If you are planning to move, one of the things that should interest you is how to pack your clothes for moving.
Of all the clothes you own, your winter clothes are the hardest to sort and pack. Why? Winter clothes tend to take up a lot of space due to their large volume, and space is usually at a premium during a move.
Packing winter clothes for a move is similar to packing winter clothes for a trip, but it is altogether more challenging. The main reason for this is that, unlike packing a few sweaters and an extra coat for a ski vacation, you have to pack and move all of your winter clothes during a move.
All in all, you’ll need to know some handy tricks to save space when packing winter clothes for a move so that your move goes more efficiently. You’ll also need to make sure that you follow the best packing tips so that your winter coats, sweaters, hats, and gloves arrive perfectly intact at your new home.
So, what's the best way to pack winter clothes for a move?
What You Need to Know Before Packing Your Winter Clothes
There are a few important things you should know before you start packing your clothes. Understanding the specifics of this task can help you speed up the packing process significantly without compromising the overall safety of your move.
Winter clothes are not fragile at all
The good news about packing winter clothes for a move is that clothes are not fragile and will not be damaged in any way if you accidentally drop a box full of clothes on the floor. Clothes are soft goods, so they cannot break like household items made of glass, porcelain, or wood.
This fact alone will reduce the pressure you feel when packing your warm clothes.
Winter clothes can be surprisingly heavy
Most of the clothing you pack for your move will be fairly light, which is another bonus you should be happy about. However, the heaviest items of clothing that you will need to pack in boxes for safe transport are your winter clothes.
Winter coats can be surprisingly heavy due to the thick fur lining they usually have. In general, thick leather coats weigh more than fabric coats.
Even wool sweaters can be heavier than you think, especially when they're crammed into one big box.
Winter clothes take up a lot of space
The bad news about packing winter clothes for a move is that these garments take up a lot of space in the cardboard boxes due to their large volume.
This will probably force you to do more large moving boxes to use than you had in mind.
Before you actually start transferring your winter clothes into boxes, there are a few packing tasks you should complete first to ensure a hassle-free packing experience from start to finish.
How to Pack Bulky Winter Clothes
Some winter clothes may not be worth moving to a new home.
The most important thing to do when packing winter clothes for a move is to go through these items of clothing and decide on a case-by-case basis whether or not you want to move them.
If you are moving to a warmer area in the Netherlands, you do not really need serious winter clothing, such as heavy fur-lined coats, wool sweaters, and thick hats and gloves. Since the climate in your destination area will be mild all year round, you may want to get rid of most or even all of your winter clothes before you move, to save precious packing materials and of course - money.
If, on the other hand, you are moving to a cold part of the Netherlands or even abroad, you will want to pack up all your winter clothes and move them. In this case, you should only get rid of the clothes that are too worn out or that you do not plan to use anymore.
Sell or donate the clothes you don't need
There's really no point in wasting valuable time packing and moving your winter clothes if you don't plan on using them in the near future.
Once you have sorted your clothes, you should have 3 piles of clothes:
- The ones you take with you to the new house (will be packed soon);
- Those that you are NOT taking with you but are still in good condition (to sell, donate or give away to friends and family)
- the items that you are NOT taking with you to the new home and that are in poor condition (to throw away for proper recycling).
- Do the right thing and donate the winter clothes you don’t really need. There are people who will need them more than you. You may also decide to sell some of those winter clothes, especially if they’ve been used very lightly or never worn.
Prepare large cardboard boxes
Keep in mind that you should use large cardboard boxes for relatively light items like clothing and bedding, and small to medium-sized boxes for fairly heavy items like books.
So make sure you have enough large moving boxes before you start packing. to pack of your winter clothing. Also, some winter coats may be too expensive to risk damaging by folding them into regular cardboard boxes. In such cases, it is best to use special wardrobe boxes in which you can hang those valuable winter coats as if they were stored in your dresser (wardrobe) at home.
- How to declutter before moving
- How to Pack Winter Coats for Moving
- Now you should be ready to pack your winter clothes. Let's start with your coats and jackets.
Here's the best way to pack winter coats for a move:
- FOLD the entire winter coat in half, so that the front is facing you.
- Roll the folded coat as tightly as possible in an attempt to remove any trapped air in the winter coat.
- KEEP the hood of your jacket (if it has one) open until the roll is finished. Keep the hood open and put the clothes roll inside.
- USE a few elastic rubber bands to secure the tightly rolled roll on each side and prevent it from unfolding when transported in the packing box.
