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Label with Care: How To Label Boxes For Moving Houses
Moving houses is an extremely tiring activity, especially if you are moving for the first time. Just thinking about packing your entire household stuff can make you anxious. But don’t worry because we’re here to give you tips to help ease the packing process!
As a first-time mover, you might underestimate the function of labelling your boxes. Even in storage, putting on labels is an essential step to organize your things. As for moving homes, it can save you a lot of time, especially during unloading.
Where Do I Start?
Before starting on the labels, here’s what you should do first:
Prepare Packing Materials
You can recycle your family’s old boxes or you can ask local stores if they have reusable ones that you can get or purchase for a low price. Read WhatStorage’s Guide on Free Moving Boxes.
This is cost-effective and also an environment-friendly way of packing your things. Just make sure that the cardboard box is still durable to hold your belongings. To be safe, just put lightweight items in them to avoid broken valuables. You can then buy high-quality boxes for fragile items.
For your appliances like your telly, you can reuse their original boxes if you still have them.
Key tip: before disassembling your devices, take photos of them–like cord positions–so it will be easier for you to set them up at your new place.
On the other hand, if you’re bringing baskets and linen bins to your new home, you can put in clothes or any other items that are not fragile. Same with your suitcases and luggage.
For small and forgettable items like screws and keys, it’s best if you have Ziploc bags on hand.
Declutter
Does this spark joy? If you remember Marie Kondo, she’s been teaching people to sort and declutter. You need not go to great lengths, though, if most of your items still “spark joy”. Just get rid of the unused and unnecessary items in your current home.
Clear the clutter by donating or selling clothes and shoes you’ve outgrown. You can check out several sites for selling pre-loved items in the UK.
Find a Removal Company
Suppose you’re going to hire a removals company. In that case, you should start finding one as early as possible–even before you start packing. With WhatStorage’s online platform, you can easily choose from hundreds of removal companies in the UK.
Compare Removal Companies Quotes
Get quotes quickly and easily from a removals near you.
How Do I Make Labels For The Boxes?
After you sort out your items by category, you can start packing. It would be more stressful if you do the packing in one day so we recommend that you do it little by little. Just remember to not write moving labels for boxes before you fill them up. Label only after packing and sealing.
Sort By Category And By Room
To speed up the unloading process, you should sort your box contents by room. For example, your stuff in the dining room and the living room shouldn’t be mixed up in a single box. It will be easy for you and the movers if the boxes are stacked and loaded according to rooms.
Do A Colour-coding Or A Number System
Colour-coding is often the number one go-to technique of organizing. A lot of us are visual-oriented, which means it’s easier to recognize categories by colour. For this, you can use permanent coloured markers to write on boxes, or you can stick coloured packing labels on them.
However, if you’re better with numbers, you can create a number labelling system. You can then make an inventory of your things based on the box contents. For example:
Box No. 1 has an equivalent Room column and a Content column.
Box No. 1 = Living Room = Books and Magazines
Label The Sides Of The Boxes
It’s essential to label accurately and clearly. The boxes will surely be stacked inside the vehicle, so movers won’t be able to see the top of the boxes. It’s best to put packing labels on every side where they can easily read them.
Print Labels For Fragile Items
Every fragile item should be properly packed and labelled. Packing labels such as “Fragile”, “This Side Up”, and “Handle with Care” are readily available on the internet. You can download and print these labels for boxes containing items that need extra care.
Have A “Open First” Moving Box
You can’t possibly unpack all your items on the first day, that’s why having a box of essentials is suitable for a house move. In the Open First box, you can put in a change of clothes, your toiletries, phone charger, and other stuff that you might use on your first night. You can also put in essential documents like passports and house title deeds in a separate box.
Looking for a removals company to help you with your move? Check out WhatStorage‘s list of removal companies in the UK. Getting quotes and finding the right mover for you is just a few clicks away! And if you need a place to store items that you won’t bring to your new home, let us help you find a storage unit near you.
For more tips on how to make your move easy and stress-free, check out our Tips To Make Moving House Less Stressful.