Moving out for the first time can be an exciting time for you. Soon enough, you’ll move into a place of your own and begin a brand-new chapter in life where you’ll be responsible for making those important decisions. It’s what you’ve wanted for some time now, isn’t it?
Moving out for the very first time can be rather challenging simply because you’ve never done it before and you lack that particular type of experience. And as you’ll soon find out for yourself, experience does play an important role during a house move.
The mere fact that you don’t have any house moving experience shouldn’t discourage you from trying to organize a good, problem-free move. The thing you should know is that as long as you know how to pack for a first move, you’ll increase greatly your chances of having a successful first move out of your parents’ house.
Here are the top 5 basic principles of packing for a first move – follow these packing tips closely and you should have your things packed up safely in no time.
Start packing without any delay
One of the most common mistakes that first-time movers make is to assume that they will have enough time to pack up their things before the day of the move.
And while that may be actually true in some house moving cases, the main problem with the above assumption is that most people who are moving for the first time in their lives have no clear idea about just how time-consuming packing can be in reality. In other words, lack of experience often leads to judgment errors.
Be smart and start packing up your things, little by little, as soon as you’ve made up your mind to move out. You shouldn’t underestimate the time required to finish the packing time successfully: as a rule of thumb, you should double the time you think you’ll need to complete a packing task. For example, if you plan to pack up your books in 2 hours, then plan for 4 hours just to be safe.
Once you begin packing, it’s much better to pack a few boxes a day than to postpone the packing job until the last moment and find yourself face-to-face against an almost impossible task – to pack everything you’re taking with you in just a few short days. Practice shows that energy-draining packing marathons don’t usually end well for the packer in question – in that case, you.
Read also: How far in advance should you plan a move?
Devise a packing plan that works for you
One of the major problems when packing for a first-time move is that you won’t really know where to begin. You know that you have to start packing your things because Moving day is approaching faster than you want, but you just stand there, unsure how to approach the tricky task of packing for a move.
The mere fact that you haven’t packed for moving before that moment will work against you… but you shouldn’t worry too much about it either because you’ll now know the best way to compensate for your inexperience, and that way is all about devising a packing plan.
It’s simple, really – you must use a good packing checklist to guarantee success. But the real trick is to get a detailed packing timeline and modify it so that it works best for you. Personalize the packing checklist to meet your own needs – for example, skip any tasks related to preparing pets for moving when you don’t own a pet in the first place.
A packing timeline is a must-have tool when moving out for the first time simply because it will help you use your time efficiently by guiding you through the packing process. Also, a packing calendar will enable you to measure up your packing progress and keep you motivated and determined to finish packing on time.
Must-use: Packing Timeline for Moving
Pack only your most useful belongings
Packing for a first move can be rather confusing in terms of what to take and what to leave behind. Not surprisingly, you may find it really tempting to pack up and move to the new place everything you own at the moment. And, under normal house moving circumstances, you’d be better off resisting that temptation.
Packing up everything is a frequent mistake made by first-time movers but you should know better than that. If you’re still not convinced, here are the major reasons why you should pack and move only the items that you do plan to use in the near future.
- Packing and moving more items than you need will increase the moving costs. Why? Because the heavier the overall weight of the shipment is, the more it’ll cost to transport it to the new place.
- Packing and moving more items than necessary will increase the packing costs. Why? Because you’ll need more packing materials to pack those useless things.
- Packing and moving any unnecessary items will require more time to pack them up for transport – valuable time than you can’t simply afford to waste.
- Packing and moving meaningless items will make it more difficult for you after the move? Why? Because you’ll need to find enough storage space for all those things you just moved for the sake of moving.
Be a smart first-time mover and don’t pack anything that will force you to lose money, time, and new-home storage space.
Useful advice: How to declutter your home before moving
Get free packing supplies to cut costs
Unfortunately, moving out for the first time often means that the moving budget will be tight. In your case, that should mean that you’ll need to look for good ways to save money on your upcoming move.
The good news is that there are various cost-saving techniques when moving house: hiring a low-cost moving company, booking your move early, moving during the off-season, moving only what you really need, preventing property damage, and so on.
However, when it comes down to packing, the two major money-savers are:
- using free packing materials whenever possible, and
- not paying for professional packing services (see below).
Moving out of your parents’ home is a good time to be frugal, so be sure to use free packing supplies whenever you can – one of the most efficient methods of lowering the packing costs.
Getting your hands on free packing paper and free bubble wrap will help, but nothing compares to securing free moving boxes simply because those cardboard containers will be, without a doubt, your biggest packing expense.
Here are the best places to find free packing materials:
- Friends, co-workers, or neighbors who have recently moved house and have an excess of cardboard boxes and packing supplies;
- Websites (Freecycle, Craigslist, etc.) that offer free stuff in your area, including packing materials;
- Local businesses that are left with too many cardboard boxes to recycle at the end of the day: big supermarkets, home electronics stores, bookstores, copy centers, etc.
- Recycling centers near you.
See also: Alternative Packing Materials
Pack your things with safety in mind
Of course, the fact that you’ve never had to pack for a move until that moment means that you won’t really know what it takes to protect your belongings for the road. Therefore, if you do happen to have many specialty items or items that are especially susceptible to damage (super-fragile items), then it’s best to hire professional packers with years of experience in the field.
However, you should not have too much trouble protecting the most common household items as long as you follow these safety rules:
- DON’T SKIMP on protective materials such as packing paper and bubble wrap when packing breakable items;
- ALWAYS DOUBLE-TAPE the bottom of a cardboard box before filling it up to ensure it won’t break under the weight on Moving day.
- NEVER PACK books in a moving box with their spines facing you for fear of damaging your volumes due to the extra pressure.
- USE large moving boxes for lightweight items (clothes, for example) and small to medium moving boxes for heavy items (books, for instance).
- ALWAYS FILL IN the empty space inside boxes to immobilize the contents and make sure nothing moves inside during the haul. You can use paper (newspaper is fine too), sheets of bubble wrap, or pieces of clothing as fillers.
Must-read: The best packing tips for moving house
Bonus advice: Ask your parents and friends to give you a hand
When packing for your first move, it’s quite possible that you get overwhelmed by the arduous task. In reality, packing for a move is not meant to be done by one person, so you should do the sensible thing and ask your parents or your good friends to help you pack up your stuff.
Unless you’re moving out of your parents’ home due to a (serious) fight with your folks, then your parents should not mind giving you a hand with the packing task. Also, your close friends should not let you handle that tough task alone, so organizing a packing party is never a bad idea, is it?
Packing for a first move can be an intimidating experience. Should you find yourself stuck, with no helpers willing to assist you, then you’d better bet on professional packers and movers to guarantee a successful end to your relocation story.
