Planning a big move can be a stressful time for everyone involved, especially when it comes to packing and storage. But with the right planning, a lot of the stresses are easily avoided. From categorizing your boxes to finding storage space, there are a few simple tips that will help make your big move a big success.
A big problem people encounter when packing for a move is forgetting where everything is in their boxes, and where everything should go once they move their boxes into the new place. This results in a long and stressful unpacking process, with a high probability of misplacing items in the chaos.
One way to avoid this problem is to number each box and make a comprehensive list of every item and its corresponding box number. Do it in a spreadsheet and you’ll be able to quickly search through the items, find the corresponding box number and that’s you. For people who are very organized and enjoy the process of making lists, this can be a great solution. For others, it can be an exhausting or frustrating process. Or you may just not have the extra time needed to make a list of every box’s contents.
If you fall into the latter category, a simpler approach may be better suited for you. For example, try using colored scotch tape and simple labeling to organize boxes by room. Assign each room in the new property a color. Let’s say you choose pink for your bathroom. Pack all the items you want to go into your bathroom in boxes with a strip of pink scotch tape on the side and the label “bathroom” written on it.
Then, at the new place, apply the same pink label on the bathroom door. Now movers, or your friends and family, will be sure to put all the bathroom boxes in the bathroom. This makes unpacking much easier and efficient as everything is already in the right room.
Another problem arises while unpacking after moving into a smaller place and finding out that you have too many things to bring with you. If you discover you have more stuff and less room than you anticipated, then you can rent storage space for a temporary place to put your things until you can decide what to keep. This may be an additional expense, but you’ll still save a lot of money compared to the cost of renting extra space. You should have no problem finding cheap storage San Diego, San Francisco, New York City, Houston, Atlanta, Boston, and other heavily populated areas.
Finally, anticipating small things that could go wrong will make the moving process much easier. For example, what if your toiletries leak after being packed? This could ruin several other items in your boxes. But you can avoid this by covering the tops of your toiletry containers with saran wrap before screwing the lids back on and packing them away.
