Packing For a Move

I’m proud to say that the majority apartment is packed and ready to move to our house!  Now we just have to wait for the house to be finished.

One of my favorite things that I’ve been using this move is my packing caddy.  I created it using a basket from the Dollar Tree and it houses everything that I will need to pack up a box.  This keeps me from wasting tons of time searching the house trying to find the scissors.

In my caddy, I have all the standard moving items like packing tape, scissors, sharpies, and pens.  

I also keep all my labels for my boxes in the caddy.

The first and most important label is the content label.  These are color coded by room (and also match the color on the box inventory form in my moving binder) and also list what room they are supposed to go in, just in case one of the movers decided not to pay attention to my color coding system. When we move, each room will have a sign above the door that coordinates with the color of the label on the box.  This label also has a spot for the box number and lines to show what is in the box.

These labels are what makes my moving system run smoothly.  The numbers on the boxes coincide with the numbers on my box inventory.  After we’ve moved, if there’s something I absolutely need, instead of rummaging through every single box, all I have to do is go to my box inventory and find the item, and then go find the corresponding box.  Just in case the moving inventory goes missing for some reason, I also have the contents listed on the box.

The other labels in my caddy are my speciality labels.  These are neon colors so that they can easily be seen.  I have three different colors.  One is for fragile items, one is for open me first boxes, and one is for boxes to be moved in our car.  These can just be slapped on the boxes and the movers can easily see what is going on with these boxes.

Both of the labels are attached to all sides of the box so that they can easily be seen no matter which way the boxes are facing.

This caddy combined with our moving binder helps keep me sane during and after the move so that I can easily find what we’re looking for and make sure nothing gets left behind.

What are your best tips for making packing move a little more smoothly?