After publishing our recent articles about packing books and clothing, we realized there's something else that's not written about too often: packing shoes!
It's easy just to toss your shoes into a box and carry it up the stairs. But packing shoes in a clean, organized way isn't totally obvious.
Here are some quick tips for upping your shoe-packing game:
1. Wrap
The most crucial thing to remember when packing shoes is that shoes are pretty dirty.
Even if they look clean, you might not want to put your clothes right next to the soles. So a key method is to wrap your shoes when packing to keep everything nice and clean during the move.
Depending on what you've got handy, plastic garbage or paper grocery bags would work perfectly. You can put one or more pairs of shoes into a bag, or use one bag per pair. And the only real rule here is to wrap tightly to save as much space as possible!
2. Flip
This is one of the quickest and best ways to pack shoes more efficiently. In the heat of the move, it can be easy to forget simple tricks like this, so jot this one down!
To maximize the amount of space in your boxes, flip one of your shoes upside down as you pack. Remember how shoes are placed in shoeboxes? That's the alignment you're going for.
When both of your shoes face the same direction in the box, you'll notice that there's some empty space between them that's going to waste. When you place them in the shoebox position, though, no space is wasted at all!
This position also buys you some vertical space in your boxes, meaning you can fit an extra pair or two in there.
3. Tie
If you'd prefer not to think about lining your shoes up in the most efficient way, consider binding them together with an extra shoelace or rubber band.
If your boxes aren't packed to the brim, shoes that aren't wrapped or bound together can go rogue and get annoying.
So by keeping each pair connected, you'll never have to track down a shoe while you unpack. And because each pair will be one solid object, you'll be much freer to move them around to different boxes to pack more effectively and strategically in the heat of the process.
4. All Three!
These methods might all sound great to you. If they do, there's good news: you can combine them all into one super method!
First, flip your shoes into the shoebox position to eliminate wasted space.
Then, put a rubber band around them to hold them even more tightly together.
Next, wrap them tightly in a small garbage or grocery bag.
And finally, pack them tightly at the bottom of one of your boxes to give it a solid foundation for further packing!
This is definitely time-consumingt and might not be ideal if you've only got a couple of pairs to move. But if you're one of those people who loves shoes, has a lot, and wants to move them cleanly and perfectly, this is your best bet!
And Now
Reach out! We're always here to help you get started on the moving process.
Check out the rest of our blog, too. It's full of other tips for making the most of your move!
