14 Packing Hacks From the Pros That Make Moving Less Awful

One way to cut down on the jumbled mess of extension cords is to wind each cord up in a 6-inch coil, and insert each into its own toilet paper roll. You’ll have lots more room in the box, and no tangled mess to unpack later. Just remember to clearly label the box!

#4 Create a “Moving Toolbox”

Moving day can easily turn into moving week when you spend as much time looking for the packing tape and Sharpie as you do filling the boxes.

Pack more efficiently with a “moving toolbox” where you keep your box cutter, tape, labeling markers, and other packing supplies in one carry-all that you can take from room to room. It’s easy to misplace small and essential items like these when your house is full of boxes and in disarray.

#5 Tape Appliance Cords to Their Homes

You could be scoping out the new neighborhood, but, instead, you’re running from appliance to appliance desperately trying to match them with the right power cord.

Skip the electronic guessing games by taping the plug right to the appliance to which it belongs. And go check out that taqueria on the corner with your reclaimed time.

#6 Use Your Towels, Blankets as Packing Materials

Another way moving day gets frustratingly extended? Your third trip to the store to buy more bubble wrap.

Kudos on treating your breakables with care, but Smallin Kuper says you don’t need the store-bought stuff. Pot holders, oven mitts, and even those old paper and plastic grocery bags you were planning to recycle make great packing materials. Also consider towels, pillows, blankets, the kids’ stuffed animals — whatever’s soft!

#7 Color-Code Boxes

If you’re paying movers, really get your money’s worth by making it easy for them to deposit every box in the right room.

Assign a color to each room, then mark that color on the outside of each box. Before movers arrive, add the correct color label to each room’s door. They’ll love the simplicity, and you’ll love not having to haul everything that was supposed to go in the office out of the playroom.

#8 Keep Your Clothes in Their Drawers

Another way to cut down on boxes and the awful chore of unpacking: Don’t pack the clothes in your drawers. They’re already in a box!

Simply wrap the whole drawer in plastic wrap, and your drawer becomes the box. The same trick can work for hanging shoe racks, utensil organizers, and other container-type items.

#9 Use Garbage Bags to Move Clothes on Hangers

You’ve got hangers in one box, clothes in another, and it’ll take hours pairing them all back up again in your new closet.

Nope. Get all that time back by clustering groups of clothing together, then pulling plastic garbage bags up from the bottom and tying them at the top — twist ties work great for this. Layer these clusters together for the move and hang up as soon as you arrive.

#10 Give Liquids a Plastic Wrap

You spent all that time packing up your cleaning supplies box just to have the window cleaner spill during the move, destroying the box, soaking clothes in the neighboring one, and causing a huge mess in the middle of an already stressful day.

To prevent spills mid-move, uncap all household liquids — everything from toiletries to cleaning supplies — then cover the top with clear plastic wrap, and tightly reseal the cap.

#11 Cut Handles in Boxes

“This one isn’t heavy, it’s just awkward” is a phrase you’ll be tired of hearing by the time you’re settled into your new home.

 and asking for all the parts to reassemble a bookshelf they discontinued three years ago. You know you’ll just end up walking out with a new one.

Storing all the hardware — including the specialty Allen keys required to work them — in sandwich bags and tape them directly to the item.

#14 Use Your Rolling Luggage as Boxes

Woe to the person who gets stuck carrying the boxes of books — or to you if your movers charge for extra heavy items.

Save your back or your wallet by repurposing rolling luggage to move heavy, sturdy items. And (bonus!) you won’t have to worry about packing the luggage itself.