If you’re about to move to another home soon, storage spaces such as your garage, basement, attic, and tool shed should be one of the very first premises to sort out and pack for moving simply because the time it takes to get their contents ready for a move can take up forever. Despite their top packing priority, there can be smaller storage areas in your home you might even forget to take care of before it’s already too late. Your walk-in closet is a perfect example for such a tiny room where you must have kept placing all kinds of stuff inside with the hope of never having to sort it all up and pack it up for moving.
Walk-in closets are very practical and extremely convenient on a daily basis until the dreaded day comes when their entire contents needs to be properly categorized and packed safely for a schedule house move. To help you complete that process in the fastest and safest way possible, we have prepared the following tips on how to pack a walk-in closet for a move. Save loads of valuable pre-move time by following our step by step guide to packing your walk-in closet because every hour saved when packing for a move brings double points.
How to pack clothes for moving
Probably just a glance at your walk-in closet will tell you that you need to really sort out and group your clothes as not all of your garments will make the shortlist. Just packing up all your clothes without deciding which ones are actually worth moving only looks like it’s going to save you time but in reality it’s just a huge time waster in disguise. While it’s true that you’ll gain a short-term time advantage, that same advantage will be soon gone when you have to pay more for transporting a heavier shipment than necessary, and later when you lose double the time to figure out where to store all your walk-in closet clothes in the new home.
Step 1: If you know you won’t need all of the clothes found in your walk-in closet, then you must sort them into two piles: Pile #1: Keep and Pile #2: Discard. Pile #2 can be further sectioned into Give Away, Donate or Sell.
Step 2: Wardrobe boxes are designed to keep your clothes in perfect condition when moving to a new home and it is highly recommended that you use their utmost convenience and protection. The only problem is that quality wardrobe boxes are rather expensive and they will take plenty of space in the storage area of the moving vehicle.
Step 3: Use all the suitcases and travel bags you own for packing the more expensive, valuable or delicate pieces of clothing found in your walk-in closet.
Step 4: “Did you just say garbage bags?” Incredible as it may sound, the usage of clean and durable garbage bags for speed clothes packing is probably the most practical clothes packing tip you’ll ever hear when getting ready to move out. Viewed more as a magical trick when packing clothes for a move, you don’t have to be a magician to take advantage of the packing power of garbage bags. Simply pull large garbage bags around your clothes from the bottom up as they are hanging on their hangers and then tie up securely the tops to prevent the hangers from falling off. It’s as easy as that.
How to pack shoes for moving
Besides the common presence of clothes, shoes are the other typical items that can be found in walk-in closets. Shoes provide excellent protection for your vulnerable feet and are always ready to take you whenever you need to go or whenever Fate takes you. So, make sure you know how to pack your shoes for a move to protect the money you have invested in each pair.
Step 5: As was the case with your pieces of clothing, you need to go through your shoe collection and set aside any pairs that are already too worn out or even damaged to be worth the time, effort and money for their relocation. Maybe there are some shoes you never particularly liked for some reason? Packing up your walk-in closet for a move is the ideal opportunity to optimize the number of shoes you own.
Step 6: Don’t forget to single out your most comfortable pair of closed footwear you have in your closet and wear it on Moving day. Ideally, the pair will have anti-slip soles as well.
Step 7: Clean your shoes before packing them up as dirt or other filth on your pairs could damage them significantly while on the road. Make sure your cleaned shoes are completely dry before you place them in moving containers.
Step 8: It’s very important that you stuff crumpled packing paper or Bubble wrap inside your more delicate pair of shoes to avoid finding them misshapen, crushed or simply deformed upon arrival in your new home. Avoid using newsprint due to the possibility of finding nasty ink stains on your footwear.
Step 9: Wrap your shortlisted pairs in soft packing paper and place them in suitable cardboard boxes. It’s best if you keep the original shoe boxes, but it’s still okay if you don’t, provided you have found clean and sturdy containers of the right size.
Step 10: Don’t forget to fill up any remaining spaces inside the shoe boxes with suitable filling materials and to label them correctly.
How to pack your walk-in closet bits and pieces
Of course, it’s very unlikely that your walk-in closet will contain nothing else but clothes and shoes. In most cases, walk-in closets will have a little bit of everything – children toys, family pictures, old letters, valuable and not-so-valuable collectibles, all types of small household items, etc. Since there is no way we can know what you have in store inside your walk-in closet, we offer you the 5 most important packing principles when packing storage areas for moving:
Packing principle #1: Start the packing process as early in your moving preparations as humanly possible regardless of how good a packer you are.
Packing principle #2: Sorting out your stored items is an essential requirement to avoid overspending and more lost time than you might think. If you haven’t used an item in more than a year, then it’s high time you did something about it.
Packing principle #3: Always pack your possessions in such a way as if you were sending them to their bumpiest rollercoaster ride ever because sometimes you won’t be too far from the truth.
Packing principle #4: If you feel like you’re falling behind your moving schedule, don’t hesitate to ask for timely packing assistance – reach out to your good friends or bet on experienced professional packers.
Packing principle #5: Don’t forget to label your properly packed up boxes – take a black marker and mark down the contents, destination room, and special handling instructions on at least 3 sides of each moving box.
