The Things You'll Need for a Move - Essential Packing & Moving List
So you’re finally about to make that big move. It’s funny how something can be so exciting and so terrifying at the same time. Some of that fear comes from the feeling of being unprepared, am I right? What supplies do you need when you move? Don’t worry, I think we here at STKR Concepts can help you figure out what you need in order to move safely and more confidently.
Essential items when moving are
Now, this is the list of the essentials in a move, not everything that will help you. If you’re wondering what else can help make things even easier when you move, keep reading.
What do I Need When I Start Packing?
Now that you’ve finished planning your route, picking your rest stops, figuring out what truck to rent, and have sold what you don’t want to take with you, it’s time to get to everything you have left in your house. Some useful items for packing and moving to have with you for the final packing part of your move are:
- Someone to help you
- Cardboard boxes
- Marker
- Measuring tape
- Duct tape
- Strapping tape
- Moving blankets
- Dollies
- Lifting straps
- Stretch wrap
- Furniture sliders
- Tie-down straps
- Bubble wrap
- Lights
This list might be bigger than you thought it would be, but all of these things will help you. Obviously, having as many people help you as possible is the greatest and you don’t really need to have all of these things.
For instance, you don’t have to go out and get furniture sliders if you intend to use straps and dollies and if you intend to pack everything in a rented trailer, maybe you don’t need the tie-down straps.
The humble marker will be the item that preserves your sanity. Just be sure to mark more than one side of the box or only the top of the box otherwise, it’s virtually pointless. The measuring tape will help you make sure your furniture will make it through the doors of the old house and into the new house.
If they don’t, you might have to dismantle them. The rest of the items are for helping you pack without breaking anything and moving heavy objects without hurting yourself or your surrounding environment.
Why ‘Lights’?
You might be surprised to see ‘lights’ on the list. After all, when you’re packing you’ll still be inside your house with all the lights in there, right? Well, how often do we find time slip from our fingers? It’s irritatingly common and it’s entirely possible you could find yourself packing late and putting your boxes and furniture in your trailer or truck in the dark.
To prepare for that, I highly recommend getting a headlamp so that you can work without sacrificing one of your hands to hold a light and make things difficult on yourself. While I do think that you can use any handlamp and any light, I truly believe the STKR FLEXiT Headlamp Flashlight will help you the most. To explain why, we have this fun video explaining what makes it better than most headlamps, not least of all for its flexible head that lets you angle the light.
What do I Need While Moving?
Other than the usual items that prove to be essential on a trip such as toiletries for overnight stays, your luggage filled with a few days worth of clothes, phone and charger, and your favorite music, I can’t recommend enough having the light you used earlier readily available.
But why would you need a headlamp? Well, not only do you need a headlamp, but you should also have a task light. It’s not uncommon for movers to stop often in order to fuel up, have to add power steering fluid, change a tire in the dark, or have to check their engine for a number of reasons and need something that helps them see in all the nooks and crannies. But in order to do these things, you need a light, and preferably, both your hands.
Or, if you have large trailers and 26-foot long trucks, you’ll need help to park those beasts when you’re turning in for the night. It helps tremendously to have someone with a light helping you see where you’re parking.
But what if you don’t have someone with you? Well, that is one of the reasons we at STKR developed the mobile task light. A light compact enough to be taken anywhere, but with enough power to provide 1200 lumens spread nearly 180 degrees to give you a wide area of light. Maybe a light that’s even more helpful would be the light mine pro that’s covered with magnets to attach to any steel surface.
What do I Need When Unloading?
Now we come to that unbelievably happy moment when you’ve made it! You probably arrived later than you expected thanks to the traffic of random emu farmers visiting from Australia, so it’s close to dark by the time you make it to your new home. Before I can congratulate you, there is that one last pesky part: unloading everything in the truck. So what are useful items for packing and moving at this point?
- Box cutter
- Your dollies
- Lifting straps
- Moving blankets
- A rented dumpster for all your packing garbage
- Your task lights and headlamp
You might be tempted to leave everything for the next day until you remember that somewhere in there you packed the coffee maker. Resigned to your fate (at least for the coffee maker), you bring your luggage into the house and then go back and open the back of the truck.
You arm yourself with your headlamp and use your task light to light the path between the truck and your new house, and start getting boxes out and away from where you think you packed the coffee supplies. You’ll be pretty grateful for that sharpie you used to label your boxes at this point.
Fast-forward to when you find the box you need for tomorrow, this is where you need a box cutter to open it up. The next day, you still have the rest of the truck to empty with the means by which you first loaded it. For the heavy furniture, hopefully, you still have your dollies, lifting straps, and moving blankets.
As you empty all of your boxes and unwrap your valuables and breakables, you also need a place to put all of the cardboard, bubble wrap, and paper. I recommend finding something bigger than your garbage or recycling bin to put everything in. If possible, rent a dumpster or small trailer with a tarp cover to take the materials out yourself.
Final Word
I know it may have seemed a bit odd for me to talk about the lights so much, but they really are crucial, and we want this huge change in your life to go as smoothly as possible. The whole purpose of STKR Concepts is to bring you light anywhere and anytime you need it. Whatever problem you encounter we have been working on innovative solutions for our products so that, hopefully, we have the light you need for any possible “what if,” or Murphy’s law situations.