There’s no such thing as a simple move. Packing up the contents of an entire house, loading it all into a truck, and transporting it long distance will never be easy an easy feat. That said, many moves are much harder than they really need to be. By implementing some simple hacks, you can make your next move far less hectic:

Vacuum Pack

Space is precious during a move. Every box needs to be labeled, packed, moved, and unpacked, and each one of those steps is an opportunity for things to get lost or broken. Making things smaller is a good way to make the move simpler, and vacuum packing is one of the best ways to do it. It’s best for dealing with flexible objects, like large bags of clothing or linens and shouldn’t be used for rigid and breakable items.

Vacuum packing is a technique that involves sealing a bag and sucking the air out of it. This makes the objects as small as they can possibly be, which leads to efficient packing. There are a lot of machines that are designed for vacuum packing, but you can do it at home with a vacuum cleaner and a garbage bag.

Organize Your Cords

Cords have a strange talent for getting tangled, and modern homes are full of them. Untangling a knotted mass of cords after a move can be a nightmare, so it’s best to prevent them from getting tangled in the first place.

The best way to do that is to keep the cords separated. Wrap each cord as tightly as possible without damaging it, and then slip it inside a cardboard tube. The tubes from toilet paper are usually ideal, but particularly large cords might need bigger tubes. Cover both ends of the tube to make sure it doesn’t slip out, and then tape the tube to the side of whatever device the cord goes with to make sure it doesn’t get lost.

Skip the Bubble Wrap

Bubble wrap great for protecting delicate objects, but it also takes up space. While these affordable DC movers say bubble wrap is a good choice for heirlooms and other particularly valuable objects, they, like most other professional movers, say most dishes and glassware don’t need it.

Instead, wrap dishes and other breakable items in blankets or shirts. They will keep things just as safe as bubble wrap needed to be packed anyway. This minimizes the amount of extra space that needs to get dedicated to packaging. It also saves a little bit of time at the end of the move because unwrapping a dish also unpacks a blanket.

Color Coding

For years, people have labeled their boxes with simple text, but this Charlotte-based moving company suggests that adding colored tags makes it easier to see what’s in each box at first glance. There are a lot of different methods for color coding, and all of them can be useful, so just pick one. It’s best to combine this with written labels in case somebody forgets the code or needs additional information about what exactly is in the box.

Keep Track of the Hardware

Many pieces of furniture, like bedframes and bookshelves, are easier to move when disassembled. While taking things apart might not be too difficult, trying to put them back together without all the right pieces is a trick. Two Men and a Truck recommends putting all the lose hardware in a plastic bag and taping the bag to the piece of furniture, so you won’t have missing parts when you get to your new home.