Packing for a long distance move is challenging. Luckily, long distance movers like Jordan River East can assist you with everything moving-related from packing all of your belongings to disassembling and reassembling your furniture. Here are several tips that will help you save money, downsize, and ensure that everything you own arrives safely at your new home.
Make an Inventory List
When moving across the country, your belongings may become spread over multiple states. For this reason, it’s important to take inventory of all of your belongings before you move. Whether you choose to use a physical piece of paper, an app on your phone, or a spreadsheet on your computer, make sure that you have a list of everything you’re taking with you. That way, you’ll be able to confirm that all of your belongings have made it to your new home.
Map Out Your New Home
Before moving your massive dining room table and L shaped couch across the country, you’ll need to make sure that your furniture fits in your new home by measuring the open floor space. By measuring the open floor space within each room, you can avoid transporting large furniture to your new home, only to be disappointed when it doesn’t fit.
Majorly Downsize
When we live in one place for a long period of time, we tend to accumulate countless items that we don’t use. Making a long distance move gives us a chance to majorly downsize and ditch everything that we don’t need. Play by the one-year rule, if you haven’t worn it or used it in the last year, get rid of it. You can lose the old clothes that you never wear, kitchen appliances that you don’t use, and board games that you no longer play. Also when downsizing, do some research and find out what the weather will be like in the city/state that you are moving to. For example, if you’re moving to Florida from Minnesota, you can get rid of your heavy winter coats and clothes. We recommend selling, donating, or trashing anything that you no longer need. Getting rid of what you don’t want and need will help lower the cost of your moving estimate and will make packing easier.
Put Aside Essential Items
When you start to pack your belongings, make sure to prioritize and put aside items that you’ll need to keep with you, and items you’ll need to have access to when you arrive at your new home. We advise packing a box with a few necessities, such as towels, pots and pans, toilet paper, and bedding. Let your long distance movers know that you’ll want to be able to access this box immediately upon their arrival. You should also pack a suitcase with a few essentials including toiletries, several changes of clothes, and other personal necessities so that you can be comfortable while waiting for the moving truck to arrive.
Pack with Distance in Mind
A long distance move requires additional packing effort. Take additional care when wrapping fragile items with bubble wrap or newspaper. Pack your fragile items together and be sure to write “fragile” in big letters on the boxes. You should also let your movers know which boxes are fragile to be sure that they’ll take extra caution.
Organize Belongings as You Pack
Rather than throwing your belongings into random boxes, pack your boxes according to rooms. You can pack different boxes for your bathroom, bedroom, kitchen, and so on. Make sure to label your boxes accordingly. By organizing your belongings based on room, you can avoid sifting through a million different boxes just to find one particular item.
Write Your Name on Your Boxes
When moving long distance, it’s common for moving trucks to carry boxes from multiple customers at the same time. To prevent your boxes from getting mixed up and getting dropped off at the wrong house, we recommend writing your name and phone number on all of your boxes.
Let the Professionals Handle It
Packing up your entire house could take months on your own. If you’ve waited until the last minute to start packing or work long hours, consider hiring professional packers. Professional packers will save you a lot of time, effort, and stress. Or you can kill two birds with one stone; some long distance movers, like Jordan River East, can offer packing services for an additional price. We can provide you with packing services one or two days prior to your move. Contact us and we’ll give you a fixed price estimate before we pack your belongings.