- MOVE the rolled up winter coat into a large cardboard box lined with clean packing paper.
There are also two other safe methods for packing winter coats for a move:
- Pack coats in a wardrobe box. If you have a number of expensive winter coats that you don’t want to see wrinkled during the move, it’s best to pack them in a special wardrobe box. It’s very simple: take the coats out of the dresser and hang them in the wardrobe box, hangers and all.
- Pack coats in a vacuum bag. If you are really worried about not having enough space for your thick winter coats, you can reduce their total volume by using a vacuum bag. With a good quality vacuum bag, you can save up to 80% of storage space once the air is sucked out of the bag.
Packing Sweaters for a Move
The good news is that sweaters are even easier to pack for a move than winter coats.
Here's the best way to pack sweaters for a move:
Packing Sweaters for a Move
- Make sure you only pack the sweaters you will wear in the near future.
- Place a sweater on a flat surface, such as on a table or on the bed in the bedroom.
- Cross the sleeves of the sweater over the back, creating an X.
- Fold the winter garment in two vertical lines while keeping the X crossed sleeves inside.
- Roll up the sweater tightly, starting at the bottom and going all the way to the neck.
- Use a few elastic bands at each end to secure the sweater and prevent it from unfolding during transport.
- MOVE the rolled up winter sweater into a large cardboard box pre-lined with clean packing paper.
- When packing extra delicate sweaters (cashmere, angora, etc.), wrap the rolled sweater in clean, soft wrapping paper for extra protection. Use pieces of tape over the roll of paper to hold it in place.
Just like packing winter coats and jackets for a move, you can vacuum pack the bulkiest sweaters you own to significantly reduce the volume of the packed winter garments.
How to Pack Winter Hats, Scarves and Gloves for a Move
Packing winter hats, scarves, and gloves for a move is pretty simple, so you shouldn’t have any trouble completing the task in zero time. There are just a few things you need to keep in mind when doing this:
- Pack all small winter accessories such as hats, scarves and gloves in a medium-sized box pre-lined with clean wrapping paper.
- Don't forget to label the box so you can quickly identify it after the move.
- Set aside a winter hat, a pair of warm gloves, and even a wool scarf for each family member for moving day if you happen to be moving in the winter.
How to Pack Bulky Clothes
Consider using vacuum bags to reduce the volume of your winter clothes.
As mentioned before, winter clothes can be quite bulky and this can easily become a serious problem during a move due to limited storage space. And that is exactly why you should seriously consider using vacuum bags to pack your winter clothes.
Vacuum bags are also known as compression bags and they have a valve on one side where you either attach a vacuum hose or a hand pump to suck the air out of the storage bags. Without air in the bags, the volume of the bulky winter clothing shrinks considerably, making the new compact bundle much easier to fit into smaller spaces.
Most vacuum bags on the market today claim to be able to reduce the volume of soft and bulky items up to 80%. However, you should consider the whole operation a success if you manage to reduce the volume of your bulky winter clothes with 50%.
All in all, packing winter clothes for a move is a fairly simple task... unless you have very little time to prepare for moving day. When you are short on time, it is best to rely on professional packers who still pack efficiently like no other.
Packing Checklist: Packing Timeline for Moving
- Pack all small winter accessories such as hats, scarves and gloves in a medium-sized box pre-lined with clean wrapping paper.
- Don't forget to label the box so you can quickly identify it after the move.
- Set aside a winter hat, a pair of warm gloves, and even a wool scarf for each family member for moving day if you happen to be moving in the winter.
- How to Pack Bulky Winter Clothes
- how to pack bulky clothes
- Consider using vacuum bags to reduce the volume of your winter clothes.
As mentioned before, winter clothes can be quite bulky and this can easily become a serious problem during a move due to limited storage space. And that is exactly why you should seriously consider using vacuum bags to pack your winter clothes.
Vacuum bags are also known as compression bags and they have a valve on one side where you either attach a vacuum hose or a hand pump to suck the air out of the storage bags. Without air in the bags, the volume of the bulky winter clothing shrinks considerably, making the new compact bundle much easier to fit into smaller spaces.
Most vacuum bags on the market today claim to be able to reduce the volume of soft and bulky items up to 80%. However, you should consider it a success if you can reduce the volume of your bulky winter clothes with 50%.
All in all, packing winter clothes for a move is a fairly simple task... unless you have very little time to prepare for moving day. When you are short on time, it is best to rely on professional packers who still pack efficiently like no other.
