If you are preparing to move to a new home, you may find yourself on a strict budget that does not allow for fancy packing materials. If so, below are five ideas for securing your belongings using items you may already have or ones that do not cost a fortune.
Wrap Your Drawers With Plastic Wrap Instead Of Emptying Them
Instead of packing up your drawers in individual boxes, use them for your clothes and valuables by wrapping them in plastic wrap. Not only does this save you a box for use on other items, but it can save you space in the moving van. After wrapping them, you can place them back in your dresser or desk. Because the plastic holds everything in, you do not have to worry about anything spilling out if the furniture accidentally tips over.
In your clothes drawers, you can also place small, fragile items between the articles of clothing. This saves you money on bubble wrap and saves space at the same time.
Stack Dinner Plates Using Cheap Styrofoam Ones As Padding
When stacking your dinner plates in a box, place a styrofoam plate in between each one. The cheap ones are thin enough to not take up too much space. They are also soft enough to keep your plates from banging into each other and chipping.
For even more protect, place one styrofoam plate in the bottom of the box. Stack the plates standing up on their ends, packing the sides with newspaper or additional styrofoam plates. This helps reduce the amount of stress on your bottom dinner plates caused by the weight of the others. Instead, the weight is evenly distributed.
Wrap Glasses And Stemware In Socks
Wrapping your glasses and stemware with socks serves two purposes. Not only does this protect your glassware, but it also saves packing space for other items that would be taken up by your socks.
When wrapping your glasses in a sock, feed the sock over it from the bottom. Gently pull it taut around the sides and stuff any excess inside the glass. The extra material inside will absorb any impact, reducing the chance of the glass breaking during movement.
Use Egg Cartons For Screws And Nails
If you have disassembled furniture or a lot of pictures on your walls, you may have a lot of screws and nails you will need to keep organized so you can find them when you start to reassemble everything in your new home. One way to keep them securely stored is to place them in egg cartons with each holder compartment labeled.
For example, if you have taken apart your entertainment center, place a piece of paper with the screws' origin in the bottom of one compartment. Then, place the screws on top. In the next compartment, label and place the pictures that were hanging above the entertainment center to find them easy to find.
After you have filled each compartment, shut the egg carton and wrap it with packaging tape at the ends and the middle to keep it closed during the move. If you have more than one carton, label the outside with the room each one belongs to.
Place Hanging Clothes In Large Trash Bags
Instead of taking your clothes off the hangers and placing both clothes and hanger in separate boxes, wrap them with large lawn and leaf trash bags. Simply push the clothes together on the rod and pull the bag up from the bottom.
Wrap the opening around the base of the hangers' hooks and use the twist tie to secure it. Not only does the bag protect your clothes from moisture and dirt, but the hangars provide an easy way to transport them. This also saves you money on boxes or special clothing bags.
Above are just a few ideas to get you started on packing up your household belongings on a budget. For more ideas, you may want to ask the local moving company you are using for further suggestions or check out a website like http://redondovanandstorage.com.
