One of the most important factors to consider on moving day is loading your moving truck properly. Proper loading of your items into a Moving truck will allow for the best protection, the easiest transportation, and the most efficient unpacking. To ensure smooth loading on moving day, make sure all your household goods are prepped and ready to load.
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- Moving Supplies: For any move you will need plenty of furniture pads, a utility dolly for boxes, appliance dolly, stretch wrap and rope. You will need more of these items than you think. If you are on a tight budget, then find a retailer with a favorable return policy, and ‘over-buy’. It’s better to have too many than not enough.
- Tie Down Options: Choose rope or tie downs made from a durable and non-stretch material (such as hemp or nylon) to absorb shock. Make sure the rope is not too thin because it will make knots harder to untie.
- Label: Have all boxes labeled in multiple spots prior to loading. Fragile items should be clearly marked and packed tightly in the box. Utilize plenty of filling materials to ensure that these items don’t shift during the move. This may not seem like a big deal now, but when it’s time to unpack, you’ll be glad you did it.
- Filling Materials: Use packing peanuts, newspaper or packing paper to fill in space inside boxes. Use Furniture pads, old clothing, sheets, pillows and blankets to fill in spaces between items when packing the truck.
- Bundle: Loose items like shovels, rakes and brooms can be bundled together with stretch wrap– this stuff is a mover’s dream.
- Disassemble: Remove legs from tables, remove drawers from dressers, and disassemble furniture when possible, to allow for easier loading, and to use up less space in the truck. Wrap furniture with stretch strap so that the cabinet doors close tightly.
- Furniture: Do not try to load furniture full. You can fill empty drawers with lightweight items (such as filling materials) to utilize the space, but make sure you can still lift the furniture comfortably. Use stretch wrap around the furniture to keep drawers and cabinets closed. If your drawers are full with clothing for example, remove them and wrap each drawer with the stretch wrap. This will save you some boxes and make it easier to lift!
- Prepare a Path: Create a clear path from your home to the moving truck. Use plastic or paper to cover high traffic areas in the home to protect from being soiled.
- Moving Help: Arrange for plenty of moving help, either professionals, or friends and family.
Using these preparation tips, you will have smooth loading of your moving truck on moving day. To learn more about loading a moving truck, check out our other loading posts, 5 Safety Tips for loading a Moving Truck and How to Load a Moving Truck.
