Hi lovelies,

Moving to a new home is exciting, but it’s also stressful and expensive, especially if you don’t know where to get started. There’s so much to do, including contacting your utility companies, cleaning your house from top to bottom, hiring a removals company, and packing all your things. How should you pack your home ready for the big move without getting stressed out? 

Buy Packing Supplies
You’ll need a variety of boxes to safely pack all your things. The boxes must be sturdy enough to survive the move intact. Plastic boxes are a good idea to keep fragile or valuable items safe. You can buy cardboard boxes online, or gather some up for free from local grocery stores. You’ll need a mix of:

• Small boxes

• Medium boxes

• Large boxes

• Heavy-duty boxes

• Wardrobe boxes (make your own with a tall box and a metal rail)

• Mirror boxes/telescopic cardboard boxes for things like mirrors and artwork

As well as your boxes, you’ll need:

• Packing tape

• Bubble wrap

• Styrofoam

• Old newspapers

• Stretch wrap

• Markers

• Plastic bags

• Labels

If you can’t bear the thought of packing, you can hire a packing company to do it all for you.  

Start Well In Advance
How long it will take you to pack everything up will depend on how many items you own. Start the packing process earlier than you think you need to, so it’s less stressful. You can pack a box a day, instead of pulling an all-nighter the night before to get it done.

Start With Rooms And Items You Use Less Often
If you have a loft, this is a good room to start in, then you can work your way through the rooms to the ground floor. Seasonal things that you don’t need now, like garden tools, coats, or Christmas decorations are the best things to pack things. Sorting through things like this that are already in boxes will make it easier to set aside the things that you want to keep and the ones that you would like to donate or sell.

Declutter And Donate
If you have things that you don’t want anymore, hold a garage sale to sell it all or give the things you don’t need to charity. You could also sell things on eBay or Facebook Marketplace to earn some money to help with the cost of moving. The less stuff you have, the fewer things you will have to pack, which can save you money when the time comes to book a moving company like North American Van Lines. 

Make An Inventory List
An inventory list will be helpful if you have a lot of things to pack. For example, you could just write ‘books’ on your moving boxes, but if you have a large collection that is usually spread around the house in organised shelves, this won’t help you much. A detailed inventory can be made on a spreadsheet which you can access on your phone, with print outs stuck to each box.