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5 Packing Tips and Shortcuts for a Time-Sensitive Move

September 20, 2017

Sometimes life gives you lemons and making lemonade is a luxury you just can’t quite afford. If you’ve ever found yourself having to move quickly from one living situation to another–be it due to breaking up with a significant other or your dream high-rise apartment suddenly opening up at a far cheaper price then expected–then you know that it takes an experienced hand at packing to handle a move that can sometimes happen virtually overnight.

And while these last-minute moves are arguably the best time to hire professional packers, if you’ve moved around during college then you’ve likely had some experience with impromptu moves. So without further ado, let’s get to the tips.

Table of Contents

How to Handle Time-Sensitive Moves Like a Pro

1. Start Immediately

While we are big fans of taking your time before packing to take stock of everything you have and draw up a plan that best suits your needs, this just isn’t realistic when you have forty-eight hours to pack your whole life. After all, as we’ve discussed before, leaving any packing until the last minute is a surefire recipe for getting behind schedule and potentially losing something. To stay organized, consider of keeping a running inventory via a tablet or pen and paper so you at least have an inventory of your valuable items and the like.

2. Know Your Priorities

One of the most common mistakes that happens when someone has to pack way faster than usual is to just forego any semblance of order or purpose and packing with no organizational plan. The problem with this approach is that while it may go a bit faster than putting together and following a plan, you’ll likely pay for it in lost time when you can’t find any of the boxes you need when you need them, causing the move time to stretch way past the allotted amount of time. The key here is to pack the most difficult rooms first so that you can pick up speed as you get further along and make your deadline on time!

3. Use a Checklist…and Follow It

While many people will create a checklist or use a checklist tool, many also fail to stick to that checklist, even when they have a solid month of packing ahead of them. However, when you have time on your side, you’re far more likely to catch mistakes and not leave crucial items until the last minute. One does not have the luxury of time on one’s side when moving at the last minute, so find the moving day checklist that works for you and stick to it. It will help you to remember things that you’d otherwise forget as there is just simply too much for one person to keep track in her or his head when moving..

4. Get Rid of What You Don’t Need

Many people have a hard time parting with material goods, often because they come to symbolize a fond memory and thus are kept around for the sake of posterity. But when you truly have to put it into high gear for your move, you just do not have the time to spend days deciding what you want to keep and what you want to put in professional storage facility or just trash. Remember, the less stuff you have to move means the better chance you have of moving on time, so get rid of the stuff you simply do not have a use for anymore.

5. Ask for Help

Whether it’s assembling a team of friends or hiring professional movers, last-minute moves are infinitely more difficult when it’s just yourself handling all the packing and moving. We’ve all helped friends to move at one point or another and so if you’ve never called in the favor yourself, now might be the time to consider it. Or you can hire professional movers and just relax knowing that a team of professional will be helping you every step of the way.