The moving process will usually involve a few days of work.
From the moment you purchase packing supplies to the final walkthrough, it can take some time to complete everything.
It isn’t always easy to figure out just how much time you’ll actually need to pack for a move.
While most people try to estimate based on the size of their home, other factors come into play, including how much stuff you have and how many people you have helping you.
You may want to start planning weeks ahead of your move so you will feel less stressed throughout the entire move.
To help you estimate how many days you need to pack all your belongings, we have some ideas for you:
1) The size of your home
If you live in a one-bedroom apartment, you can probably start packing within the week of your move date.
However, if your current home is a two-bedroom home or something larger, you can stay organized by packing via rooms.
Depending on the size of the room and the number of belongings to pack, you may need to allocate 3 days of packing per room.
Add an extra day or two if you’re packing for the first time, and don’t forget to dedicate at least a day to buying packing materials.
Packing supplies are important especially when you have fragile items to transport.
These items include packing tape, bubble wrap, boxes, and packing paper.
When calculating the number of days, treat each day as an eight-hour chunk.
In other words, if you estimate it will take you three days to pack for your move but only spend four hours a day packing, you’ll obviously need to set aside six calendar days.
2) Consider the contents of your home
Producing a moving inventory with moving tasks can help expedite the entire moving process.
The rule here is simple, the more stuff you have, the more time it will take to pack.
You may only need an hour or two to pack a nearly empty guest room, but the kitchen with its cabinets, drawers, and shelves could take several days.
It just depends on how much you have to pack.
If you are a collector, you will not have only more items to move but those items will require extra attention during the packing process.
Make sure you have enough supplies when you start packing as the average time you pack will be longer due to how many packing materials are needed.
It is also important to consider family members when moving house.
It may not look like it, but if you have two children sharing a room, they probably have more stuff in that room than one child would.
There may be borrowed items, non-essentials, and broken items to sift through.
Depending on how much stuff you’ve accumulated over the years and how drastically you’re downsizing, this will determine how long you will take to complete packing.
3) How organized you are
If you are organized, you will make your life easier when you are moving to a new house.
What we mean by this is how your current belongings are organized in your current home.
If they are already organized into boxes, you can easily pack everything up without sorting through your belongings.
As for the unorganized rooms, you should add a day to each room.
It will also be beneficial to have an earlier start date so you can request time off to hold a yard sale or donate your belongings.
4) Hiring professional movers
A moving company will also offer full packing and unpacking services if you do not have time or the help.
It is important to hire a trustworthy moving company and obtain insurance from an insurance company to ensure your belongings are packed and will arrive safely.
If there are damages, the insurance will be able to cover them.
To expedite the moving process, you can also hire professional cleaners to clean the old place and your new house.
There are plenty of cleaning services that offer cleaning services for a move.
However, if you have family members or friends to help, you can save money and time by enlisting them to help with packing other parts of the home and subtract more time.
Younger kids can help, too, by sorting through toys or clothes.
Whatever they don’t want, you don’t have to pack.
Tips for spending less time packing
This is for anyone who is short on time as these tips can reduce how long it takes you to pack your home.
1) Pack important documents first
Documents such as medical records, birth certificates, veterinary records, travel arrangements, vaccination records (if you are moving long-distance) and other important documents should be packed first.
You can put them all in a box or a bag to be carried with you.
Never allow the moving company to move it for you.
2) Stock up on moving supplies
Depending on your moving package, the moving company may provide packing items for you.
However, if you decide to do it on your own, buy enough supplies before you pack.
In addition to tape and bubble wrap, you’ll need packing paper, moving blankets, plastic wrap, boxes, scissors, and at least one good marker.
3) Use speciality boxes
Wardrobes, glass packs and other speciality boxes make packing quicker and easier because they are designed specifically for certain items.
For example, you can pull drinking glasses from your cabinets, wrap in paper and slip them directly into a glass pack box.
You can also take clothes still on their hangers and hang them in a wardrobe box.
4) Don’t empty desk and dresser drawers
You double your work when you empty drawers.
Instead, remove them from the desk or dresser and wrap them in plastic wrap so the contents don’t spill out.
You can do the same with chests or even small file cabinets that aren’t too heavy to lift.
Just wrap plastic wrap around the exterior of those so they stay shut during the move.