How to create your own packing system for moving

While you’re getting ready to move out, one of the most important things you should bear in mind is that packing for a move is the toughest task you’ll have to undertake to bring the relocation to a successful conclusion.

There are a few obvious reasons why packing a home to move is the most challenging job you’ll need to take care of during a house move:

• Packing takes forever – it usually starts on the very first day of pre-move preparations and lasts until Moving day itself;
• Packing is laborious – packing a home for moving involves a great number of sub-tasks such as inventorying, sorting, and purging your possessions, securing packing materials, protecting all fragile items, and transferring your things into suitable boxes;
• Packing is tricky – improper packing can lead to serious property damage or, in some more extreme cases, even to personal injuries. This is especially true for fragile items that can easily break during the move if not packed correctly.

And yet, a somewhat surprising challenge you could face when packing your house for moving is that you may need your own packing system – one that makes sense in your particular case. This way, you won’t need to follow general packing advice that can sometimes be way off the mark.

Read on to learn how to create your own packing system for moving – a packing strategy that will reflect your specific house moving circumstances.

Step 1. Calculate how many days you have until Moving day

In order to set up a packing system that will work great for you, the very first thing you should do is figure out exactly how many days you have at your disposal before the critical move-out date.

• 4 weeks and more. If you’ve got at least 4 weeks before Moving day, then you should be able to pack all your things by yourself without having to worry whether you’ll be done packing by the move-out day. As long as you manage to organize your time well, one month should be enough to pack up your things for moving.
• 2 weeks. You can still pack up your stuff for moving in 2 weeks but you’ll have to be really well-organized from Day 1 and not waste any days wondering what to pack next.
• 1 week. 7 days are usually not enough to pack your things by yourself but you can still make it happen with a little help from your friends.
• A few days. If you have just several days to pack up your home, then you should contact professional packers to help you out.

Important info: Should you hire professional packers?

Step 2. Customize a general Packing Timeline

Arguably, the best packing advice you can take is to use a detailed yet general Packing Timeline that advises people what to pack now and what they should pack next, and then customize that packing calendar to suit your own needs.

How do you do it?

• REMOVE any Packing Timeline entries that are not applicable in your case. For example, you won’t need to pack any children’s toys when you’re still single.
• ADD items to your packing checklist to personalize it. For example, add an entry about packing your dog’s items when you’re moving with Fido.
• MODIFY some entries in the packing calendar to make them work for you, not against you.

Use our super-detailed Packing Timeline as the base for your personalized packing checklist that will let you create the best packing system for moving for you.

Must-use: Packing Timeline for Moving

Step 3. Start working on your packing tasks without delay

One of the most serious mistakes when packing for a move is to keep postponing the beginning of the packing marathon for one reason or another. Remember that the self-assuring phrase I’ll start tomorrow is not good enough.

As mentioned above, packing is the most time-consuming task during a house move, so you should do all in your power to initiate the packing process as soon as you can.

Even when you’re armed with the best packing system for moving, you’re still likely to run into trouble later on unless you realize that you can’t afford to have any idle days until packing is all done.

See also: How to pack for a move quickly

Step 4. Purge your home of any unwanted items

Not surprisingly, the most efficient way to pack for a move is to move as few items as possible. The trick here is to purge your home of all unwanted things prior to the start of the packing task. Why?

Moving only the things you do like and do intend to use in the future will enable you to

• save money on transportation costs,
• save money on packing materials,
• save time during the packing process,
• save packing effort, and
• save storage space in the new home.

Ultimately, the best way to start packing to move house is to have only the household items that are worth the time, effort, and money to be moved to the new house. This way, your packing system for moving will prove to be as efficient as it can be.

Good to know: How to declutter your home when moving

Step 5. Have the packing supplies ready

Your goal should be to create an efficient packing system for moving that will help you manage your time from Day 1 all the way until the move-out day.

When packing a house for moving, time is crucial and any instances of prolonged downtime will decrease your chances of having a problem-free packing experience. And this is exactly why you should avoid any unwanted interruptions of the packing process due to a lack of sufficient packing materials.

Prepare the necessary packing supplies in advance to maintain the flow of the packing task and increase its overall efficiency. In addition to securing enough packing paper and bubble wrap, pay special attention to the KING of packing materials – the cardboard box.

According to statistical data, the average number of moving boxes needed for a move is roughly 60 (SIXTY). That’s a lot of containers to prepare… but the good news is that you should be able to get your hands on FREE MOVING BOXES without too much effort.

See also: How many boxes do you need for a move?

Step 6. Use the room-by-room packing strategy

Packing up random items from random rooms is not the recommended way to pack up your house. Sure, this packing tactic might work well for select household items such as books – going from room to room and packing up all books found in there. However, you should use the room-by-room packing system to really boost your efficiency when packing for a move.

Also, packing room by room will give you much more control over the entire house packing process. As you’ll learn below, which rooms you pack first matters more than you think, so being smart about the order of packing will give you a great time advantage.

When you’re packing up your bedroom, you’ll need to prepare larger boxes, including specialized wardrobe boxes, simply because you’ll be packing predominantly lightweight yet voluminous items such as clothes and bedding. However, once you move the packing action into the kitchen, you’ll need plenty of smaller and sturdier boxes since most kitchen items are heavier and more fragile.

Read also: How to pack fragile items for moving

Step 7. Start from the toughest rooms to pack

One excellent packing strategy you can use to your advantage is to follow the correct order of packing for a move.

Where to start packing when moving?

You should always start from the rooms in the house that are the most difficult ones to sort and pack – the storage areas. The reason for this is that you are expected to still have plenty of energy and motivation in the beginning to tackle areas such as the garage, basement, attic, spare rooms, and closets. Oftentimes, the sheer amount of items stored in those premises will keep you pretty busy for days on end.

And as your stamina and enthusiasm start to wane, you’ll be moving, slowly but steadily, into the rooms that are much more straightforward to pack – the bedroom and living room.

Also, remember to pack up the small items first, so that you can have better access to the larger household items such as the furniture pieces.

Read also: How to start packing to move out

Step 8. Break up the entire packing process into mini-jobs

Follow the steps above to create your own packing system for moving.

Luckily, there’s one more step that will help you make the packing job seem even easier than it really is. It’s more like a trick for your mind because you’ll still do the same amount of work but the entire process will feel less taxing. How do you do it?

The idea is easy enough – break the whole house packing process into mini-jobs. For example, packing the entire kitchen is definitely one of the toughest tasks you’ll have to tackle due to the overwhelming number of kitchen items found in that particular room.

However, you can divide the enormous kitchen packing effort into several much more manageable sub-tasks such as 1) pack glasses, 2) pack dishes, 3) pack silverware, 4) pack all pots and pans, 5) pack food items, and 6) pack miscellaneous kitchen items.

This way, once you’ve finished a mini-task, you’ll get the due satisfaction that you’re making serious progress with your house packing project. As an added incentive, you can always promise yourself some kind of a reward after completing each mini packing job.

The Best Packing Tips EVER