Moving to a new home is always exhilarating, but the packing process may reduce that enthusiasm. Moving requires a lot of preparation, including packing. The process of moving is emotionally and physically taxing, especially with gathering moving supplies, planning how to pack your home, and dealing with the memories that your possessions hold.
And if you don’t have the proper gear and knowledge, it can be even more exhausting. Fortunately, you can make packing your home easier with just a little bit of preparation and knowledge.
Whether you’re wondering what to bring first, when to begin packing, or how to organise your kitchenware and personal care items, we’ve got you covered. Get a head start on moving with our comprehensive packing guide, which includes all the do-it-yourself packing suggestions you could need!
You can also hire our professional movers at Grand Taj Group.
Get the Right Packing Supplies First
Create a packing checklist to help you keep organised before you start packing. As you get ready for the big day, these items can become packing needs for a move.
Boxes
When it comes to packing, these are the most important things. One way to make organising your home easier is to have items of different sizes.
Tape
Use a powerful tape to seal boxes, secure bubble wrap around fragile items, and store your household goods safely.
Utility knife/scissors
You can cut a lot of different objects using utility knives. One way to make assembly easier is to have sharp tools that can cut through tape and other materials cleanly.
Permanent marker
Boxes must be labelled. You should take care not to misplace what’s inside any of the boxes. To make unpacking easier, label the boxes with permanent markers and arrange them by room.
Plastic bags
When keeping non-perishable food products or smaller objects like cutlery, these can come in handy.
Blankets
Blankets can be used to protect mirrors and other fragile items.
Newspaper or bubble wrap
When packaging kitchen objects such as mugs and dishes, bubble wrap or newspaper can be useful, similar to blankets.
Handcart
When you have a lot of large boxes or objects to move, a handcart is an excellent tool. Lifting heavy boxes might be dangerous, but with this, you won’t have to worry about being hurt.
Smart Ways to Pack Your Garage for Moving
Packing your garage can feel overwhelming, but with a smart approach, it becomes manageable. Follow the following steps to pack your Garage for moving.
Packing Garage & Storage Spaces
Packing belongings from a storage unit or garage can be difficult and time-consuming, so it’s recommended to start packing early.
Many of the artefacts are large, oddly formed, and occasionally deadly. Be careful to utilise the original packaging when possible, especially for things like power tools. In addition, before moving day, you must drain the fuel from any gas-powered equipment. To further ensure that no one is hurt when moving, wrap any instruments or blades that have sharp edges completely.
Hazardous Materials
Garages and storage spaces often hold hazardous materials that cannot be moved by professional movers. Many of these items are flammable, corrosive, or explosive, and should be safely discarded before your move.
Here’s a list of items that movers typically won’t transport:
- Flammable, corrosive, or explosive substances
- Acids, aerosols, ammonia
- Ammunition and loaded firearms
- Car batteries, gasoline, motor oil
- Charcoal and lighter fluid
- Chemistry sets, darkroom chemicals
- Cleaning solvents, liquid bleach
- Fire extinguishers, fireworks, kerosene, lamp oil
- Paints and paint thinners
- Pesticides, poisons, weed killers
- Pool chemicals, propane tanks, scuba tanks
- Gun reloading supplies, Sterno® can
- Household and lithium batteries
Matches
Before moving day, sort through your garage and properly dispose of any restricted materials to avoid last-minute issues.
Spare Rooms
Start with rooms you don’t use daily, like guest rooms or storage areas. These spaces usually contain fewer items, making them easier to pack first and check off your list early.
Closets
Closets are often filled with unused or off-season items, perfect for early packing. Begin with clothing, accessories, or anything you won’t need in the coming weeks. For linen closets, keep a few essentials handy and box up the rest.
Efficient Ways to Pack a Dining Room
When you first begin to pack, a dining room is a good place to start. It contains a lot of decorative goods and fine china that aren’t necessary, so you can start packing them away right away. When you cover a dining room table with a tablecloth, you have a perfect surface for storing boxes!
Furniture
- Remove any dirt by wiping it clean.
- If you’re disassembling a piece, take a snapshot to make assembly easier.
- Secure the cabinet and drawer fronts with tape or a bungee cord.
- Secure with tape after wrapping in a moving blanket (or stretch wrap for shorter local transfers).
Antique Paintings
A moving blanket is an effective means of transporting paintings and other low-value artwork. A mirror box or telescoping box is ideal for protecting valuable or sentimental artwork, too.
Are you looking to take it to the next level? If you are concerned about the security of your priceless artwork and antiques, hiring professional movers is a good choice.
