(ThyBlackMan.com) The build-up to moving day is always going to be equal parts exciting and stressful as you begin to pack up all your belongings and get everything ready before the big day. During this period, organisation is going to be key as things gradually get packed away into boxes and then either into storage or waiting to be moved. As things get packed up, it’s essential to keep track of your belongings through careful labelling of the boxes which is why I’ve written up this list to help you with the best way to label boxes effectively.
The value of knowing where everything else by labelling is for your own benefit to know exactly where items are as well as for the movers (if you hire any) to help with the packing or lifting if certain boxes are heavy or fragile. It also helps to know exactly what is put into storage and what isn’t so you can keep a track of exactly what’s been packed away and what you have with you. So, let’s take a look at some of the essential tips to labelling your boxes for the big move!
1 – Categorise
This is an obvious tip but one still worth mentioning as grouping items together helps massively during the unpacking process as well. As well as grouping items such as kitchenware into one box, use colour coding or just marker pen to identify what the grouping is. This could mean that kitchenware is identified by all yellow tape on the cardboard boxes or it could be that yellow means ‘kitchen’ so you know that all the yellow-taped boxes can be moved to and unloaded in the new kitchen. This will also help movers or friends and family if you choose to do it yourself as they’ll know what room to move things to.
This is just an example as you will probably have your own system but organising all your belongings in some systematic way will help to streamline the entire moving process. Labelling and categorising in this way also helps when you might not be in the same place as the movers and they’re wondering where to put the boxes and you’re not reachable – the box should identify where to move it to.
2 – Prioritise
When you’re packing up everything, prioritise what things you’re going to pack and move first and last. This way you can keep certain essentials you may need until the last moment while everything else can be transported. This technique again helps with unloaded and unpacking too. A simple numeric order can be used to indicate the order of priority when packing and unpacking into a removals truck or the new house. Just make sure everyone is clear on the numeric order of priority!
3 – Inventory
If you really want to have absolutely everything accounted for, I recommend making a fully-itemised list of what’s been packed away, if it is going to/ already in storage and also to take a photographic record of what’s in the box. This is just in case anything should happen during transit at any point and so that you know the exact contents. This won’t always be necessary and in the majority of cases it won’t but it’s definitely worth making a general note of what’s packed up and where it is.
4 – What’s in the Box?
This is most helpful if you’ve hired a professional removals company to transport your belongings. Labelling the boxes with the fragility or weight of the contents is a great help to any movers to prepare them for the lifting and loading of all your belongings. Also if the contents are liquid or otherwise, it’s good to know what to expect when you lift up a box! If you’ve decided to label the boxes with colour coding or numeric order, please do make it clear what the labelling means to help with the success of the job.
Most professional removals staff, like ours at Yeates Removals and Storage, will have had training and many years experience so they’ll know what to do in any situation but it always helps if you’re on the same page!
5 – Labelling Things You Don’t Want Moved
There will no doubt be certain boxes or items that you don’t want to be moved or that you’ll want to keep on your person during the move. Labelling the boxes you don’t want to be moved is a handy way to keep track of the essential items you’ll want to have by your side throughout the process. It’s always a good idea to pack an essentials bag of some sort so making sure that that’s left untouched and unmoved is key to a smooth and seamless moving day process.
Hopefully you’ve found something useful from this list, of course everyone will have their own method for categorising and labelling but it’s always worth planning ahead with moving because it can get chaotic quite quickly so ensuring that everything is accounted for is a worthwhile activity. Anything that you can do to reduce the stress part and therefore enjoy the exciting part more is definitely worth doing!
Staff Writer; Carl Washington
