Moving Made Easy: 8 Ways to Save Space When Packing

Moving out of your home comes with an endless To-do list. The most tenuous mission on that list is packing your items, including clothes, books, utensils, personal belongings, appliances, and much more. It’s overwhelming for good reasons.

For one, you don’t want to forget a valuable belonging. Two, you might have to give some items up for lack of space, not to mention that buying more space would cost you extra money and time.

One solution could be to focus on considering how to save space during the packing process. This is where this blog post comes in handy, as it offers tips and tricks that can help you pack in a more organised manner and save valuable space when moving.

This article is for you if:

• You’re moving out soon and have too many items to pack;
• There’s not enough space for all your items;
• The tight deadline for moving out is around the corner;

Let’s start with the first and very important step…

Sort through everything before packing

It doesn’t matter how many months or years you’ve spent in one house; there are always items you can part ways with. These can be things you no longer use, outdated gadgets, old children’s toys, or anything you don’t need. When it’s time to change addresses, leaving these items behind will save you space and time when it comes to packing.

So, our first packing hack to save space is to sort things out by going through all the items in your house, including raiding the closets and opening the boxes. Then, you settle on which items to keep and which can go. It’s not always easy to decide, so don’t feel bad about involving friends and family members in the decision-making process.

Afterwards, you could make a plan for the items you no longer need. For example, you could donate old books and clothes, sell antiques online, and discard school supplies. Thanks to technology, papers can be digitised to prevent losing, damaging, or misplacing them. Bear in mind that all the other packing hacks to save space are less effective if you decide to pack everything you possess.

It’s understandably hard to let go of belongings that hold sentimental value. But it’s a necessary evil to save space and catalyse the moving process. And you will be making space for new memories in your new place.

Create a detailed packing list

After sorting your belongings and deciding which to get rid of, list the items you plan to pack for the new home. It should be a separate list from the one containing items you want to leave behind. That will make it easier to pack and store the items for transportation. The list will prevent last-minute rushes and forgetting essential belongings.

While creating the list, we recommend adding details and categorising the items according to their place, size, type, or priorities. The good news is there’s no right way to do it; feel free to customise it the way that makes sense to you. Still, we recommend making separate lists for fragile items and ones of high priority since packing and moving these would require special care and attention.

Pack items into one another

Packing small items can get problematic because there are too many of them. It’s something you can use to your advantage, though. One of the most effective packing tips is to put small objects inside larger ones.

For example, if you have old empty jars, you can put packs of the same spices inside which is one of the best ways to save space as you pack. The kitchen often contains various small items that you can put in boxes and plastic containers, so nothing gets lost during the move.

Also, fragile items, like vases and glass crockeries, must be surrounded by soft materials so they don’t break during transportation. This is where your towels come in handy and you won’t have to worry about packing them separately, as they could take substantial space, depending on their size and number. So if you surround fragile items with clothes, linens, and towels, you add extra protection while saving space. Now, you can add more clothing items to the duffel bags.

Save space with vacuum-sealed bags and wardrobe boxes

Using reliable containers for packing can make the process less messy and more efficient. For instance, boxes made specifically for moving are a worthy investment because they’re sturdy enough to hold many items without breaking.

When packing clothes, saving space is easier because they’re lightweight. Even for larger pieces like blankets, pillows, and winter clothes, you can use vacuum-sealed bags to save space as you pack. By expelling the air and compressing the blankets, you can fit a lot more in one place.

Moreover, you can also store formal clothes in wardrobe boxes with built-in hangers. As well as saving space, you will have your clothes readily hung to move to the new closet. It’s very convenient for clothes that get extra wrinkly when folded.

Fill up suitcases and bags

While boxes are perfect for most items, suitcases and duffel bags are more convenient for packing most clothes. Generally, packing suitcases and duffel bags helps you organise the clothes better, protect them from damage, and optimally save space.

Compared to suitcases, duffel bags are easier to carry and usually have more space and pockets to store as many clothes and accessories as possible. But by all means, if you already have suitcases, you can still use them instead of buying new duffel bags. In all cases, you want to fill every pocket with clothes, shoes, and accessories.

Roll clothing instead of folding

We know what it’s like to have infinite pieces of clothes and only a handful of bags to fill. It’s tricky but manageable if you use the right packing techniques. In the previous section, we recommended using every inch of space to fill with small and bigger items. We have one more trick up our sleeves to stuff bags with more clothes and still manage to shut them easily.

That trick is to roll up the clothes instead of folding them flat. Normally, folding saves space when you pack for storage or travelling, as opposed to putting the items as is. However, when packing to move out, you want to rationalise the space you have.

Rolling up clothes will significantly save more space when packing than folding. Moreover, if done right, rolling up clothes minimises wrinkles. You can always find online tutorials to learn how to roll up clothes properly.

Disassemble furniture & appliances if possible

Furniture pieces are hard to pack because they’re heavy, valuable, and easily damaged. We have a few tips for space-saving when you pack furniture:

Store instead of moving everything at once

It sounds tedious to pack everything all at once two days before the move, then arrive at the new place to spend the first few days unpacking every single box. Not only is it time-consuming, but having all those boxes around takes considerable space and creates the feeling of chaos.

Instead, you can keep out-of-season clothes and non-essential appliances stored in an external unit until needed. In this case, plastic containers with lids are better for extra protection. Then, you store items efficiently inside storage units or place them in storage facilities until their time comes.

All in all, this tip allows you to settle in the new home smoothly and as quickly as possible. If you need more info about what kind of storage unit you need, what’s the cost and how to rent, you can find it all here in out guide dedicated to What You Need to Know When Renting a Storage Unit.