Tips for Packing Dining Table and Chairs
You can’t have a dining room without your table and chairs. Move them with the utmost care because they are the focal point of your room. But what is the best way to move tables and chairs from a dining room?
Wipe
To clean all the surfaces, use a moist, delicate cloth. Make sure all the upholstery is completely dry before continuing by vacuuming or washing it. Always remember that when anything gets packaged, even the tiniest dirt particles can harm delicate materials like wood. Hence, to avoid harm, it is worthwhile to execute this step correctly.
Disassemble
First, disassemble your dining room set by turning it upside down and placing a clean moving blanket on top. Before removing the legs, make sure to remove all screws and hardware. Ideally, you should use a separate resealable plastic bag for each piece of furniture, and then put all of the nuts, bolts, and screws into each bag.
Wrap
Use packing paper and then bubble wrap to protect the legs of tables and chairs. Next, put a moving blanket around the legs of the table and a box around the legs of the chair. Then, using tape, cover each chair with a moving blanket or bubble wrap. Depending on the material, you will need to wrap and pack your tabletop differently.
Check out our dining room packing guide for more specific tips on how to transport all of the aforementioned, as well as rugs, drapes, lamps, chandeliers, and more.
How to Pack Your Living Room Essentials Safely?
The living room is probably one of the most heavily furnished rooms in your house, so you may get a head start on packing there.
Decorative Items
Collect all of your ornamental pieces and wrap them in bubble wrap or packing paper. Add additional packing paper to fill any gaps in the box after placing the items inside. Never stack lighter things on top of heavy ones; instead, put the heavier ones in first.
Are you packing books? Think about obtaining bookcases or containers with two walls. These can withstand the weight of books without bending or breaking. Another option is to use luggage as a bookcase because it is durable, strong, and frequently has wheels, so you won’t have to lift it as much.
Wall Hangings
Things like paintings, pictures, mirrors, and artwork fall within this category. Put smaller items in their own container and wrap larger ones in a blanket or another box for protection.
Televisions
If you’re worried you won’t be able to recall the exact location of the cables that connect to your TV’s back, snap a picture of them.
Remove the wires from the gadgets and put them in their respective cases (cable boxes, game consoles, etc.
We recommend that you keep any wall-mounted televisions on the wall until the day of the move comes. Screens that are flat and delicate are less likely to be damaged by being thrown against a wall or mixed up with a bunch of boxes. Is your television stand-alone?
Before taping the screw to the TV’s back, remove the base. After that, wrap it in a clean moving blanket to keep it safe during the move.
Plants
As movers won’t touch live plants, you’ll have to do it yourself. Furthermore, several states have stringent regulations regarding the translocation of plants, such as California and Florida, so it is important to get in touch with the USDA office before making any national moves. To get your plant ready:
- A few days before your move, stop watering.
- To prevent dirt and water from leaking out of the pots, wrap them in plastic bags.
- Place them on the floor, where they cannot move, or on and around the passenger seat.
- Be careful not to let the car’s temperature controls freeze or fry them once you’re inside.
- As soon as you get to your destination, quickly bring them inside.
Furniture
Last but not least, pack all of your furniture. Moving a lot of your living room furniture probably won’t require any special preparation beyond wrapping big, delicate pieces in a moving blanket.
Have you got a sofa with legs? To avoid damage from bumps and to make the component simpler to move, unscrew them. If it isn’t possible, use packing paper, bubble wrap, and tape to secure the legs.
Bedroom Packing Tips
Be sure to keep your bedding and an extra set of clothes in separate containers before you begin packing your bedroom.
Casual Wear
Take the drawer out of the dresser and secure the clothes inside with a couple of pieces of stretch wrap.
At that point, you’ll be able to lift the drawer just like a regular box. The best part is that you can just take the wrapper off and put the drawer back in its place to finish unpacking! For the remaining folded and casual garments, use medium-sized luggage or boxes.
Hanging Clothes
Your garments can remain on the hangers when you use a wardrobe box. Plus, you may store your shoes and accessories in the designated space at the base of the box. Another simple and inexpensive approach is to simply place the hanging garments in a few garbage bags. For this purpose:
- Punch a hole in the bag’s centre bottom, about the size of a tennis ball.
- To thread approximately ten hanger hooks through the opening, turn the bag upside down.
- Cover the cluster of garments hanging from the ceiling by drawing the bag down.
- To make the bag more secure, tie its bottom.
