Below are several tips to help you with your move to Hawaii. Not only will they help you save time, but some will also help save you some money too.
Before Packing
1. Consider selling the items you don’t need to bring with you. This means having a good old fashioned yard sale. It will put some money in your pocket while simultaneously allowing you to decrease the amount of stuff you own and will have to ship. This process saves you money all around.
2. Visit your local grocery store or wine store and ask for boxes. In order to avoid buying brand new boxes to move with, simply visit a local store and ask if you can reuse theirs. This is a great way to save some extra money. It is usually nice if you give them a little notice (a couple of weeks), so they can put some aside for you. If you will be needing larger boxes, you may want to visit a furniture store or someplace similar and ask if they would be willing to give you some.
Packing
The following are some recommended packing tips:
3. Pack room by room. It’s easiest if you put a couple of different size boxes in every room. That way you’ll be motivated to start. By packing room by room you’ll not only make the packing process easier, you’ll also make unpacking just as easy. Start with the room you use the least; maybe the office, the hall closet, or the second bathroom. The last room you’ll probably want to pack is the kitchen. If you take it room by room, it won’t be so overwhelming.
4. Use the correct size box. There are a couple of reasons to think about what size box you will want to use to pack your items. It is recommended you put heavier items in smaller boxes and lighter items in bigger boxes. This will keep the boxes from falling apart, or having all of your things fall through the bottom, and will also allow for easy lifting when you move them. Your future self will thank you for putting extra thought into this step. By using boxes that fit your items, you will also eliminate damage. Oversized boxes can cause your things to shift around – which is not ideal. Remember, your things will be put on a ship and transported across the Pacific Ocean to Hawaii – they will shift around.
5. Pack your belongings in each box tightly to avoid shifting of contents during transport. Use bubble wrap and packing paper in between fragile or important items. Also, be sure to reinforce the bottom of boxes with packing tape.
6. Pack similar items in the same box. In order to keep tabs on the weight of a box, and to keep things better organized, be sure to pack similar items in the same box. Pack all of your bathroom items together, all of your clothes and linens together, DVDs, etc.
7. Label everything. You will want to mark all of your boxes with the name of the room where the box should go. (Ex., kitchen, master bedroom, bathroom, etc.) Make sure you not only label your boxes, but label them on all sides and on the top of the box. It really makes things go more smoothly and will save you some time when loading the boxes into a container and again when you are unpacking. Don’t forget to label boxes with “fragile” if there are breakable items inside.
