Packing Tips for Packing Properly

If you’re rolling up your sleeves and doing some hands-on packing, be sure to review our packing tips before you begin.

Packing Tip #1: Time is everything – start packing several cartons each day, a few weeks prior to your move. Be sure that the items you pack won’t be needed before your move, of course. By pacing yourself, you’ll be more organized and the job won’t be so overwhelming.

Packing Tip #2: Pack on a room-by-room basis and do one area of the room at a time. It’s best not to mix items from different rooms in one box. To prevent small items from being lost or mistakenly thrown out with the packing paper, wrap miniature knickknacks and other small items in brightly-colored tissue paper before placing them in the box.

Packing Tip #3: On the top and front of each carton, write a general description of the contents and indicate the room from which it came (or which it will go into in your new home). Use different colored dot stickers for each box; then, at your new house, hang a balloon of a corresponding color outside the room where you want the color-coded boxes to be delivered.

Packing Tip #4: Use only unprinted newsprint paper to wrap items. Regular newspapers and colored tissue papers are messy and they may bleed ink on your possessions. AMSA recommends using only white packing paper to wrap all items.

Packing Tip #5: Use clean cartons designed for moving. Boxes obtained from grocery or liquor stores are not always clean, and may not withstand the weight of the items that you’ll be putting in them. Also, their odd sizes tend to make loading more difficult.

Packing Tip #6: Unpack breakables over the box you’re taking them out of; that way, if you happen to drop an item, it will land on some packing material, thereby reducing its chance of breakage.

Packing Tip #7: Some common household items cannot be included in your shipment because they are hazardous materials. Examples of these materials include flammables such as paint, varnish and thinners, gasoline, kerosene and oil, bottled gas, aerosol cans, nail polish and remover, ammunition and explosives, corrosives, and cleaning fluids and detergents.

Packing Tip #8: You should personally transport irreplaceable photos, financial papers and assets (bank checks, insurance policies, stock certificates, etc.), legal documents (wills, passports. etc.), valuables, jewelry, coin and stamp collections, etc.), and medical and family history records.