Moving house can be stressful. Thankfully most house moves take place within a day’s drive of your new home (which probably explains why our furniture trailers are such popular items).

Regardless of the distance you are moving, there’s often more to pack than you’ve anticipated, and it always seems to take longer than expected.

Here’s a few tips to make house moving easier

1.Start early

Assuming you have a few weeks notice of moving, its best to start early by buying the necessary packaging material and boxes. You can then start packing up low-traffic items such as the infrequently used linen or the special occasions dinner set.

2.Buy decent boxes.

It may seem expensive, but spending a bit of money on decent packaging material will pay off in the long run. A set of spare boxes from the supermarket may initially seem cheaper but regular shaped boxes are easier to stack, are much more sturdy and easier to break down when you are finished. You may want to buy a few heavy-duty boxes for precious items such as glassware and crockery, as extra insurance against breakage.

3. Declutter as you go.

Moving house is actually a great way  to declutter. Be ruthless when it comes to throwing away unused or unwanted possessions. Do you really need those worn out jeans or that 1980s Hawaiian shirt? Charities, such as the Salvation Army, can probably make better use of it and it means you won’t have to cart it and unpack it at the other end.

4. Take care with the fragiles.

Glass ware can usually be safely packed in paper, then in corrugated cardboard to provide some protection. Make sure to mark these boxes with “Fragile” and “Top Stack only”. Packing fragiles is something that requires a bit of care and attention, so it may be a good opportunity to do this well before the move, and leave yourself a basic array of glasses, crockery and cutlery.

5. Number and record

If you’ve got kids who are happy to help, get them to record the contents of each box on a simple spreadsheet and number each box as you go. It’ll help you find items you might need urgently by simply using the ‘search’ function within Excel, and will also help managing which boxes to unpack first when you get to your new home.

6. Call in the Whanau

Moving house is a great way to find out who your friends are! Ask your friends and family for help, even if they can only spare a couple of hours. The great thing about moving house is that there are range of jobs to be done, and something for everyone.

7. Use them wheels

Hire a sack barrow to move sets of drawers or use a kids skate board to help move heavy items. Unless you live close to the top of Mt Victoria, most gear doesn’t need to be carried to far. A skate board or barrow will take most of the weight off your back.

There’s information on our furniture floats at or you can give us a call for more information.