Should you empty the drawers of furniture such as cabinets, bedside tables, sideboards and office desks prior to moving ? It’s actually something that the Tower Moving team here get asked a lot.

Different drawer types and how they should be managed for removal

• Large wooden bedroom chests containing drawers. You’ll find it’s ok to leave these drawers filled with either clothing or bedding ie nothing fragile, heavy or that will fall out easily. If it is too heavy for us to move then we can always remove the drawers and take them out separately.
• Flimsier bedroom chests (ie made from plywood or from Ikea) with drawers. Don’t leave these drawers filled. The chests aren’t sturdy and could easily break with the added pressure of moving.
• Divan beds. Definitely remove the items from these drawers. That’s because the bed will be stored upright in the truck and any items still in the drawers would therefore fall out.
• Desks. Take out all that stationery, pens and books etc and put them into a separate carrier bag. Alternatively, if the desk is going to remain upright then seal the drawers by putting a supermarket carrier round them and affixing plenty of tape.
• Filing cabinets. Do the drawers of this come out? If so, pack them separately into the van. If not, then unless you can lock the cabinet, the items will have to be removed and stored separately.
• Sideboards with drawers. It’s usually ok to get away with leaving the drawers here as they are. That’s because the drawers tend to be sturdy and not particularly large. They’re also reasonable easy to move and tend not to be too heavy.

Whatever decisions you make regards emptying your drawers or leaving them as they are, there are a few considerations to take into account. One is the fact that emptying drawers takes up valuable time that you could be spending on some other aspect of the home move.

The second is the fact that unpacking drawers will lead to a larger volume of goods to be moved which in turn could increase the overall cost of the move. Keeping drawers as they are – with their contents intact – takes up far less space in the truck and looks neater too. It also means less unpacking at the other end when you’ll already have enough to do getting your new home in order.