MOVING? General Packing Tips & Tricks from a Pro

GENERAL TIPS

• Use clear packing tape to close up your boxes – Clear tape is the most durable long term option. Paper tape is super sticky, but is affected by moisture and age which will cause it to fall off if it sits in storage or in a humid environment. Brown poly tape is for taping blankets to furniture, because it can be broken by hand. So use the clear poly 2″ tape and your boxes wont be falling apart on you while you try to move them.
• Clearly label all sides of the box – This is a serious time saver especially if you hire or have people helping you move. People often label just the top of the box and then when you stack them all on a dolly you can’t tell what goes where. By labelling boxes on all 4 sides and the top of the box it makes it easy to know where each box is going. We use short labels so labelling the boxes is quicker. For example: LR = Livingroom, KIT = Kitchen, OFF = Office, MBR = Master Bedroom, BDR = Bedroom, GR = Garage, and a circled F means Fragile to name a few.
• Label the contents of the box on its top – Over labeling boxes is easy to do at first and might be necessary in some circumstances, but it will lead to packing burnout. Try using general labels describing the contents of the box. Don’t get too detailed on every box or you will burn out early. I like to label contents like: silverware + misc because the silverware is the important thing in the box I may need to access and the other stuff isn’t, need right away stuff.
• Cross out old labels – As a mover this happens a ton especially when someone is reusing boxes. Avoid confusion and boxes getting placed in the wrong rooms by scribbling out old labels. Ideally if you move a lot you can pre-sort the used boxes with room labels by their room and then you just need to cross out the contents on top.
• Don’t overload old moving boxes – Heavy boxes are generally placed on the bottom of a stack, but if they are heavy and old, they are likely to collapse under a load. This can cause damage to not just the old overloaded box, but also could cause a load to collapse causing the entire shipment to be lost.
• Use moving boxes a max of 2 times – Over 2 times of use, the labels start getting confusing and they start to rip or collapse. You might think you are saving a few hundred dollars, but if your stuff gets damaged as a result then those savings are quickly lost.
• Label boxes correctly – Label boxes if possible by the rooms they go into at your new house and not by the rooms they came out of. Nothing is more time consuming then having to open a box labelled office from the last house that goes into your bedroom at the new house so you have to open each box labelled office to find out.
• Label fragile boxes – Label with fragile on each side of the box. If the box is bulging due to fragile items in the box, then label it with TOP on all 4 sides so it is placed on top of a load. Bulging boxes have lost their vertical stacking integrity. Also if a box is not labelled clearly with “Fragile” then it might get placed in a truck in a place that could cause damage to that item.
• Extremely Fragile – Sometimes if we are moving china, wine glasses, or a very expensive fragile item then mark it will extremely fragile. This will allow whoever is loading your truck to go the extra mile with those items.
• Label liquid boxes – Liquid boxes must have an arrow on every side pointing up and be marked on each side with LIQ for liquids. It is also smart to line the box with a trash bag in case of leaking. I have seen bleach spill in a box once and bleached the hardwood floors where the box was sitting. Arrows help it always stay upright.
• Stick tape correctly – Tape needs to be pressed down firmly, the tape should wrap around the edges of the box by 4+ inches, and use more strips for heavier boxes. For some heavy boxes I will do two strips across the seam on the bottom and then one perpendicular to that to strengthen it.
• Create a bumper in the bottom of fragile boxes – Use bubble wrap in the bottom or crumpled up packing paper to create a cushion bumper in the bottom of the box. This creates a cushion to absorb the bouncing of the truck.
• Double Up – Use Foam peanuts with bubble wrap for ultra fragile items
• Fragile item boxes – They should be preferably packed in small boxes and/or double corrugated boxes. Both of those types of boxes have more structural integrity. Using smaller boxes allows more flexibility to find a safe spot for the box in a moving truck.
• Consolidate Fragile & Liquid Items – These types of boxes need to be loaded in the moving trucks strategically. If too many boxes have these labels then we run out of strategic places to put them and then it is the same as none of them having those labels. So try to consolidate your boxes so there are less fragile and liquid boxes to load safely in a truck. Note: Liquid boxes need to be strategically placed so that if they do leak, then they aren’t loaded on top of a tv or a couch where the damages get expensive quick.
• Load all boxes tight – If items can move in the box then items can break in the box. Try to fill all empty space in boxes so that nothing moves in the box and therefore nothing gets damaged.
• Pack your emergency box – This is a box contains emergency items like medicine, checkbook, spare keys, wet wipes, and etc. Then clearly label it

• so that those helping you move don’t have to unload half a truck looking for the box you needed loaded last or accessible.
• Lamps need the shades and bulbs removed and packed into boxes – Lamp Shades break soooo easily and should be packed in boxes as often as possible. The bulbs can easily be wrapped and placed in the same boxes.
• Floor lamps base secured – Floor lamps with cement weights in the bottom, need to be taped or stretch wrapped in place so they don’t fall out and break. This happens way more often than you would think and it about renders the lamp unusable after that happens.
• Label items not to be moved – Use masking tape to mark furniture, boxes, and appliances that don’t go. This tape comes off easily and won’t leave a residue or take the varnish off. Don’t trust that someone unfamiliar with your belongings will remember a long list of everything that stays in the house. In some situations it might be advantageous to mark the items that go instead of don’t go.

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