How to pack a messy house to move

Moving house is already difficult enough: the stress of change, managing school transitions and updating all your official records can easily take a toll on your mental health. But what if you’re also packing a messy, disorganised house?

Packing a messy house - especially if you have children or pets - can increase the stress of moving substantially. In this article, we’re going to share our top tips on how to pack a messy house to move, and keep your stress to a minimum during the process.

The best time to start? Yesterday

If you’ve already got a set move-in date, you need to get to work organising your belongings as soon as possible. The longer you leave things, the more stressful it’ll be to pack. It’s a good idea to overestimate the time you think it’ll take to pack up your home, so beginning as soon as possible is the best way to ensure that everything is organised on time for the move.

This is especially true if your home is messy: it’s going to take much longer to de-clutter, clear out and organise your belongings - and that’s before you begin packing! Start clearing your home ASAP, and give yourself enough time to decide what items you’ll be taking and those you’ll be getting rid of.

Create inventory

Once you’ve begun your cleaning and clearing out process, you’ll need to get organised with an inventory system. An inventory system will help you organise your belongings and make sure you’re not transferring extra items that you don’t need or won’t be using.

Take an inventory list of every room in your house, including attics and basements, as well as any sheds or garden storage. Note down every time in each of these rooms (even the little items!). Once these inventory lists are complete, you can use them to decide which belongings you’re going to keep, and those you’re going to throw out, donate or give away.

An inventory system is much better than simply taking your house apart and clearing out as you go - if you want to get things done efficiently and quickly, you need lists prepared beforehand.

Have a clear-out first and foremost

Once you’ve completed a total inventory of your home and decided which items from each room you’re going to keep, it’s time for a clear out! In order to avoid making your house even messier than it is currently, you’ll need to be strategic as you carry out your clear-out.

Use your inventory checklist to organise the items you’ve decided not to transport to your new home. Organise these items into the following categories:

Bin
Charity
Give away (to friends, family etc)
Broken

For each room you clear out, you’ll put unwanted items into piles (or boxes) according to the above categories. This will avoid creating even more clutter or confusion as you clear out your home in preparation for packing.

Once all the unwanted items have been organised into their appropriate categories, you can get rid of them as you please. For large items that are broken or simply no longer work, you can hire a skip service.

For items that go to charity, you can either throw a jumble sale or car boot sale or simply drop them off at charity shops in your local area. Be aware that many charity shops won’t take certain items (such as electrics, damaged goods or clothes with excessive amounts of wear-and-tear.)

If you have lots of items to donate, it’s a good idea to split the donations between various different charity shops, to avoid overwhelming the volunteers with too many items.

Pick a removal company

Now that your house is de-cluttered and ready to pack, you should immediately start looking for a removal company (if you haven’t already booked one.) If you haven’t yet booked one, you should shop around for a quote from several companies before picking your chosen movers, to ensure you get the price and exact service you’re after.

When picking a removal company, you’ll need to obtain a list of restricted items that your chosen removal company can’t (or won’t) pack. These can include typical items such as valuables, medical equipment and financial records, but might include more items depending on the company you choose.

You should also decide whether or not you want the moving company to pack for you or not - most removal companies will offer packing services alongside their moving services. One advantage of tasking your removal company with your packing is that you’ll have more time to manage the administrative side of your move. You’ll also be guaranteed a professional packing service, although it will probably come with extra costs.

Have a clear, strategic packing plan

If you’ve decided to pack your own home and you’ve already cleared out any unnecessary clutter, the next step is packing up your belongings. The packing process should be much easier once your home has been de-cluttered and cleared out, so wait until all your unwanted items are gone before beginning packing. This will help prevent you from accidentally bringing a bag intended for the charity shop to your new home.

It’s also important to have a clear, thought-out packing plan and strategy. One of the most effective ways to pack your home is to use colour-coded boxes or labels for each room. You should also make sure to obtain a list of restricted items from your chosen removal.

Delegate Tasks

If you want to get your packing done efficiently and minimise stress during the process, it’s important to delegate tasks. If you’re moving with your family, get everyone involved in packing up their belongings, assigning appropriate tasks to each member of the family. If you have children, you can give them fun tasks such as labeling or colour-coding boxes.

If you’re moving alone, enlist the help of some friends or family members to ease the load and make the process more enjoyable, and help you manage the emotional upheaval of the move.

If you’re moving house in the Kent area, we offer reliable removal services in Kent. As a reputable removals company in Maidstone we offer Sevenoaks removals, removals in Tonbridge and more! Get in touch with us today!