Many people leave the kitchen as one of the last rooms to pack when they are preparing for a move. Not only because it is one of the most used rooms, but it is time consuming to pack. There are many things that need to be wrapped and bundled and and sorted through. But in reality, it truly should be one of the first rooms that you start on. There are many things that you can pack months in advance that you won't be using between now and moving day. What are the chances you'll need your Christmas Cookie cutters in June? Pack em up! Take this time to go through all the items in your kitchen, you will be surprised at how many things you can get rid of and not have to take on the move with you. Take your spices for example, I'm sure many of them have expired and it's time that they were replaced. Pitch 'em and make room for for the items that you will need.
Pre-clean the kitchen and get the grocery shopping done for your new home a week before you move in, this way you don't have to un-pack on an empty stomach and everything is all ready for the big moving day! In addition to prepping your new kitchen, be sure to defrost your old refrigerator at least one day before you move and clean up any liquids that may ensue.
When packing your plates, platters or other flat glassware, add some padding, dishtowels work well here, to the top, bottom and sides of the box that you are packing your plates in. Wrap your plates in clothing and then pack them vertically, one right next to each other in the box. Dishes will still need plenty of padding, so keep adding dish towels and/or clothing in between the dishes. They are less likely to break when you stack them vertically instead of one on top of the other and by wrapping them in clothing you are saving on paper waste. Instead of using a cardboard box for moving your dishes, try taking your winter clothes out of those plastic bins that you've been storing them in for the summer and put the clothes in the cardboard and dishes in the plastic for some added safety.
If you are like many of the families across the country, I'm sure that you have been waiting for months to find the matches to many of your socks. Use those mis-matched socks to wrap your stemware. Add clothing to the bottom of the box, just like we did with the plates, and place your stemware in the sock and place them alternately in the box and cover with more clothing. Sometimes you can get old boxes from liquor stores that have the dividers in them, these are also good for packing glassware.
Use small boxes. The kitchen has some pretty heavy stuff to move, like cast iron, small appliances and pots/pans. If you use smaller boxes, you may have to make a few extra trips but at least you know that the boxes are not likely to break. Pack one heavy item in a small box and then "nest" smaller items in with it. Be sure to double tape the outside of the box for reinforcing. Mark each box with the contents and the room that it goes into, write the word "Fragile", "Breakable" or just the letters "N/B" to let you know that you must be extra careful with this box as it contains the "easy to break" items.
At some grocery stores you can get the heavy duty boxes that they use to move fruits, such as oranges, grapefruits or melons. Pick up a couple of those and use them to move your recipe books. They are strong and have handles which can make moving books just a little bit easier. Don't put all of you books in one box, it can be too heavy that way. Fill the box only half way and add some non-breakable items in with the books, such a metal pots or silverware to fill up the space but not add much weight to the box.
By following a few easy tips and packing up some thing early, packing up your kitchen for the move can just as easy as packing up any other room in the house.
