How to Best Pack Your Car for Moving

If you’re moving across the state or within it, packing up your car can seem like a stressful endeavor. You may have hired movers with trucks, but some things will just have to go in your vehicle, such as belongings you can’t live without, valuables and the like.

Despite the amount of hours your road trip will last, it’s vital to make sure that your car is packed correctly so you can start the next phase of life’s journey smoothly.

Follow these tips for packing your car the right way.

1. Sort Out Items

The sorting process will ensure you won’t waste time and money packing things you won’t need in your new digs. You only need to take the most essential things in your car while the rest of your stuff will be taken care of by your moving company. Create a household inventory sheet and mark only those items you’ll be taking in your vehicle. Consider the space you’ll have after people and pets get in the car.

Consider taking values, electronics and essentials such as prescription medicine, extra clothes, snacks and drinks, a first-aid kit, phones, chargers and toys for the kids.

2. Clean Out the Car

First, remove all excess items from the interior and trash what you don’t need. These will only serve to limit your packing and loading options. Take this time to vacuum the interior and wipe it all down.

3. Get an Overhead Carrier

If you have a small car, you may want to invest in an overhead carrier. These are designed to transport valuable and fragile items due to their hard shell protection. You can also lock them.

4. Pack Essential Items Last

If you do the opposite and pack your bag of essential items first, that bag will be at the bottom of your trunk or stuck in the middle of all your other stuff where you can’t get to it. By packing it last, your essentials will be right there when you open up the back hatch for easy grabbing and going.

5. Don’t Use Boxes

If you can help it, leave the cardboard boxes to the movers. They’re bulky and take up too much room in a car. Use bags and other flexible storage options that can conform to tight spaces. Store your clothing in clean plastic shopping bags or reinforced garbage bags so they take up minimal room.

6. Use All Nooks and Crannies

It’s best to utilize all hidden spaces in the vehicle in addition to the obvious trunk or back of the hatch. Those hidden spots are just waiting to be filled, such as the spaces under the front seats, around the spare tire in the trunk, and passenger foot wells.