3 Handy Tips for Packing Books
Moving is never something you love to do. Moving is a lot of work. You must go through your entire house packing and sorting everything to make sure you can find it easier on the other end. I mean you could just throw things in boxes and hope for the best, but that doesn’t set you up for success at your new house or worse when you're trying to find something in storage. The more organized you can be upfront the easier it will be later on.
When it comes to moving it's not just the organization and the sorting that is a lot of work. It’s very tiring to your muscles. If you’re like most people you probably have heavy and awkward furniture in every room and hundreds of boxes filled with kitchenwares, knick-knacks, and of course books.
Even in the digital age many households still have a lot of books, movies, magazines, and paperwork. All of these items may be either really important or sentimental if you haven’t already downsized. When things like that are sentimental it’s important to keep them protected, secure, and lightweight. Books are heavy so make sure to save your back.
Keep them Protected
Place hardback books standing up with the spine down.
Use a Small Box
When it comes to protecting your books there are ways to make that happen when moving. Each type of book has a different way of being packed that will help prevent damage. Place hardback books standing up with the spine down. This will provide you with an extra layer of protection in case the bottom of the box breaks causing the books to open normally and not put strain on the spine and pages. Paperback books are different. Lay these books flat in the box since standing them up can cause the covers to be bent. For extra special books don’t hesitate to wrap books in paper. This assures that if you have any 1st edition signed copies that they stay extra safe.
Keep it Secure
Put a couple of extra layers of tape and even purchase reinforced packing tape.
As I mentioned above and you may know, books are heavy. Securing your books in reinforced boxes is a good rule to live by. You can either purchase heavy duty boxes from places like home Depot or you can put a couple of extra layers of tape and even purchase reinforced packing tape. Above all these different strategies, nothing will help keep boxes intact more than keeping boxes lighter.
Keep it Lightweight
Always use small boxes for books.
A lightweight box of books will not only be less likely to break, but it will also save your back. A couple of tips for this. Always use small boxes for books. You might think less boxes are better, but packing a medium to large box or tote full of books is insanely heavy and if you have to carry that down stairs then forget about it. Take a word from the professionals: small boxes are better. Also when packing books, especially hardbacks, stack in one layer only and then fill the rest with packing paper to secure. Once the first layer is full, close it up and start the next box. This will not only give you a lighter box to carry, but will also keep boxes safer from damage.
Bonus Tip: A Wheeled Suitcase
Another idea to save you some money and your energy is to use a wheeled suitcase otr totes for heavy items like books. Load it and pull it out just like that. One tip for that though be sure to stack books the right way and use paper to fill in the gaps. Suitcases are not always perfectly square and could cause damage to books not packed correctly.
The way you back books will not only make your moving day easier for you, but also help you to keep your friends happy. If everything is a reasonable weight, labeled and secured it will lead a seamless moving day.
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