Almost everything that breaks in a move breaks for the same reason: it moved inside its box. Trucks vibrate for hours, boxes get stacked and restacked, and an item with room to shift will find the walls of its container eventually.
Which means good packing is not really about cushioning. It is about immobilizing. Everything below follows from that single principle.
Materials that are worth buying
Packing paper, unprinted, is the workhorse. Newspaper is free and transfers ink onto everything, particularly onto dishes and light-colored fabric. A bundle of clean newsprint costs a few dollars and saves an afternoon of washing.
Bubble wrap in small bubble for surface protection and large bubble for impact cushioning. Small bubble goes against the item; large bubble goes around the outside.
Dish barrels, which are double-walled boxes made specifically for kitchenware. They cost more than standard boxes and they are the single best purchase in this entire list if you own dishes you care about.
Cell dividers for glasses and stemware, which keep each piece in its own compartment so nothing touches anything else.
Proper packing tape, at least two inches wide. Masking tape and household tape both fail under weight, usually in transit and usually at the bottom seam.
Skip packing peanuts. They compress under load, which lets items settle to the bottom of the box during a long drive, and they escape everywhere while you are unpacking.
The universal method
- Reinforce the bottom. Tape the center seam, then run two more strips perpendicular across it. This is where boxes fail.
- Build a cushioning base. Two to three inches of crumpled paper across the whole bottom. Not one flat sheet — crumpled, so it has structure.
- Wrap each item individually. Every piece gets its own paper, and no two hard items touch each other directly.
- Heaviest at the bottom, lightest at the top. Always.
- Fill every void. Shake the box gently. If anything moves, add more paper. This step is what actually prevents breakage.
- Cushion the top. Two more inches of crumpled paper before you close it.
- Close and label. Mark FRAGILE on at least two sides, add an arrow for orientation where it matters, and write the destination room.
Keep fragile boxes under about thirty pounds. A heavier box gets handled worse, sets down harder, and is more likely to be dropped by whoever is carrying it — including you.
Item by item
Plates and flat dishes
Wrap each plate individually, then stack three or four wrapped plates and wrap the bundle again. Load the bundles standing on edge, like records in a crate, never lying flat.
This is the single most useful technique in packing and the one most people have never heard. A plate lying flat takes the full weight of everything above it across its weakest axis. On edge, the force runs through the rim, which is dramatically stronger.
Glasses and stemware
Stuff the inside of each glass with crumpled paper first, then wrap the outside, paying particular attention to the stem. Use cell dividers and place glasses upright, one per cell. Stemware goes in the top layer of the box, never underneath anything.
Bowls, mugs and cookware
Nest bowls with a sheet of paper between each one, then wrap the nested group. Wrap mugs individually with extra attention to the handle, which is the part that breaks, and pack them upright. Cookware can nest as well, but put paper between pieces to protect coatings.
Mirrors, framed art and glass tops
Tape a large X across the face of the glass with painter’s tape. This does not prevent breakage; it holds the pieces together if it happens, which turns a dangerous mess into a contained one.
Wrap in paper, then bubble wrap, then use a mirror carton — a telescoping box designed for flat items. Always transport and store these standing on edge, never flat, and never with anything resting on top.
Televisions and electronics
The original box is ideal if you kept it. Otherwise use a purpose-made television carton; a modern flat panel is far more fragile than it looks and will crack under quite modest pressure.
Photograph the cable connections before unplugging anything, bag the cables and label the bag, and always transport flat panels upright on their edge. Laid flat, the screen flexes under its own weight over a long drive.
Lamps and shades
Separate the base, the harp, and the shade. Bases pack like any heavy fragile item. Shades go in their own box, one per box wherever possible, cushioned with paper around the outside but never stuffed inside, since paper packed inside a shade deforms it permanently.
What should never go on the truck
Moving companies are prohibited from transporting certain categories, and they will leave them behind without warning if they find them.
- Flammables and pressurized containers: gasoline, propane tanks, paint and solvents, aerosols, charcoal, lighter fluid, fireworks, ammunition, pool chemicals, fire extinguishers
- Perishables: refrigerated and frozen food, fresh produce, open containers of anything
- Living things: plants, which are also restricted across some state lines, and animals, which travel with you
- Irreplaceable items: passports and identity documents, deeds and titles, medications, jewelry, cash, family photographs, laptops and hard drives, keys
The last group is not prohibited by rule. It is prohibited by common sense: those items should be in your own vehicle, in a bag you can see, because no amount of valuation coverage replaces a document or a photograph.
Use up or give away the flammables in the weeks before the move rather than discovering them on the morning of. And check your municipality’s rules for disposing of paint and chemicals — most have a designated drop-off, and pouring them down a drain is both illegal and an expensive mistake.
One final habit worth adopting: photograph the contents of each fragile box before you close it, with the box number visible. It takes four seconds, and if you ever need to file a claim, a dated photograph of the item intact and correctly packed is the most persuasive document you can possibly have.