When you use a rental moving truck instead of professional movers to relocate your belongings, how you pack and how you load will make all the difference in whether you keep your sanity or not. Take note of this common-sense advice. And you’ll be glad you did.

Plan and Organize

In summary, do-it-yourself moving the right way is all about common sense planning and organization so you don’t wind up with a needlessly time-consuming and frustrating disorganized mess at the destination. Simply pack your stuff room by room. Label every box in large handwriting with a big black marker pen showing which room the stuff belongs in and what’s inside. Before loading the truck take an inventory of the boxes and use it as a check list after you’ve unloaded into the new place to be sure nothing was left behind. And see below about advance prep for large appliances.

Basic Packing Tips

Place heaviest items on the bottom of the box; lightest items on top. This way, the lightest items won’t be crushed and the box won’t be so top heavy that it can tip over easily. Keep box weight under 40 pounds, but under 25 is even better.  Don’t close the boxes by folding the flaps cross-fashion. Use threaded packaging tape to ensure that nothing can spill out.

How to Pack Fragile Items

If you’ve managed to save the original packaging that came with anything you own from television sets and computers to small appliances and handheld electronic devices, you’re way ahead of the game. For everything else, use peanuts, bubble wrap or crumpled up paper. Be generous with these packing materials. Don’t let multiple items touch each other in the box. Wrap each piece of glassware and dishware separately in paper or foam. Another way to transport glassware is to get some empty compartmentalized bottle boxes from the liquor store if possible. Whatever, the main cause of shipping damage is stuff moving around either inside the boxes, or inside the moving truck, so be sure every box is tightly packed and so is the truck itself. Now for a few specifics:

Top Furniture Moving Tips

To protect furniture from possible damage, wrap the corners of each piece with foam secured by duct tape. Wrap every piece in a blanket or bedsheet. For some pieces you’ll want to acquire moving pads from the rental truck company. 

If you want to leave soft stuff like clothing, towels and bedding in some drawers, this certainly cuts down on volume inside the truck. The only thing is, you don’t want to make any piece of furniture so much heavier that it already is or it will be that much harder to move and could even fall apart because it wasn’t built to be lifted, loaded.  

To protect glass accessories such as pictures, mirrors etc., wrap them in blankets secured with duct tape. Make a big sign saying “FRAGILE: GLASS. Do not place anything on top.” And secure this sign with tape.

How to Handle Large Appliances

Get this part over with well before packing day: Drain all fluids from all gardening tools and power tools and dispose of the fluids according to whatever environmental regulations apply. 

After emptying your freezer and refrigerator, leave the doors open. Before closing and moving, lay some baking soda at the bottom for mildew and odor prevention.

For your washing machine, hopefully you kept the gizmo that secures the agitator for transport. One way or another, you need to be sure the agitator can’t move around during the trip.

 How to Pack the Rental Moving Truck

First things to load are whatever you need last. So, that would be things like gardening supplies and tools, Christmas decorations, books – anything you don’t use every day.  These go right up next to the truck cab. 

Next come all the rest of the boxes, and last comes the furniture and appliances. This way, the first items to come off the truck at the destination are the items that store the stuff that’s in the boxes. 

In conclusion, the most important thing now is to be sure the load won’t shift. Either tie things down or better yet, if possible, pack your moving truck rental all the way to the ceiling for the tightest possible ride.

From OPs Blogs…

Packing Up the Big Screen Newer, flat screen varieties are notoriously fragile. No matter what type of television you have in your home, it’s going to be a pain to pack. Here is a simple guide on how to pack a big screen television.

Packing and Unpacking Step by Step Stack heavier boxes near the bottom, and lighter boxes near the top. Always stack fragile items at the top.

Packing Supplies and Labeling If it’s fragile, cushion contents with packing material such as bubble wrap, newspaper or tissue. Save room by using towels and blankets to wrap fragile items.

Packing Fragile Glassware What I recommend is after placing them in the packing tray just the way you showed, you can fill the sides or any gaps either with hay or … 

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