Most households have more electronics than ever – and those electronics are essential and often quite expensive. If you are moving, you will want to be sure that your electronics are protected. Fortunately, packing electronics properly is not too difficult. It just requires the right packing materials and a careful, methodical approach.
Packing Your Electronics – How To Do It Right
1. Get the right packing materials.
One of the big mistakes many people make when moving is not buying the right packing materials to keep costs down. While it might not worry you too much to toss your clothes in a big garbage bag for your move, the same won’t work for electronics. You need the right packing materials for protection and to make moving them easier.
Here are some of the materials you should consider buying and using:
- New cardboard boxes designed for moving
- Proper packing tape
- Anti-static materials like bubble wrap or packing peanuts
- Twist ties
- Label stickers to identify cables
- Sealable bags
- Original boxes for devices (if you have them)
2. Take pictures of your cable arrangements.
It may seem obvious how you should connect your cables to your various device, but it may not be so easy when you unpack your things later on and attempt to set everything up again.
To save yourself headaches, use your phone to take pictures of the back of each device. You can use the images later on as a guide to set up your devices.
3. Remove all cables, tie them, and label them.
If you can unplug a cable from a device, you should. Your electronics will be much easier to pack properly if they don’t have cords hanging from them. If you cannot remove a cord, such as a power cable, use your twist ties to wrap the cable tightly and, if possible, tie or tape it to the device so it won’t be left dangling.
For the cables that you do unplug, wrap them up with your twist ties, and use your labels to identify what each cable belongs to.
4. Keep cables, remotes, and accessories together using sealable bags.
Use your sealable bags to hold all the items together in one place. You can label each bag so you know what remote, what cables, and what other accessories belong to which device.
5. Pack for optimal protection.
Your electronics are going to be picked up, put in a truck, stacked with other boxes, and then picked up from the truck and placed in your home. There are multiple opportunities for things to go wrong.
Ideally, you can use the original boxes that came with each item. These boxes and the packing materials that came with them were made to protect devices for shipping. Of course, you may not have the original packing materials.
If you don’t have the original boxes, use sturdy moving boxes sized right for each device – you should only pack one device per box. Use the packing material that makes the most sense for each situation, whether it’s bubble wrap, packing peanuts, or both. Wrap each item individually and pack so that nothing moves in the box when closed. Then, tape it up using packing tape.
Check with your moving company. It’s likely they will have the appropriate-sized boxes for your electronics.
Questions About Packing? Ask Us!
Our professional moving team knows exactly how to pack your electronics. If you have questions or want to learn more about our moving services, please get in touch.
