Hello and welcome!
Today we’re going to talk a little bit
about how to properly pack a box.
Now packing is probably one of
the most dreadful times
when somebody is moving.
You get intimidated by the stuff you
have accumulated, year over year
and you have to go through stuff
which makes it a very not fun task
but an absolutely necessary task
when you are moving.
So today, I am going to talk a little
bit about how to make that easier,
how to have a systematic approach,
so that you can get packed up
in time for your movers to get there
and get you all located and
transitioned into your new home.
So the first thing I want to talk about
is setting a timeline for packing.
Set a goal for yourself.
Try to have one room each day
leading up to move packed up.
Obviously your going to have
to set aside some essentials
to get you through until the move
and it depends how big your home is
how many days out you start.
The last thing you want to avoid
is the movers showing up on moving
day and not everything being packed.
Which can add time for them,
maybe making things more complicated,
potentially more expensive.
So I want make sure that you guys
understand how to pack properly but
also have a good timeline.
If you set a goal to pack one
room per day then count how
many rooms you have in your house
and hold yourself to that goal.
If it is a big room, or if it’s
a room with a lot of odds and ends
like a kitchen that is going to require
more boxes than something just like
a bathroom, then maybe make it
a goal for two days
to have that room packed up.
So first as we get started here
we have some basic supplies
and materials that are going to
be needed for packing.
We have your standard cardboard
box, we’ve got some packing paper
also referred to as newsprint.
Now it is referred to as newsprint
however, I do caution you against
using newspaper because the ink
from the newspaper can wear off
on the things that you are packing.
If you don’t care about the stuff
that you are packing that much
or it’s just going to be a real
short term thing, sometimes that’s ok.
We always use blank newsprint,
it protects the items well and
also prevents ink from wearing off.
We have a marker for labeling the
box when we’re done with the pack,
and of course some packing tape,
and then the example dishes that
we are going to be packing today.
So first, we are going to go
ahead and get the box ready
for packing.
As you can see here, you’re got
a pretty standard box, you might
see when packing a kitchen.
So what I am going to do here
is fold over these two flaps here.
They are going to be kind of like
the brace flaps and then I am going
to fold over the two longer flaps here,
so that you’ll see it, like that.
Then I’m going to take my tape.
Now it’s really important to tape off
the bottom.
Sometimes what we’ll see when we go
to move people is that they’ve just
folded the corners of the box
flaps over one another.
That is something that I don’t recommend,
it’s not the strongest way to do it.
I recommend giving it a round there,
potentially double taping it.
So for all intensive purposes
we have the bottom taped up.
Now when you are packing
these boxes make sure that
they don’t weigh more than
50 pounds.
This can not only make them
harder to move but they are
also harder to stack on top
of one another.
They can crush boxes under them
if they are not loaded properly
or if too many boxes weigh too much.
There is just no way to create a base
with that many boxes.
It can also damage the integrity of the
box, so items can fall through the
bottom of the box when you go to pick them
up.
That leaves a mess, nobody wants
to deal with that.
So assuming that the bottoms of
your boxes are properly taped up,
and they’re ready to go,
then they shouldn’t weigh
more than 50 pounds.
So what we are going to do next
is we are going to take
each of our model dishes,
actually, before we do that,
it’s always a good idea to
pad the bottom of your box
with some packing paper.
This way, if your box is set
down on something, maybe a little
too hard, or you have stuff underneath it,
if you have glass on the bottom
of it, it is not just coming into
direct contact with the solid surface
the box is going down on.
I like to put a few pieces of packing
paper in my box to insulate
at the bottom of it.
Ok then once you have the baseline
covered down there, you can start doing
the individual items.
Now it’s really
important here to wrap each individual
item that you are going to be packing.
So as you are wraping them up,
something like a coffee pot
a lot of times, I going to stuff
some paper down into it to help
try and reinforce the sides and
the edges.
So you have that and going to put
one more for good measure down in there.
You’re going to want to put
your bigger dishes on the bottom.
So the bigger items you have,
put them on the bottom, so
you’re not just stacking big dishes
on top of little dishes.
So I’m just going to go item by item
here.
Cups you can just going to roll
them on up.
Cram that down
into the cup like so.
More glassware, notice how I’m
putting the items in the middle of
the paper and folding it into the paper.
This covers the edges and it also covers
the inside of the item.
Generally one piece of paper
per item works, but if it doesn’t
quite cover the entire thing,
it’s definitely ok to use more
than one piece of paper per item.
I always like to be safer than sorry
when packing a box.
This is just so
that items don’t have glass shards.
You want to make sure that you are
covering all the glass if you’ve got
nice books, figurines, or whatever
the case may be that you are packing.
Make sure that every area, ever portion
of that is completely wrapped up.
So we have everything wrapped up
here and we’ve actually played some
Tetris in this box and fit everything
fairly tightly.
So as you see, everything is in
there well.
Now we don’t have anything else
to pack right now and there is
still some room on the top.
So to prevent the top of the box
from caving downward, we’re going
to go ahead and just take some paper
and fill in the areas that could
potentially have air, to make them
more air tight, to fill that gap
This is going to provide cushioning
and support in case something gets
stacked on top of this box inside
the truck.
Alright, now that we have that all
packed in so that there are no gaps
in there to keep things from shifting
and also to add some support to the
top of the box
we’ll go ahead and close up the
top of the box the same as we
closed the bottom, like so.
and the final thing before
we tape off the top is going to
be to label the top
So remember when you are
bringing the boxes into your new
home, you are not going to
remember what is in each individual box.
Especially blank boxes if they aren’t
labeled.
You’re also not going to
remember what room they came out of.
So if you are looking for your
George Foreman grill or you’re
favorite Florida Gators coffee mug
the next morning when you are
trying to drink your coffee,
instead of having to go through
every room of your house
and every single box,
write on there.
So what I’m going to write on
this one, looks like all these
items came from the kitchen.
I’m going to write what’s in
the box, so coffee pot, bowl,
(there’s a few bowls in there
so I’m going to write 3)
I think there are about three
cups in there, and a couple other random dishes.
So I now know what is in the box
and I’m also going to write what room
it is from, so that I know
where to find it, where to put it.
But also, the movers know where
to put it.
Because remember when
they are all loaded up onto the
truck, the movers may not have
a photographic memory exactly
what box came from which room.
So it’s really important that
those boxes are labeled,
this way you don’t have to open up
every single box when it comes off
the truck and say it goes into the
bedroom or it goes into the kitchen.
They can just look at the top of
the box and say “oh it says kitchen”
and bring it directly into the kitchen.
Then that way you know which room to
go to when you are looking for
that Florida Gators coffee mug and
then you’ll see on there Florida Gators coffee
mug on the top.
So I hope this video helps with
some how to on packing and how to
at least get started.
Remember one room per day leading
up to your move is
a good goal to shoot for.
It’s going to not be as overwhelming
as you might think.
Packing can go quickly.
If you really dread it,
and want somebody to come
help you, we definitely
offer packing services and
are happy to come help do this
for you.
So that’s all I have for today,
thanks for tuning in.
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