Moving house ignites a unique feeling of excitement that is laced with a smattering of panic and doused in stress. While a new adventure looms, to-do lists expand and the receipts start to pile up, moving house is a true melting-pot of mixed emotions. 

QMM has established its own in-house team of house movers since it’s inception many years ago. In addition to the transportation of your household items, our Canada movers also provide a full packing service to all QMM clients who want to save themselves the task. 

Naturally, some people prepare to self-pack, whether that is because they are completing the whole moves independently or they just find it easier to sort and pack at their own pace. Whatever the reason, helpful packing tips and tricks go a long way in making a much more manageable and smooth-sailing packing process. 

Over the years of packing up apartments, family homes and commercial properties, QMM has compiled a killer list of house moving tips that we want to share with you today, that will hopefully save you a few headaches prior, during and post-house move;

USEFUL PACKING SUPPLIES FOR MOVING HOMES

First and foremost, you need to source your packing materials. Not just any packing materials, they need to be high-quality and robust to ensure your goods safe as can be when in transit - ESPECIALLY if they are travelling the long journey across the breadth of Canada. 

The first item on your shopping list; boxes for moving house. Using appropriately-sized and not overfilling your boxes are crucial elements for the safe delivery and protection of the box’s contents. 

If your moving boxes are too full, you risk the box breaking and also being unable to comfortably lift and carry the box. Being too full or too empty will also increase the risk of breakage and general damage to the contents inside, so it's always recommended to order more boxes than you think you need; 

• Heavy-Duty Boxes

• Small Boxes

• Medium Boxes

• Large Boxes

• Wardrobe Boxes - these can be DIY’d by adding your own metal rail to a tall moving box

Other supplies you need to protect your items when inside the moving boxes are:

• Bubble Wrap

• Packing Paper - old newspaper works perfectly for this

• Packing Tape

• Stretch Wrap

• Labels for Contents/Room

• Marker Pens

PACKING & GENERAL MOVING TIPS

THE EARLY BIRD CATCHES THE WOR… RY FREE PACKING

The most invaluable of packing tips for moving house is to start as early as possible. It’s a given that packing the entire contents of a home is going to take some time, so to relieve tensions and stresses it is best to pack in advance and at a leisurely pace to fit in with your lifestyle. 

Packing in a rush could mean forgetting items, or if you are de-cluttering along the way you might end up throwing away goods away and regretting it. Alternatively, you may not have enough time to declutter at all and end up hauling items across the country unnecessarily - only for you to bin them upon arrival! 

PACK UP ROOM-BY-ROOM

Packing your house one room at a time helps to encourage clear organisation, allows you to stay on top of your workload and you can clearly identify how much packing you have left to do before your big day. 

Another piece of room-by-room moving advice is to start with the rooms you use the least, spare rooms or loft spaces, for example. That helps to reduce the risk of accidentally packing something you will need before your move day and having to rummage through all of your packed moving boxes; undoing your hard work. 

DECLUTTER, DECLUTTER AND DECLUTTER SOME MORE!

One of our moving house tips that many people don’t want to hear is to declutter and decrease your belongings down to the bare minimum. We know people like to hoard belongings thinking “you never know when you might need it!” we’re all guilty of it, but make your relocation the chance to start afresh and only keep the items that you NEED or that hold great sentimental value. 

Keeping, packing and shipping unnecessary items increases your workload tenfold and it could also significantly hike up the cost of your move. If you are using the services of removal companies to handle the move post-packing, you will usually receive a removal quote based on the number of boxes they have to load and transport in a moving van. Therefore, cutting as much clutter from your consignment as possible means a cheaper removal quotes!

LABEL YOUR MOVING BOXES

This might seem like one of our most obvious packing tips for moving, but it is often overlooked. When you arrive at your new home and all you can see is a floor cluttered with moving boxes, it will be extremely beneficial for you to quickly identify which room each box belongs in without the need to rummage through the contents, potentially causing a chaotic mess!

PACKING FURNITURE

When packing furniture, especially furniture that you have to dismantle and reassemble upon arrive, label each individual part or component and make sure they are all packed together, or wrapped together using some of the stretch wraps from your shopping list if the items are too big for your moving boxes. You should also keep nuts, bolts, screws and any other tiny components in plastic bags that are then securely taped to the corresponding parts. This will make reassembly much less confusing!

CREATE A DETAILED INVENTORY

Creating a detailed inventory means you can be certain of all of the items you have packed and what should arrive at the other end. This is especially important if you are using a house moving company to transport your items after you have packed. This is to ensure that nothing is misplaced during the moving process, and in the unfortunate event that something is misplaced, it can be identified immediately and work can begin on locating all of the missing items. 

KEEP A BOX OF ESSENTIAL ITEMS

This is another invaluable moving tip that many clients often forget about or are not aware of. There are many things that you might need on moving day or some little luxuries that you will wish you had easy access to when you arrive at your new home. QMM’s recommended list of essential items includes items such as toilet rolls, kettle, coffee, tea bags and milk, box cutters, change of clothes, pyjamas, toiletries such as toothbrush, toothpaste and shower gel.