal companies won’t take them for you. 

Wild and Lye Removals – Trustworthy Removals and Storage

Based in the Bath and Bristol area, Wild and Lye Removals are on hand to help you move house anywhere around the country stress-free. Have a look at our FAQs for more information about our services, or simply contact us today to arrange a quote for your relocation.