Start by taking an inventory of your items and plan the move. Begin to organize everything if possible before you even begin to move. And one of the densest items you might have to move is your books and many of the other things in your office. As with any room, it is important to first think about what you want to move vs. what you might be able to sell or give away. Perhaps you might consider a garage sale to sell many of your books or giving them away to a local bookstore or the goodwill.
If you have a large desk you might want to empty one drawer at a time and pack them separately in small boxes and label accordingly. Often, one of your heaviest items can be your desk. When choosing desk for your office please keep in mind that the average person moves once every 3 – 5 years! So keep this in mind before purchasing a very heavy and large all wood beautiful desk! Obviously, if your desk is very heavy it is best to move it out through any doors before you pack it securely with blankets or other protection.
A box full of books is often extremely heavy so we would also recommend a few things when considering moving them. First, if you do pack books, be sure to use small to medium heavy duty moving boxes and don’t mix books with other items. You should try to pack books flat and if there is extra space just fill with newspaper or bubble wrap. Be sure you are using a sturdy box and heavy packing tape as these are often your most heavy boxes. And be sure to label them as books so that you always know to pack them on the bottom of the pile. Try to keep all your books and magazines together so they can easily be unpacked after your move.
When packing your personal computers and other devices like printers or external drives etc. please take special care. Other tips:
- Keep a copy of everything on your computer prior to your move.
- You can save the most important things to a mobile storage device and keep separately.
- Keep the original boxes and packing material or bubble wrap
- Place plenty of loose Styrofoam, bubble wrap or crunched up newspaper in the cavities in the box as you pack. Put packing material in the bottom of the box and seal it with tape. Mark the boxes "fragile" and identify which room they go into.
- Make sure not to place heavy boxes on these items to avoid crushing.
- Try to keep all of the power and other chords with the appropriate items.