Hello
there!
So, as
I said earlier today, I come to write a second post!
Yesterday
my dad came with great news through message. All of my stuff from
Germany finally came home and although I know it’s going to be a
mess, I was so glad everything came safely and I finally had all my
stuff with me.
So I
thought about telling you about some things I learned (although I
still have a very long way to go) about moving houses, specially
internationally.
I just
want to say that of course my parents helped me to finalize packing
up everything but I’m just going to tell you about my experience
alone while packing. I think it can be really tough and having some
of my friends sharing this same experience makes me realize that any
advice or tip can be extremely useful while planning how to pack to
move away anywhere.
-
Plan well the order of things you would like to pack your stuff in
When I
started organizing I had a priority order of things that I wanted to
pack first. No, I didn’t started with the things I wanted the most
but with the ones I needed less and still wanted. It seems quite
obvious, but when you have an apartment with three years of life in
it, it can become a big challenge!
I used
the principle of Konmari method which says that you need to divide
your objects in three groups:
-
The ones you use and want to keep and make you happy.
-
The ones you’re not sure about.
-The
ones you don’t want and don’t fullfill you at all.
And I
categorized by packing the things I needed least first and last the
ones I needed the most. So I started by packing winter clothes and
shoes, coats and big jackets and I moved through Cd’s and DVD’s,
books, stationary stuff, physiotherapy items, cooking utensils,
plates and bowls I recently bought, gels and creams I really liked
and were new and I finished up with ballet stuff and summer clothes
leaving only the very vital things out and a week of outfits out to
spend just the very last week.
Of
course, everyone has a different preference order, and if you’re
not a dancer obviously you may have different things to pack, but the
method of dividing and choosing helped me out to clean my space as
well and realize what I really wanted and needed although I know that
when I’m able to open the boxes out I might do a second
decluttering session.
-
Write a list of everything you pack
This is
an advice I got from my mum and it helped me out a lot (and it will
help me now as well) to locate correctly everything I pack in the
boxes and suitcases I used. It might also seem an obvious point but
it actually helps you control as well if you get all of your stuff
back once the service you’ve used to move your things gets back to
you. It’s a way also to classify your things in big groups you
would arrange together to unpack easily afterwards.
-Use
vacuum bags to store your clothes
This is
a full discovery that I was reluctant to because of the huge amount
of plastic at the very beginning but after knowing you can use them
as many times as you want (almost) I went the whole way. I tried with
an IKEA model and afterwards I bought a couple of packs in Bauhaus to
store all of the big winter clothes and jackets which made the
storage in big suitcases much easier.
Best of
all, if you store them well folded enough and clean, once you take
them out they should be quite okay and not to wrinkly to store as
usual!
-
Store fragile things in tons of bubble wrap.
Contradicting
myself with the plastic aspect, I must say that bubble wrap saved me
from breaking my most fragile objects. Once they got home my dad
unpacked that box first and told me that everything came perfectly
and with not even a tiny bit broken which was a great relief to me.
I know,
in stores they usually pack their glasses and plates on some paper
similar to newspaper or some kind of thick and stiff paper but
obviously you’ll carry your tableware straight home instead of
packing it up and sending it through five different European
countries before it reaches your home. So no precaution is enough and
I personally made sure to wrap it good enough so I could store the
most bubble wrap possible to reuse it in the future!
-
Don’t freak out
As a
last advice (for the moment) I would recommend to keep as calm as
possible during the process. It’s overwhelming to get a full life
out of an apartment and you can get emotional or just really anxious
to clear the space out and you might live in chaos for a bit, but
everything has its end and everything will be fine. You can actually
have tons of fun while packing because you find pictures, books,
notes and memories that remind you of the very beginning or some
funny day you had while living in that place. It helps you value your
full experience and, as I said before, it helps you get rid of things
that really don’t bring you any joy and lets yourself decide what’s
the very best that represents your years in that specific place.
And
these are just a few short tips I wanted to share with you but I
still have some more! If you’re interested you can always leave a
comment down below!
I hope
you have a lovely night and I’ll see you soon!
Love,
Muriel
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