Planning a move is something that requires plenty of time, but what if you’re low on time and need to make a move on short notice?
Maybe you landed your dream job in a different city, or perhaps the house that you put on sale got sold rather quickly. These are just a few situations that can pop up unexpectedly at any time, and you need to be prepared for it!
Ideally, it requires most people around six to eight weeks to plan a move and get everything right. However, equipped with the right knowledge and with the help of the right people, you can do it just as efficiently in a much shorter time.
Today, we’ll share with you some tips and ideas that can make your last-minute move a lot less hectic and ensure sure everything goes smoothly.
So let’s get started!
How to Pack and Sort Quickly
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Draw up a chart and make a list
Be it a birthday party or a last-minute move, drawing up a list can do wonders to make sure you get everything right. Before you get started with the actual moving process, take a tour of your house and keep an eye out for all the items that you want to bring with you to your new place, and also the ones that you’d like to discard.
Make a chart with three columns- Pack, Discard, and Donate. Once that’s done, categorize every item in your house under this chart depending on whether you want to pack, discard or donate those items. You can use a simple notebook or your smartphone to create this list, and we assure you it will do wonders for you once you get started with your moving process.
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Purge unnecessary items
Once you are done with drawing up your chart and know which items to keep and which ones to get rid of, we advise you to get started with the purging process!
Now the purging process involves both tossing stuff in the trash, as well as donating items that you no longer need to people that can use them. Getting rid of things that you no longer need will allow you to pack up the things that you need much more quickly.
Here are a few tips on purging unwanted household items
- Since you’re moving on short notice, you probably don’t have enough time to schedule a donation pickup. So your next best option is to drive to your nearest donation collection center and drop off all the items you wish to donate. Always remember to get a receipt as that will allow you to deduct your donated amount from taxes.
- You can also consider giving away certain useful products such as cleaning supplies, insecticides, oil, gasoline, and fertilizers to your neighbors. It’s a lot less hassle than going and disposing of them off somewhere safe.
- If you have any canned food left over in your house, consider donating them to your local food bank.
- If you have a bunch of broken or unusable stuff that can be recycled, gather them all around and get them dumped for recycling at your local dump.
- Books can take up a lot of space, and in this age of e-books, you can afford to let go of a few of them. Collect all the books that you don’t want and donate them to your local library. There are also some bookstores that will buy old books for small amounts of cash.
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Start your day early
While this one might sound kind of obvious, getting an early start to your day can do amazing things. So if you’re not a morning person, consider becoming one for at least the few days you need to pack up your things.
Starting your day early will allow you to get a lot more work done than usual. It will allow you to finish up on things you weren’t able to do the night before, and will also give you time to accommodate unexpected last-minute tasks.
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Gather Moving Supplies
This is one of the most vital parts of preparing for a last-minute move because without proper packing supplies, you’d be nowhere.
Gathering all your packing supplies ahead of time and keeping them organized will save you a lot of time which would otherwise be spent fumbling around for the scissors and making trips to Walmart because you don’t have duct tape.
You need to get a lot of boxes of different sizes, bubble wrap, packing paper, a box cutter, and some labels to mark the boxes with. These are some of the essentials which will make your life a lot easier when you’re packing for the move.
If you run short on boxes and it’s late at night, hit up your local convenience store or 7-Eleven. They almost always have an overabundance of boxes, which they will gladly give you for free.
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Set Small Goals
The very thought of packing everything in your house into bags and boxes can feel like a daunting task. Instead of doing everything at once, set smaller goals and try doing the packing room by room.
This is a surprisingly effective technique that will not only make the entire packing process a lot easier but also help you relax. Dividing a big task into smaller portions is always a good idea, and in this case, the room-by-room technique works just perfectly.
Another little technique that can be extremely helpful is starting with bigger rooms and ending with smaller ones.
Packing up your bigger rooms earlier in the process will allow you to stay relaxed because the thought of having completed the bigger tasks will give you a sense of motivation. So start with the bigger spaces such as the living and dining rooms before moving to the bedrooms and bathrooms.
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Use your packing space efficiently
Efficiency is critical when making your last-minute move, and that applies to your packing space too!
One of the best but often overlooked tips while packing up your stuff for a move is to use your larger belongings, such as bags, to pack in smaller items such as watches and chargers. This will save you a ton of space which you can use to pack other stuff, or just cut down on some load.
You can also consider packing clothes inside duffel bags that you own, instead of packing them inside boxes. You can also pack smaller duffel bags inside larger ones. That way you’ll be cutting down on some serious space. If you have suitcases, pack them up with everything that you can fit inside them.
If you run out of space at the last minute, trash bags can serve as the ultimate packing space for you. These things can be used to store a ton of non-fragile items such as clothes, towels, and blankets and are extremely easy to pack too!
But always remember to use a highly durable trash bag to pack your belongings and mark them with labels. Just so they do not get confused for trash and get thrown in the bin.
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Leave your clothes in the dresser and hangers
Leaving your clothes in the hangers and throwing them into your packing boxes will save you a lot of time and effort which you would have otherwise used on folding and packing them one by one, only to unfold them again later. It’s much easier to pull them out of the box and hang them in your closet.
If you have clothes in your dresser drawers, simply seal the drawers tightly so that your clothes get moved along with your dresser. You can also pull the drawers out and wrap them with movers wrap.
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Hire the Professionals
Let’s face it, no matter how many last-minute packing tips and tricks you learn, packing your entire house will always be an incredibly tedious task! So why not hire professionals to do it for you?
You can hire them to pack your entire house or just a few rooms that you might have trouble with. There are plenty of cost-effective removalists readily available who will help plan out your entire moving process from scratch.
While this might not be the most economical choice, it will surely save you a lot of time and energy apart from helping retain your mental sanity. Plus, these guys are professionals who will go the extra mile to ensure all your stuff remain intact and undamaged.
Conclusion
Packing your house for a last-minute move can be extremely challenging and mentally exhausting. It’s of great importance to keep yourself calm and organized throughout the process.
These tips and techniques can go a long way towards making your packing process a lot more manageable, apart from saving you a hell lot of time. We hope this little guide has been of some help to you and wish you all the best!
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