Packing 101: Organizing and Labeling Your Boxes

PRE-SORT ITEMS

Moving is one of those tasks that requires you to touch literally every item that you own, which makes it a great time to trim down the number of items you are taking with you. Start by determining what items you are leaving behind, donating, or selling and place them in a separate area. It’s a lot easier to deal with this before you load the truck on moving day than to have to worry with packing and unpacking it, just to get rid of it later.  

PACK ONE ROOM AT A TIME:

One of the biggest pieces of advice we can offer is to pack rooms ONE AT A TIME. This ensures that things stay pre-organized during packing and your kitchen mixing bowls don’t end up in a box full of socks from the bedroom. Start with the rooms that you use the least and then move throughout the house in a pre-determined order, leaving those rooms that are used the most for the final days.  

LIKE WITH LIKE

Pack items together that GO together and will be stored in close proximity in your new home. This will make unpacking and organizing items in your new home much easier and convenient. This will also help keep things from being misplaced during the process.  

LABEL EVERYTHING

We don’t just mean writing a room name on the outside of your box either!! The last thing you want is to get to your new house and need something specific and then have to sort through 15 boxes with the word “KITCHEN” written on them searching for it. Each box should state the room and a brief list of contents for example:
PLAYROOM

• Building Blocks
• Play Mats
• Board Games
• Storage Bins

Some experts even recommend color-coding your labeling system to help you easily sort boxes once you arrive. In addition to helping YOU know where items are, this will also help your moving crew figure out where to take items without having to ask you about every single box as they pull it off the truck.

MAKE AN INVENTORY:

While this might seem like a tedious task, having an inventory of all your items will give you some extra peace of mind. When everything is neatly packed into 100 different boxes that all look the same, knowing how many boxes there are for each room and what you put in those boxes will help you keep track of things as they are being loaded and unloaded and unpacked. If you labeled your boxes correctly, then making an inventory list should be pretty easy! Just go room-by-room state the number of boxes and list the contents for each one.

Also, make sure to note any specialty items or large furniture pieces for each room, so you can check them off as they are unloaded and you can rest assured that everything arrived to your new home.    

Looking for more resources to help you get through your move and keep you on track? We have you covered.  Check out tips about how to pack, what supplies to use,  and a few of our different print-at-home checklists to get you started. As always, we’re here to help you, so feel free to reach out to us with any questions!