Packing & Moving Household Goods/Packing Materials

The moving industry has standard sized boxes that are best to use during your move if you can get them from a local mover or moving supply house. These include wardrobes (comes with a bar across the top to hang clothes on), dish packs (for dishes!), large, medium and book cartons (small). There are also mirror/picture cartons for mirrors, pictures, glass table tops and other fragile, large, flat objects and matress cartons for matresses. Don't forget that someone has to pick the box up after you pack it - don't load heavy objects in a large carton. You may also want to use bond paper boxes from your workplace, which are good for holding books and other small heavy items. All staples in top and bottom box flaps (not the staples on one side of the box that hold it together) of other kinds of boxes should be removed so as to safeguard surfaces such as wood floors, counter tops, and furniture where cartons may be stacked prior to pickup and after delivery.

Packer’s tape is best for sealing your boxes shut but be sure to get a good grade of it because cheaper grades tend to break unexpectedly. Make sure the bottom of the box is well taped.

Use bunched up clean paper or bubble wrap to pack your fragiles. Bunched up paper is considered the best of all wrappings for cushioning as opposed to hard to handle peanuts that can shift around in the box or bubble wrap that loses its cushioning power if some of the bubbles break.

Plastic wrap is great for keeping lids on things or keeping furniture drawers or doors shut without using tape and leaving its hard to remove residue on the finish. File cabinets and big plastic storage bins are good candidates for this treatment.