Moving tips
Life Hacks for a Flawless Move
By TLC Moving & Storage · Published 29 March 2016
A few small life hacks make packing easier: socks and foam instead of newspaper for glasses and plates, cling wrap for dresser drawers and open bottles, and labelled toilet paper rolls for your cables.
Small tricks that make moving easier
Moving; Packing up all your belongings and pulling up stakes. It’s something we all experience at least once, but there’s no easy way to do it. After getting excited over the prospect of a new home, the dread sets in when you take a look around and realize that your house—your home—has to somehow fit into boxes to be hauled away.
From wrapping plates in newspaper, to convincing begrudging friends to help with the promise of pizza and beer, we have made small feats to make moving a little easier on ourselves.
Try these on your next move:
Socks for glasses and foam between plates
Movers for electronics and large fragile items
Cling wrap for drawers and open bottles
Labelled toilet paper rolls for cables
Household items that stand in for packing supplies
A moving life hack is a small trick that makes packing easier, usually by putting an everyday household item to work in place of a packing supply.
Most of these hacks use things already in your home: socks for glasses, foam between plates, cling wrap for dresser drawers and open bottles, and cardboard toilet paper rolls, labelled, for cables. Electronics and large fragile items are the exception; those are a job for movers.
Pack plates and glasses without newspaper
Fragile items like glassware and plates are some of the hardest items to pack and move. Newspaper is an old moving staple for plates and glasses, but there are better alternatives. Put Styrofoam packing between your plates instead—it provides protective insulation, and it’s easier to unpack.
For glasses, use a cheap pack of clean socks instead. The glass will stay snug inside the sock, and can withstand the bumpy ride ahead. Two services that save effort are storage for the overflow and long-distance moving when the new home is far away.
Hire movers for electronics and large fragile items
For larger but still fragile items like electronics, hire a mover. Your friends may be reliable but accidents happen when you don’t know what you’re doing. Hiring reliable movers in Ottawa gets the job done more efficiently and protects your things.
Use cling wrap on drawers and open bottles
A saving grace during any move is a steady supply of cling wrap. Cling wrap can make many items easily transportable. For example, instead of tearing apart your dresser and packing up your clothes, just apply cling wrap to the drawers. This turns the drawer into a box, and keeps your clothes together and ready to pop right back into the dresser.
Also, cling-wrapping any bottles that have already been opened (shampoo, cleaning products, lotions, sauces, the list goes on) before packing them will save you from any potential spills. After all, who wants their entire bathroom inventory covered in cocoa-butter lotion?
Store cables in labelled rolls
There are not many things as frustrating as having to sort through a box of tangled wires. Instead of just haphazardly shoving wires into boxes, store them in individual and labeled cardboard toilet paper rolls before packing them up. This will keep them untangled and ready to set up in the new house.
Follow these handy little moving tricks, and you’ll find the moving process a little less aggravating. If you want the move off your plate, consider hiring reliable movers. Although, it never hurts to just brow-beat a good pal into doing some of the heavy lifting!
Questions about moving with TLC
How do I pack glasses and plates for a move?
Fragile items like glassware and plates are some of the hardest items to pack and move. Newspaper is an old moving staple for plates and glasses, but there are better alternatives.
How do I move a dresser without emptying it?
A saving grace during any move is a steady supply of cling wrap. Cling wrap can make many items easily transportable. For example, instead of tearing apart your dresser and packing up your clothes, just apply cling wrap to the drawers.
How do I keep cables from tangling in a move?
There are not many things as frustrating as having to sort through a box of tangled wires. Instead of just haphazardly shoving wires into boxes, store them in individual and labeled cardboard toilet paper rolls before packing them up.
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