How to Pack a Moving Truck

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how to pack a moving truck

Moving day is different for everyone. Some people love it while some absolutely dread it. Whichever category you’re in, it’s important to make sure that you’re doing it right. This is especially true when you begin packing your moving truck.

how to pack moving truckPacking a moving truck is an art. There’s a good way to do it and a bad way. In order to ensure that your moving day runs smoothly, we definitely recommend the good way. If you’re unsure about what that is, don’t worry. We’ve put together a comprehensive guide on how to pack a moving truck. Enjoy!

Preparation is Key to Packing

In order for a seamless moving day, you’ll need to do a little preparation. The most important part of this is determining what your needs are.

Go around your home and take inventory of everything you need to move so that you can get an idea on what size moving truck you’ll need. When you go to reserve a truck for your moving date, opt for a size that is bigger than what you think you’ll need. It’s better to have extra space than not enough. While bigger trucks might cost a bit more, smaller trucks will require more time and energy split between multiple trips.

Once you’ve reserved your moving truck, you can move on to the next step of preparation.

Get Materials

Start by getting all of the packing supplies that you need in order to begin. In addition to boxes, tape and packing paper, make sure that you have mattress bags, moving straps and furniture pads (or extra blankets) for the move. It’s also extremely helpful to rent a dolly, especially if you will be doing the move yourself as opposed to hiring a company.how to pack a moving truck

For your convenience, head over to The Lock Up Self Storage for all of your moving and storage supply needs.

Packing

The next step is packing everything into boxes. Use similarly sized boxes to make things easier to stack and make sure that you label each box so you know where to unload it at your next destination. If you plan on putting some things into storage during your move, make sure that you clearly label these so that you can find them quickly and easily when the time comes.

Protect Your Things

Wrap large furniture and fragile antiques with moving pads or blankets so that things don’t get scratched during the move. At the very least, make sure that you cover all corners, extended pieces, and any mirrors or breakable items.

Recruit Friends

how to pack a moving truckFinally, it’s time to recruit some friends. It’s close to impossible to pack a moving truck alone and frankly, sounds quite dangerous. Ask around to see if you can get a few people to help pack your moving truck. We recommend practicing your persuasion skills with these tips.

Disassemble What You Can

Go through all of your furniture and check to see if any of it can be disassembled. Doing so will help you maximize all of the usable space in your truck and avoid dealing with awkward shapes and sizes.

Take the legs off any tables, take apart headboards and bed frames and remove all of the drawers from any desks or dressers.

In addition to increasing usable space, disassembling furniture is a great way to make your furniture more manageable to move/carry. If it makes sense to keep certain drawers in your furniture, at least take them out while you load your moving truck. You can put them back and tape them shut once your furniture is secured.

Start Big When Packing Your Moving Truck

After you’ve disassembled everything, it’s time to start packing your truck. Move everything outside so that it’s right in front of the moving truck. This will help you get an idea on size comparison, load order and will make the process much faster. Make sure that you aren’t taking up any of your neighbor’s space and that there are clear paths for walking.

If you live in a dense city, this might be a bit more difficult. If so, then mimic the same idea with the main room in your home and you can move things directly from your home into your moving truck.

Once everything is together, find the biggest and heaviest few items to start with. This usually encompasses all of your large appliances such as your stove, washer/dry, and refrigerator (don’t forget to defrost!).

Have a designated loading team stationed inside of the truck so two people can handle in truck organization. Put the heavy/big items all the way towards the front of the truck so weight is evenly distributed and the truck doesn’t drag. Don’t stack two heavy pieces of furniture on top of each other, as this can be dangerous and difficult to unload.

After you’ve loaded your heaviest items, move on to the long pieces. Save space by loading them against the truck walls and make sure to secure them in place. These items will be your mattress, sofas, long decorations, dressers, tabletops, etc.

These big items will take up most of the time during your moving process. Once you finish here, the rest is a breeze!

Load Boxes

Your next step is to load all of your boxes into the moving truck. Again, start with the bigger/heavier boxes and load them into the middle of the truck between all of the large how to pack a moving truckfurniture. Ensure that the heaviest boxes are on the bottom layer so nothing gets crushed. You can place heavy boxes on top of appliances in order to fill in any cracks and crevices that are near the front of the truck.

Then move on the your lighter boxes. Work your way down if you have large, medium and small boxes, but just make sure that the lightest are always on top. Stack from floor to ceiling so that you utilize all of the space you have and add pillows or linens on top of the boxes to create a secure tower of stuff.

Fill in the Holes

While you’re loading your heavy furniture, appliances and large boxes, make sure you’re filling the holes along the way. You can do this with smaller boxes, bags of linens or pillows or anything that is soft and crushable. This will make sure that nothing moves too much during the move and will also help protect your things.

You can also put non-fragile items in between objects to optimize any hidden space. Think boots, shoes, hangers, etc. Have a laundry basket handy to carry these things to and from your moving truck for increased efficiency.

Fragile Items

It’s important to load fragile items last to make sure that neighboring appliances or heavy boxes don’t crush them. Place them in cubbyholes near the back of the truck and always make sure that they are wrapped in furniture pads or blankets.

What About Valuables?

Chances are that you will be going from point A to point B with your moving truck, but you never want to take any chances. Pack all of your valuables either up front with you in the cab of the truck, or in a car that someone you trust will be driving to your next location. Keep important documents, extremely fragile items, any electronics as well as things you’ll need to access frequently with you or in the car.

Having these things, and an overnight bag, accessible will make it much easier on you if you need to get some sleep before you start unpacking.

When you’re packing your moving truck, make sure that you do it right. A well-packed truck will help make sure that all of your furniture and favorite things arrive safely and in good condition. It also saves you time and frustration during the loading process. Make a plan, stick to it and you’ll be done in no time.

If you’re looking for an affordable moving truck for your next move, consider us at The Lock Up Self Storage. We offer moving trucks and free locks to all of our clients who rent out a new self storage unit. All you need to do is call your self storage location and talk to the store manager. He or she will give you all of the information you need about our free truck use, pricing and other packaging items. Our self storage units are all climate controlled, affordable and secure. At The Lock Up Self Storage, you’ll be in good hands. Visit us today at www.thelockup.com and check out all of the available units in your area.