This is Tip #4: Start Big.
By now, you should have all of your boxes ready to go, your packing supplies ready, and your home as paired down as it is going to get. Now comes the fun part - actually packing!
Logic would say to pick a room and shove things in boxes based on how you use them and store them now. That actually is a terrible idea. In some rooms, it might work out just fine like an office. But you will use twice as many boxes in the kitchen and living room. Those large bulky decor items and kitchen appliances take up so much space and if you group appliances together, you are just wasting space and packing materials.
I highly recommend that you pack large things first, then fill in the empty spaces with smaller things. For example, instead of packing your crockpot in a box by itself, pack tea towels, spices, sugar and flour, dry goods or anything that will inside. You just maximized your space! Stuff your large, bulky tupperware containers with K-cups or cups or the smaller plastic containers. Use empty spaces in any way that you possibly can.
Once you have filled your box with all of the big things (serving bowls, your Kuerig, the stuffed crockpot, whatever), fill in the remaining spaces with any smaller items you possibly can. I would cushion my crockpot with cooking utensils or tea towels. Any items that I can find to fill in those empty gaps. This might mean you have four or five open boxes at a time.
Something to keep in mind here is that it is important to group by room, not by category. If you have dry goods mixed in with kitchen appliances, it is ok, because they both belong in the kitchen. But I don't want a box of office supplies mixed with my living room coasters and kitchen utensils.
To give you another example, one of my living room boxes had four lamps, a bunch of candles, and a picture frame in it. Not because those items were paired together in my decor scheme, but because the candles filled in the gaps between the lamps and the frame filled the last inch of the box to capacity. (If I had taken a picture of this box, it would have looked like a box with a picture frame in it.)
Hope you have gotten a few ideas to make your packing life easier. I have more ideas coming!
Missed the previous Moving Tips? Catch up here:
Moving Tip: Intro
Moving Tip #1: Where to Find Boxes
Moving Tip #2: Be Ruthless
Moving Tip #3: Strategize
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