An average American moves 11 times in their life. The reason can be anything from job relocation to retiring abroad. In many cases, moving means starting a new chapter in life, something many people are eager to experience.
However, the moving process itself can be pretty stressful. Transporting your stuff from your old place to a new home can be very challenging. And often, not all of the stuff reach their destination in one piece.
But, it doesn’t have to be that way. There are some methods that can help you save your time, money and nerves while moving your stuff. And most importantly, these methods can help you transport your items safely, without breaking or damaging them. In addition, discussing with your local movers which of your boxes have fragile items may help protect your belongings from being damaged.
Here’s How You Should be Packing Extra-Fragile Items
The way you pack things depends on the shape and the material of which the item is made. That’s why we’re now going to discuss some common types of fragile items and the best way to pack them. So, here they are!
- Wineglasses – To pack fragile glasses, you will need cellular inserts. But before you put the glasses in there, our advice is to wrap each one of them separately. To do that, it’s best if you used professional packing paper. Some people think that newspapers would do the work, but we disagree. The thing about them is that they’re not as soft as packaging paper, not to mention that newspapers have prints on them, so color can get onto the glass.
- Vases – When packing hollow items, such as vases and bowls, we advise stuffing them with packing paper. This way, the crumpled paper will provide support to the sides of the vase if it gets hit during the transport. We also advise putting the largest vase on the bottom of the box, surrounding it with more packing paper.
- Lamps – When packing lamps, it would be great if you could separate the shading part and the base of the lamp. The shade is the most fragile part, which is why it needs to be wrapped in packing paper more thoroughly.
- Pictures and Mirrors – Thanks to the shape of these items, you can pack them together in one box, one on top of the other. To make sure nothing gets broken along the way, you ought to wrap each item separately. And you know the drill – the heaviest items goes on the bottom of the box, the other go on top of it.
- Musical instruments – If you have some precious musical instruments like a piano you want to move safely to your new home, here’s what you need to do. If it’s possible, it would be great if you could disassemble it in several smaller parts, which you would then wrap in packing paper and put inside the box. Alternatively, you may hire piano moving professionals who have the necessary equipment and experience in handling and transporting pianos.
Packing Gear You’ll Need
First of all, you need to get some packing paper, not bubble wrap. You may think that simple bubble wrap would be enough for this task, but the truth is that it’s not enough. If you need to transport fragile items, bubble wrap will do you no good. Wrapped in bubble wrap, items like lamps, pictures, and glassware will not be 100% protected.
Another advice we have for you is not to over-pack the boxes. Make sure that every box has enough space so that you can close it easily. At the same time, the boxes mustn’t be half empty, because the items inside them could wiggle around while being transported. Therefore, the trick is to pick the boxes of the right sizes and to make sure you will have them, our advice is to buy a bunch of boxes of different sizes. You may also consider buying some heavy duty plastic storage tubs for your other essential things.
Speaking of boxes, if you’re going to use those made of cardboard, make sure they’re not old. Old cardboard boxes can get flimsy due to moisture they’ve collected over the years. You need boxes that are firm, yet not too hard so that the items could get damaged when in touch with them. This is why we advise not to use boxes made of metal.
