Simple Tips for Packing Your Home Like a Pro

At Lansing Moving, we have over a century of experience in coordinating expert household moves, and we’ve put together the following list of tips and tricks to keep in mind when you want to streamline your packing process:

• Think Outside of the Box

  We all know that having moving boxes on-hand is one of the most important steps of the packing process, but what about other handy materials that may be a bit more unusual?
  
  Plastic wrap is ideal for wrapping up your silverware drawer to pack into a box, while Styrofoam plates put between your breakable dishes can keep your items safe during transport. Empty toilet paper rolls are also an innovative way to organize the cords to all of your electronics, and utilizing your clothing, pillowcases, and socks as extra padding/wrapping for fragile items is a great way to pack two things at once.

• Stick to a Color-Coded System

  The stress of packing doesn’t end when you arrive at your new home, especially when you find yourself surrounded by a sea of identical-looking moving boxes. Avoid tearing through a hundred boxes to find your essential items by using a color-coded system from the start
  
  Assign each area of your home a specific color, and use tape or markers to label the boxes for where they need to go. Don’t forget—labeling your boxes on the side can also make it much easier to find the specific boxes that you are looking for!

• Streamline Packing Your Closet 

  If you are like most of us, your closet is a black hole that contains everything from decade’s worth of clothing to old pictures, boxes, and decorations that are collecting dust in the back corner. Instead of stressing over the amount of work that you need to do to get your closet emptied-out and packed-up, start with the clothes!
  
  Zip-tie the hangers of your clothing together and slip the whole thing right into a plastic garbage bag. Not only will this protect your clothing from damage and moisture, but you can take them right into your new closet and hang them up when you arrive.

• Don’t Forget an Overnight Bag!

  You might end up so focused on packing all of your household belongings in boxes that you forget one important thing—you still need to be able to have your essentials easily accessible once you get to your new home. The last thing that you want to do at the end of a long day of moving is spend hours searching for basic toiletries, clothing, or medication, so avoid the stress by packing an overnight bag for each member of your family. Just make sure that this bag ends up in your personal vehicle instead of piled into the back of the moving van!