When you’re getting ready to move out, it’s important to keep in mind that some of your items will require special packing to survive the upcoming move, especially when it’s a long-distance one. In other words, you’ll be better off leaving the things that are really fragile, really heavy, and really big to be packed by professional movers. /What items NOT to pack yourself for moving/
On the other hand, you’ll also want to keep your packing expenses to a minimum, which also means that you’ll need to pack some of your belongings by yourself. In reality, packing whatever you can on your own is one of the most effective tactics for cutting the moving costs and expenses simply because professional packing services will only add to the overall cost of your move.
And luckily, there are a number of household items that you can pack by yourself without any fear or worries that you’ll find them damaged after the move. Why? Most of the items you should pack yourself are non-breakable so you’ll be pretty much safe packing them up without hiring professional movers to do it for you.
Here are the top 10 items you should pack yourself in order to minimize your packing and moving expenses.
1. Jewelry
Most of the jewelry pieces you own will be both expensive and fragile. On top of that, some of those ornaments will also be very valuable or even priceless – in the case of family heirlooms passed down from generations. Therefore, your jewelry has no business in the hands of complete strangers.
To stay out of trouble, ALWAYS opt for packing your jewelry by yourself. And even though your necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and rings are most likely to be super-delicate and fragile, you can protect them perfectly well by using proven packing techniques for protecting and safeguarding jewelry during a house move.
How to pack jewelry for moving
2. Important documents
Important documents are a classic example of what to keep with you when moving, so you’d better pack your documents by yourself and take them with you to the new place. Again, it won’t make any sense to readily let professionals go through and pack up any things of vital importance you have in the home.
Ultimately, packing your important documents by yourself will give a peace of mind that you’re the only one who has access to personal ID documents, property-related documents, financial documents, medical records, move-related documents (of course!), and so on.
Organize your documents for moving and pack them safely in a binder or a small-size box. Whatever you do, you must keep those essential papers close by at all times and move them yourself to the new home.
How to organize documents when moving
3. Small electronic devices
When it comes to things you should pack by yourself without any professional assistance, the small electronic devices you own also fall in that category. Yes, it’s the portable electronic devices that are designed to be moved from one place to another easily – smartphones, tablets, laptops, portable game consoles, and so on. Those gadgets you should definitely pack safely and keep with you throughout the house move.
Thus said, it’s usually more sensible to leave large electronics to be packed by professionals – big flat-screen TVs, desktop computers, stereos, and so on. When moving long distance, you’re not likely to have space for those bulky items in your own car anyway.
However, before you let pro packers pack and move your large electronic items, get adequate moving insurance for peace of mind.
How to pack electronics for moving
4. Books
Of all the items in your home, books are probably the easiest things to pack up for a move. Seriously, you really don’t need to pay professionals to transfer your books from your bookcases into small to medium-sized cardboard boxes.
The reason? You can surely do that on your own. And even if you accidentally dropped a book on the floor, you’d only need to just pick it up and place it in the moving box.
Thus said, there are only a couple major rules you’ll need to follow when packing books for moving: 1) make sure you pack and move only the books that you do value or plan to re-read in the future (books are HEAVY!), and 2) never pack books with their spines facing you to avoid damaging them.
DO’S and DON’TS when packing books for moving
5. Clothes
In most cases, you wouldn’t want strangers to be going through your clothes – your pieces of clothing are personal items and you’d be feeling awkward when something else is touching them. And since clothes are not breakable and cannot be damaged during a move – except for some unsightly wrinkles – you should very well pack your own clothes without having to pay professional packers for it for you. Provided that you have enough time to do so, that is.
Expensive designer clothes are best packed inside wardrobe boxes – those special boxes will provide an excellent level of protection against dust, dirt, moisture – and of course, wrinkles. Wardrobe boxes are not cheap ($13 for a big one) but the good news is that you can make your own wardrobe boxes for much less.
How to pack clothes for moving
6. Shoes
When preparing to move out, one of your major concerns should be how to pay less money in the end, and one good way to do just that is to cut the packing and moving expenses. So, if you’ve decided to hire professional packers, you should ask them to help you pack only the things that require special packing techniques to survive the move.
Shoes are other items that you can easily pack on your own. Go through your pairs and get rid of the footwear pieces that are too worn out, out of fashion, or don’t fit you anymore. Clean the shoes that are OK to take, wrap them up in clean wrapping paper and transfer them into cardboard boxes of the right size.
7. Bedding
It won’t make much sense to hire professional packers to pack all the blankets, towels, pillows, sheets, and comforters found in your home. Why? Packing up those soft goods for moving is probably the easiest packing task you’ll come across when packing for a move.
The good news is that bedding items are lightweight and they cannot break. The bad news is that they take plenty of space when packed up so you’ll need to take that into account. But should space become a serious issue, you can always resort to using vacuum storage bags that can shrink up the volume of the things inside them by up to 75%.
Another important thing to keep in mind when packing bedding for moving is that bed linen, blankets and all the soft goods in your home should be packed last as you can use some of them as excellent padding and filling materials as well.
How to pack bedding for moving
8. Children’s toys
Packing children’s toys should be a DIY packing task that you’re supposed to do together with your kids – provided that they’re old enough to take part in the process, that is. Why would you let packers and movers handle your children’s precious toys when you can tackle it perfectly well on your own?
Have your kids sort out their toys in order to set aside the ones that are broken beyond repair (to be thrown away for recycling), and the ones that are very rarely played with or simply outgrown (to be gifted to other kids or donated to charities).
And then, once you’re left with all the toys and games your children love and will not part with no matter what, it’s time to pack those treasures into suitable boxes so that they make it safely to the new house or apartment.
9. Items with sentimental value
You’re likely to own a number of things that are very dear to you – objects infused with such sentimental value that you wouldn’t let anyone but yourself touch them. And let’s face it – the packers and movers you’ve hired are practically people you don’t know and can’t really trust with your most cherished possessions.
Items with high sentimental value can be all sorts of objects – from personal collections (coins, stamps, trading cards, etc.) and albums with irreplaceable photos all the way to priceless heirloom objects. Keep in mind that no moving insurance can replace items that are simply… irreplaceable.
Therefore, just pack safely any items with great sentimental value and move them with you, not letting them out of your sight even for a moment.
10. Essential items
Last but definitely not least, other items that you should pack yourself without using professional packing services are all the essentials that will have to go into your Open-First box. The idea of an Open-First box (aka an essentials box) is to contain items of absolute necessity that you will need while you don’t have access to the rest of your belongings – that is, when they are being transported between the two homes.
Here are some of the essentials that a survival kit should have:
- basic kitchen items – paper plates, plastic utensils, non-perishable food items;
- bathroom items – shampoo, hand soap, toiletries;
- bedroom items – a change of clothing for everyone;
- prescription medications;
- children’s items;
- pets’ items;
- basic hand tools,
- and so on.
Always pack your essentials box (or boxes) on your own and keep them with you when moving to another home.
