Home » Blog » Moving Tips: The Best 5 Tips for Labeling Boxes

5Pcs Colourful packing tape 3m transparent tape paper Rainbow Sticky Paper Masking Adhesive Decorative Tape Scrapbooking

Moving Tips: The Best 5 Tips for Labeling Boxes

May 24, 2017

Over the years we’ve come to notice the ways certain “types” of ways people handle moving. For example, there’s the person who puts in a lot of effort to make it seem like they’re helping when they’re really not doing much of anything and the person who owns a label maker and is waiting for us right on time with clipboard in hand. We all know that person.

Pantry cabinet full of containers, each neatly labeled. A spice shop’s worth of herbs and spices, each one labeled.

We love this working with this type of person because they’ve usually made the necessary preparations and are very organized. They have planned for the weather and know how to keep their electronics all together. That said, as packing and labeling those packages is our business, we have a few labeling tips of our own from which even the label maker owner in your life can learn a thing or two.

Table of Contents

Mastering the Art of the Label

1. Structural Organization: Learn It, Love It

While we often talk about the stress of the move itself, that’s in no way to undersell just how important the packing process is in minimizing your stress levels. And while some may be committed to the take-it-as-it-comes approach of packing, having a structurally organized approach to how you pack is utterly essential to deploying an effective labeling system.

Whether you’ve organized your labels room by room, by groupings of items, or by whatever system that helps you know where everything is or should be, as long as it works for you then it works for us! Any organizational system for moving is better than none.

2. Get the Right Labels for You

Ok, so this is the part that label maker owners might poo-poo, but hear us out. First of all, if you do have a label maker, does it print in color? You’d be amazed at the levels of organization you can reach simply by buying a twelve- or twenty-four pack as you can buy as many as you have categories and assign a color to each. But do consider making a color key so you are certain which one is which, especially the more tones you use.

Another important aspect to consider is are the markers water-proof and permanent? We’ve seen the most organized soul accidentally buy dry erase markers and nearly lost it when those labels disappeared. Make sure you’re solid in that department.

3. Using Labels from the Internet

Now here’s an increasingly popular approach. It utilizes stock label image files online so users can download the ones that are easy to read and even download labels organized by color!

Also, think about what your labels should say. Will they describe what lies inside or the room the box belongs in? Either one works as long as it helps you stay organized.

4. The Rainbow of Colored Tape

OK, we saw a customer do this recently and we had to take note. With there being almost as many shades of packing tape as there are markers, you can bake in your color-coded structural organization system into the packing materials themselves. Simply buy as many shades needed to keep you organized. And don’t forget to create a color key as well to ensure others can following your labeling system!

5. Make the Most of Your Moving Materials

These days, packing materials are much more sophisticated than the plain boxes your parents likely used to move. Many moving boxes come with a checklist of rooms and items so you can simply check a box and gain a significant degree of structural organization. If the above steps sound like too much work for you, then this is probably your best bet for keeping all of your items in order along with hiring the best movers in the Chicago area. After all, help from labeling experts is perhaps the best way to move in a systematized manner so reach out to us today!