Planning is key; reduce expense, stress and allow for good use of time.

Working on paper:

• Make an inventory list on a room-by-room basis.
• Go through your current space with a digital camera, or a notebook and paper to make a record of your things.
• You could make a list with two columns; one column for your current space, one for the future space. This helps you get an idea of what you have and where it will go. It will also help prioritise the ‘essentials’ from the discretionary items for the changeover period.
• Develop a second list from this initial assessment.

Using ‘Master Bedroom’ as an example, consider the following:

What needs to be packed together?
e.g: Clothing, Ornaments, Jewellery, Cosmetics, Lighting, Artwork, Electronic equipment

What needs to be cleaned or laundered before the move (depending on transit time?
e.g: Window treatments, Duvets/ Pillows/Cushions

What needs to be donated or recycled?
Moving is the perfect time to downsize! Being forced to manage your possessions with money and time encourages de-cluttering.

What needs to be measured?
e.g: Bed, Wardrobes, Shelving, Other furniture. To fit through doorways and to plan its location in your new space.

• Use a calendar to plan the process on a room – by – room basis.
• Time management: The average home can take up to 1 month to pack if you are doing it yourself.
• Allow as much time planning as possible so that packing period is manageable in evenings after work and in weekends. In an office situation allocate particular team members to project manage the move so that business can continue as usual.
• Downsize: This translates to ‘downsizing’ temporarily too. Reflecting essentials and discretionary items.
• Review the schedule regularly to make sure you’re on target.
• Share the packing work and enlist help! Consider the other work that needs to happen at the same time as the packing and delegate accordingly.

Pack a suitcase as if you’re all going short holiday. These are items you will need for the first few days. This means that you don’t have to start rummaging through boxes!

e.g: some changes of clothing, toiletries, phone chargers, children’s storybooks, anything that will be needed in the first few days in the new space.

Create “Open Me First” boxes Pick one or two boxes per room as “Open Me First” boxes. Put in them the things you’ll need first at your new location. Then mark the sides of the boxes so you’ll know which ones are which.

Room-by-Room: Work on a room by room basis to keep things organised.

Ergonomics:

• Keep boxes at a manageable weight.
• Keep a bathroom scale handy to keep box weights within agreed limits.
• Pack boxes on a tabletop to reduce strain.
• Stack boxes heaviest and largest on bottom, lighter as you go up!

Labeling and organisation is key for efficient packing, keeping track of your items and ensuring safe passage of fragile goods.

Pack soft items around fragile items. Using space efficiently. There is a case to mix up items from the linen cupboard with items from the display cabinet!

Smaller items: When taking apart items to be moved, such as tables, securely tape screws and other small parts securely to the underside of the item. You’ll always know where to look and save time putting things back together.

Packing Electronics: Extra care is recommended in packing electronics. We recommend using original packaging where available. Include manuals if you have them filed. If necessary record wiring details with digital camera. This is where it is worth investing in specialist packing materials.

Taping: Using packing tape, tape boxes along the seams where the flaps meet together. Then tape perpendicularly at the center of the first tape, forming a cross.

Box Inventory and Labeling

• Identify boxes with a clear, thick marker. On both sides.
• Make sure your box labels are clear.
• Have ‘open me first’ boxes for the essentials.
• Mark Fragile where appropriate.

If you can be organised about packing, unpacking will be straightforward. Some clients require that we manage most aspects of the packing and moving process and others just want us to ‘load the boxes, drive and unload’. We adapt our service to individual clients. Feel free to discuss any of the above with us in more detail.