How to Pack and Unpack Properly

Let’s not try to pretend that undergoing a move is easy. It isn’t, and that’s the simple fact of the matter. Regardless of what you thought it would be like when you began the whole process, or what your hopes and dreams were for when you got to the other side, you absolutely can and should expect to be met by dozens of unexpected hurdles and challenges along the way. Several of the problems which we tend to find ourselves being faced with are relatively predictable and can often be handled well enough by most of us during the normal course of planning and organizing. For example, most of us understand quite well that in order to successfully undergo our move, we will need to devote a good amount of time to house or flat hunting, to packing, planning the removals process, etc.

But that’s often where we end up getting snagged. Because in the middle of all of the chaos of moving, it’s often the things which we “know how to handle” that jump out and take us by surprise -- proving to be a lot more difficult to manage in practice than they were in theory. So what kind of considerations should you keep in mind in order to not be taken by surprise during your move? Packing Isn’t Easy, it Requires A PlanWhen we find ourselves having to pack our things ahead of the move to a new home, it is very easy to fall into the trap of thinking that this will be a totally simple, straightforward job. A glance around the room, a couple of cardboard boxes, and a few hours spent throwing things together as quickly as possible, right? Well, no.The bottom line is that if you don’t invest the proper level of forethought and planning into your packing, you can and should fully expect nothing much short of complete chaos during the whole thing.Firstly, it’s almost guaranteed that you don’t know how much you own, no matter who you are or how good a handle you think you have on things.

It’s really simply psychology. When we live somewhere, we slot things away into their special nooks and crannies and forget about them. We grow used to our surroundings and never really take stock of what we own.For this reason, most of us will be in for a nasty shock when they begin packing, and will quickly realize that the whole thing will probably take twice as long as we had previously thought.Secondly, it’s essential for you to label and organize your belongings correctly while packing. If each box carries an inscription on the outside telling you what’s in it and where it should go, then losing things is far less likely. The alternative is that you spend months swimming around in a big pile of unidentified stuff once in your new home, and struggle to find anything that you may be looking for.Unpacking Requires Imagination and Planning This is possibly the most oft-neglected part of the whole move. The bottom line is, once you arrive in your new home, you will spend weeks or months trying to get things organized unless you made a plan beforehand about which room you wanted everything to be in.You need to literally map out what you want your new home to look like inside, and have a vivid mental idea of where you want each individual item of yours to be once you’re settled in. If you’ve created this plan and combined it with a good labelling system when you were first packing, then you’ll be settled in your new home in record time.