Jewelry
Be prepared to carry your costly jewelry pieces with you throughout the move, since movers will not accept them. Just use non-marking tape or stretch wrap to seal your jewellery box, and you’re good to go. Another option is to use packing tape to seal individual egg cartons.
Bedding and Mattresses
To keep your bed clean and safe while being transported, use a mattress bag. It is strongly advised to use a temperature-controlled storage unit to avoid the growth of mould when storing your mattress.
Put your current bedding items into a trash bag and put them in the moving vehicle last on moving day. So when you’re ready to hit the pillow after a hard day of moving, your bed is already made! It’s that easy!
How to Pack Bathroom Essentials for a Move?
The first item you should bring into your bathroom is an essentials bag for your toiletries. Put all of your personal care and hygiene items in a bag or compact box, like what you would bring for a weekly vacation. You should think about putting the following items in your moving essentials bag:
- Floss and a toothbrush
- Shampoo and conditioner
- Soap
- Deodorant
- Shaving implements and cream
- Supplements, medications, and cosmetics
Hair Appliances
Curling irons, hair straighteners, and hair blowers are all compact enough to fit in a purse. Use bubble wrap to protect each one, then fill any gaps with box padding or toilet paper.
the bathroom’s towels and shower curtain, ensuring that they are kept dry and away from any liquids. Do you have hair appliances that no longer work? You can either take them to a local recycling centre.
Packing Liquids
- Take off the lid and cover the hole with plastic wrap.
- Put the plastic wrap on top of the screwed-on lid.
- To ensure additional protection, place it in a bag like a Ziploc.
- Before placing the item in the box, make sure it is upright.
- Continue adding more liquid items until the box is full.
- To keep things from shifting about, use paper or bubble wrap to fill in any gaps.
- Make sure to clearly indicate both the contents and the orientation of the box.
Moving in the winter? If the temperature drops below freezing on the day of your move, use a moving company that uses temperature-controlled vehicles.
The last thing you want is for your stuff to become damaged or ruined as a result of products freezing and bursting! For short local moves, this is less of a concern, but for long-distance moves, it can become a real headache.
Smart Tips for Packing the Laundry Room
Most of the time, all you have to do to pack up a laundry room is put away the decorations and a few other miscellaneous items.
You can use your laundry baskets for more than just washing; they can also hold small things like pillows, plush animals, apparel, and linens! Having said that, you’ll have to put in a bit more time and effort into packing if you intend to bring your washer and dryer along.
Washer
- After a cleaning cycle or a soap-free wash, allow the washer to dry for 24 – 48 hours.
- First, disconnect the power, water, and drain hoses by turning off the switch on your electrical panel. The power cord should be taped to the machine’s rear.
- To prevent the washing tub from rolling about while you move it, for example, you may need to tighten the shipping bolts, so be sure to check your appliance manual for particular instructions.
- Wrap everything in plastic and use a dolly to move everything.
Dryer
- Unplug the dryer’s power cord and the vent. Attach the cord to the back of the machine with tape. If you have a gas dryer, hire a professional to disconnect the gas and cap the line.
- Rinse the dryer’s lint trap, ventilation hose, and spinning drum with a hoover to eliminate any debris or lint.
- Before putting the dryer inside, wrap the ventilation hose in a bag.
- To find out how to move your particular model of appliance, consult its manual.
- Use a dolly, transporting blankets, and plastic wrap.
Conclusion
Take a deep breath. You shouldn’t freak out just because anything can happen, like dishes breaking or packing supplies running out. Instead, be calm and deal with the challenges as they arise to make your move as stress-free as possible.
Although it may not always be possible, moving isn’t permanent, and there will be times when everything goes smoothly. The stress of relocating will soon go away, and you’ll be able to look forward to all the exciting new experiences your new home has to offer.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What packing materials do I need for a Connecticut move?
You’ll need sturdy boxes, packing tape, bubble wrap, packing paper, markers for labeling, and specialty containers for fragile items.
Should I pack everything myself or hire professionals?
It depends on your budget and time. DIY packing can save money, but professional packers like Grand Taj Group ensure safe and efficient handling, especially for fragile or valuable items.
How do I label boxes to make unpacking easier?
Label each box with the room name and a brief list of contents. Use color-coded stickers or markers to quickly identify each room.
Are there any items moving companies in Connecticut won’t pack or move?
Yes, most movers won’t handle hazardous materials, perishable foods, or personal valuables like cash, jewelry, or important documents.
How do I downsize effectively before packing?
Sort items into categories: keep, donate, sell, or discard. This reduces moving costs and ensures you only bring what you need to your new home.
