New Year, New Home? 5 Clever Packing Tips to Move Homes Efficiently

There are forever homes, and then there are apartments that function more as a stepping stone to that forever home. If you’re moving out of your current home soon, here are some packing tips we’ve learned throughout the years that will get you packed and unpacked in no time.

1. More haste, less speed

Don’t procrastinate. Start packing early so you can quickly identify ahead of time what supplies and equipment you may need, versus making last-minute mad dashes for more packing boxes, masking tape, or bubble wrap when you realise you don’t have enough. 

It’s also a smart choice to pick a moving company early on, so you can avoid rushing into using a company that may not be the most ideal. Some moving services provide you with free boxes so you can get your belongings packed in advance too, which can save you time from buying some on your own.

Pro Tip: Start from the room you least use, like a spare bedroom or the study, and have that room sorted out and packed up in boxes first. Since you don’t use it that often, it shouldn’t affect your daily schedule that much. Then move on to your more frequently used rooms, ending with heavy-duty rooms like your kitchen and bathrooms just before you move. That way, you can still use your daily necessities up until the move-out date. 

2. Discard and dispose 

The quickest way to add on to your own stress is by trying to hoard everything you own. If you’re moving, it’s prime time to do a spring clean on all your belongings. Don’t need it? Toss it out or donate it. Prune your items ruthlessly and watch your stress levels dip when you realise you just eliminated several boxes worth of things to move to the new place. You can thank us later.

Before you even begin to pack, sort your belongings into essential and non-essential lists so you can categorise them into different boxes. This will also pay off when you unpack on the other side and can get to your daily essentials quickly without having to unbox everything at once.

Having fewer boxes to manage also allows you more space to navigate around your new home and you can quickly arrange any new furniture where you want it, instead of having to park it in odd places because you have a mountain of boxes in the way. This helps you settle into your new home much quicker too.

3. Use your labels wisely 

We know you’re going to label those boxes. But instead of labelling them with vague terms like “kitchen” or “bedroom 1”, go into detail like “frequently used kids toys” or “toiletries from master bedroom” so you immediately know what is inside the box, and the level of priority with which to accord it for unboxing in your new home. 

You could also colour code your boxes, either with different colour permanent markers, and then sticking coloured paper or tape in the corresponding room or on the room doors so movers know which exact room to plonk your boxes in, which saves you the trouble of dragging heavy boxes around your house to the correct rooms.

Your furniture should also be colour coded the same way so you can get your new place set up as quickly as possible, without you having to do any heavy lifting yourself. 

4. Your valuables/essentials stay with you

See it as you and all your stuff are going on a flight. You’re going to have check-in luggage — everything that’s going into the moving van — and you’ll need to have your hand-carry luggage, which should be all your valuables and essentials, which shouldn’t leave your side. 

If you have your own car, that’s awesome! You can now add more to your essentials list and create a Moving Day Survival Kit for you and your family. This can include things like your kid’s favourite toy or blanket (to help them feel at home quickly), a few key kitchen utensils and food items, clothing to change into for your first night, towels, toiletries, and other such daily necessities to tide you over for the first couple of days where everything may still be in boxes. This saves you the trouble of digging through boxes for toilet paper or your toothbrush when you are already exhausted from a tedious day of moving.

Keeping your valuables with you also avoids the unpleasant position of losing them, having them misplaced, or worse, swiped by a dishonest mover.

5. Packing hacks

Here, we are throwing in some smart hacks to make your packing easier, and to avoid damage to your items:

• Wrap expensive “spillables” like perfume or skincare in bubble wrap or mummify them in cling wrap.
• The above applies to fragile furniture, heirlooms, trinkets, or anything you don’t want to scratch, dent, chip, or damage in any way.
• All your bottles, shakers, tubs, and vials of herbs, spices and seasonings can be securely bound together with tape, and then packed into your rice cooker or air fryer. This is a secure way to transport everything and a leak in any of the containers will be contained within the holding rice cooker or air fryer. Genius, right?
• The heavy items always go in the bottom of the box, the lighter ones on top. This is so you won’t crush or damage any smaller or lighter items with the weight of the larger, heavier ones.
• Don’t want to splurge on so much bubble wrap? Use your clothes to swathe all your smaller fragile items. This also saves you packing space. 
• Your travel luggage is great for transporting heavy items like your pots and pans, or your hardcover novels.
• Don’t detach your cables from their respective appliances. Loop them up neatly and tape them to the appliance so they don’t hang loosely or get tangled up. This saves you the hassle of having to play Match-the-Cable-to-the-Appliance in your new house.
• Let your fridge thaw out completely a day before the move, you don’t want leaking water everywhere on moving day. It should also be completely emptied out to avoid food rot (ew!)

Let us help you with that stress-free home-moving process!

Ohmyhome helps you get everything from Point A to Point B, hassle-free. Let our expert home movers do all the heavy lifting for you. Learn more about our home-moving service here or drop us a message on WhatsApp or via our Live Chat at the bottom, right-hand corner of the screen.