Four things (or maybe five) to help with your move
- Written by Telegraph Magazine
Planning a move can be a drain even when you are organised. There are always a million things to think about in the lead up and then you need to pack! Here are a few ideas to help your day run smoothly:
How you pack your belongings will be central to how successful and efficient your move is. The more you purge, the less you need to pack into boxes. How much stuff you need to move determines the cost of the space you require in a moving truck so if you are cost conscious, it pays to pack intelligently. It follows then too, that the you will find unpacking a lot less challenging.
At the height of a hot and humid summer, you’ll be happy to know Brisbane Removalists will do the heavy lifting. Likewise, if you are moving in a place with a similar climate to Melbourne (if there is one), you might need to be prepared for any manner of conditions come moving day, so choose your packaging accordingly.
Muval has asked our removalist partners what they thought the best tips for packing up for a smooth move were and this is what they told us:
TIP ONE: FIRST, ASSEMBLE YOUR MOVING DAY SURVIVAL PACK
Don’t pack everything! You will need some survival rations for when you get to your destination. It’s like a wild new frontier for you so you will need to be prepared to rough it a little while until you get the stuff delivered and settle in to unpacking your bed. If you are moving in Sydney with a dense 24-7 urban culture for example, you may be okay to just wing it, but otherwise, you’ll need to wait for a while to access goods and services depending on when and how you arrive in the new destination.
At the bare minimum, your survival pack check list should include items such as:
A change of clothes (or maybe two depending on how dirty you get and how long you need to wait for your delivery).
Toiletries: soap, toilet paper, toothpaste and toothbrush, towels etc.
Snacks and basic kitchen utensils and condiments.
First aid kit, just in case you have an incident with a box cutter or some such.
Make sure it doesn’t get loaded onto the truck with everything else, maybe chuck it in the car or put well away from the boxes for the removalists (it can’t hurt to label it as a “do not touch!”)
TIP TWO: BIG HEAVY STUFF
Don’t be a hero if you don’t have to. If you have a reliable removalist company, they will likely be there to help you with the big stuff but make sure you check with them upon booking your Muval. These companies are experts in the best way to transport heavy items anywhere, so it makes sense to leave it to them. In most cases they will also help you disassemble furniture.
Some of your boxes are going to end up pretty heavy too (for example kitchen items can add up in weight fast) so make sure you have some sturdy boxes for this purpose. Dedicated moving boxes can be purchased with a weight rating and can sometimes be bought from your removalist company or from storage vendors such as Storage King or Kennards Storage.
These businesses are also a great source of professional advice and can inform you of what can and cannot be put in these moving boxes, but critically how much the contents should weigh in total. It is important for your removal contractors to know which ones are the heavy ones, so make sure you label them as HEAVY so they can be prepared.
TIP THREE: USING THE RIGHT PACKING MATERIALS
As with packing your heavy stuff, it’s really important to plan to have the appropriate items for packing all the many and varied items you own so they are transferred easily, safely and in one piece. Don’t leave this one until the last minute and make sure you have a good supply of everything you need, you do not want to be making last minute trips to Bunnings on the big day for more boxes and tape.
Here are a couple of tips to save drama later:
Packing bottles of liquids: tape on lids with packing tape and place bottles in plastic bags or line boxes with plastic (e.g. garbage bags). If there is a leak or break the liquid will hopefully be contained by the plastic and prevent spoiling other goods. Wrap glass bottles in newspaper/butcher’s paper to prevent clanking and breakage.
The packing paper you choose to use: using newspaper is economic and environmental and it is definitely worth considering for certain items but beware that the print can rub onto, and not come off, certain surfaces such as rubber, plastic etc. If you have precious items to pack in paper where this could be a concern grab some blank Butcher’s Paper (it’s the paper they wrap your fish and chips in) which is essentially newspaper without the printing. You can get this in large sheets from places such as Officeworks, or buy it in rolls from IKEA.
Pack items like they are Russian Dolls: placing smaller items inside larger items will help save packing space, time and paper.
TIP FOUR: LABEL YOUR BOXES CLEARLY
Muval have published many other blog articles about this particular practice, because it is simply just such a good idea and makes everything infinitely easier for everyone involved.
You will need:
Permanent markers, many of them!
Packing tape – if you use masking tape or a light-coloured cello-tape, you can use it as a label and just write straight onto it the contents of the box, or at the very least, which room it should go in.
Consider colour coding boxes by rooms too, you can used coloured paper so that the labels are big and easy to identify from a distance.
This methodology is time tested, makes life easier when you are packing and unpacking, and can help the removalists assist you to put the boxes straight into the rooms they should go into.
Then you won’t be left with a mountain of boxes to excavate your treasures from when you are already tired and hungry.
BONUS TIP: SMALL BOXES ARE BEST FOR MOST THINGS
For some this isn’t immediately intuitive, but there are great benefits to using smaller sized boxes for packing most of your things. It may seem that the bigger the boxes the less work there is to do, but in reality, overpacking boxes makes them awkward to move.
There will be instances where you may require a bigger box, for example a large odd shaped appliance may require a larger packing arrangement, but instances such as these try not to add other things so that it stay’s light to lift, you shouldn’t need a trolley to move any of your boxes.
Using smaller boxes makes them manageable and you can sort your items a lot more specifically as you pack. It will also aid the removalists when packing up the truck and making room for everything.
