Moving to Streatham: a guide to packing

Posted on 14/08/2014

Moving your belongings from your current property to your new property in Streatham can result in damages if you don’t properly package and protect your things,  making yourself aware of the basic principle in packing will greatly reduce the chance of any of your things being broken in the transfer, and so it is worthwhile sparing some time to familiarise yourself with the basics.
Materials:
There are some things that you will need in order to package and protect your things properly. First and foremost, you need cardboard boxes, in which to transfer your things. If you can spare some extra money and you want to provide extra protection for some of your things then you can buy plastic boxes, with handles they are easier to load and unload.  You can buy strong boxes that are ideal for moving from various places, equally you could get some second hand boxes from the local supermarket and reinforce them with tape to ensure they are stable. You will also need to buy some tape to secure the boxes once they are full and to help prevent its contents from moving around inside.  To help to protect your things consider buying bubble wrap, to wrap around any delicate or fragile items, foam peanuts to take the impact of anything banging into the box while also reducing the amount the things inside can move (they can’t move if they have nowhere to go), packaging paper designed to be wrapped around things like mirrors and glassware to prevent them from getting scratched but also used to fill up boxes, scrunched up paper will help to keep your things in place, and packaging stretch wrap to help bind things together more securely.  You may also want to consider buying some covers for things like the sofa.  To make sure the boxes are properly labelled you will need marker pens and stickers stating “fragile” and “this way up”.

How to pack:
When you have everything you need you can start packing up your home.  Here are some tips that may help you:
•    Pack yourself an essentials box containing:
o    All important documentation (birth certificates, passports, marriage certificate, insurance or pension policies etc.)
o    Things that you will need for the next 24 hours.  This includes fresh clothes for everyone, a bath towel for everyone an hand towels in the bathroom, toiletries, cutlery and plates etc. some quick cooking meals, something to drink, multi-purpose cleaning wipes, toilet roll, torch/candles, entertainment. Things for your animals.

•    Make sure that once you have filled a box, you can properly close and seal it shut.  If you can’t it is overloaded and some things will need to be taken out.

•    If you have a box that isn’t completely full but you have nothing else to put in there, then fill the extra space with either packaging supplies, or something like bed linen or bath towels, to prevent things shifting inside of the box causing more damages and making the box more difficult to carry.

•    Pack things together, everything that is going to go in the living room in your new home should be placed in the same boxes, making it quicker and easier to unpack in your new home.

•    Make sure that the load in the box can be lifted, that it is evenly spread and is all at the bottom of the box before you seal the box up.

•    Label each box as you seal it shut.  You should note down the contents of the box or what room it needs to go in, and should label it with fragile and this way up stickers wherever applicable.