Moving house is rated in the top ten most stressful life events. Let’s face it, even the thought of packing your life into a removal truck if a pain.
Rentco has put together some tips for packing your removal truck, they may just help you avoid many of the headaches associated with moving day.
Get organised early
Talk to Rentco staff about your moving day requirements. They’ll help you calculate the size of rental truck you require and identify what equipment you need to make loading your hire truck a breeze. Pre-planning how you’ll load reduces loading time and stress, plus it helps to avoid any nasty surprises at the other end.
Prior to loading your household appliances, you should:
- Defrost refrigerators/freezers 24-48 hours before your moving day, place a bag of coffee beans inside to avoid stale smells, and tape the doors shut. Never transport fridges or freezers on their side as this can damage the compressor.
- Remove hoses from washing machines, drain, and place inside the machine.
- Pack an overnight bag with everything you will need for the next 48 hours, (medications). Load it last and ensure that you have easy access.
- Prepare snacks and drinks for the journey!
Packing for successful transit
Disassemble beds, and furniture such as tables and bookshelves. Put fittings into snap-lock bags and include a label clearly identifying which item it belongs to.
Wrapping unboxed items in paper padding or bubble wrap will help to protect items in transit. Consider specialist cartons for bikes and sporting equipment. Books are always a killer – people always pack too many into a box then find it’s too heavy to lift. Identify heavy or large items so you can plan loading order and placement.
Use strong boxes and label them
Using moving-grade boxes which are similar in size really does make a difference. They are relatively cheap and are always in demand second hand, allowing you to recoup some of the cost.
Unlike flimsy boxes from the supermarket, they are robust enough to cope with moving, and because they fit together snugly, they’re more stable in transit and provide a solid base for other items to be packed on top.
Believe it or not, people often forget to label boxes which causes headaches at the destination. Clearly label each box with the contents and don’t forget to nominate a destination room location. It will save you hours of searching when you’re tired, would kill for a cuppa and you can’t locate the kettle!
Loading your items
Clear everything out of the way to create a clear route to the truck, nominate two people as loaders and start loading from the front of the truck (near the cab) working back to the rear.
Think of loading as Tetris for boxes (especially if you’ve hired a small truck) – everything should interlock or fit in tightly. Put heavy furniture to the sides of the truck to even out weight on axle. Pack heaviest items on the floor with lighter boxes on top. Pad any spaces to help stabilise the load when it’s in transit. Rolled up rugs, cushions or pillows can be used to pad out spaces. Load anything marked fragile last. Pack up to the roof if possible and secure the load in sections with ratchet straps or ropes, secured to anchor points inside truck.
Make sure that anything that can move, such as drawers, are secured with tape. Finally, don’t forget to pack your sense of humour… you’ll be sure to need it!
