Carefully pack your electronics before entrusting them to relocation movers

March 12, 2012

No matter how far you're moving, electronics need extra care when they're being transported. Many technological devices are quite fragile, and setting them up can be quite complicated. If you don't consider yourself very adept at figuring out how gadgets and electronics go together, use the following tips to organize and cushion your devices before having them delivered by moving van lines.

Record their set-up
Modems, televisions, DVD players and computers seem like they're getting more complicated every day, given all of the wires and components needed to link them together. As such, you might be worried you won't be able to hook them up the right way when you meet the relocation movers at your new home. Try to take pictures of all of the set-ups for every electronic device in your home you can reference after you've taken them apart and unpacked them again.

It also doesn't hurt to write down instructions for every thing. You can describe the kinds of wires that go into certain holes and what purposes they seem to serve in case you think pictures won't be enough. If all else fails, find the instruction manuals that came with all of your machines and pack them together so they're close at hand when you're unpacking.

Dismantle as thoroughly as possible
The easiest way to damage a piece of electronics is to improperly pack it with all of its components inside. For instance, a printer that's filled with paper can easily jam en route to your new house, and a DVD player with a disc left inside can become useless the next time you try to open it up. Take every accessory and piece of equipment off of your devices before you pack them.

Watch the wires
It's very stressful to have to deal with all of the wires, cords and cables modern technology uses. Don't just cram them into boxes, either separately or together. Instead, carefully wrap and secure them with tape, rubber bands or other binding material. You should also use tape to mark what they go to.

Protect as well as possible
Packing peanuts and newspapers can be very helpful for keeping electronic devices safe. However, to avoid resorting to this kind of packing in the first place, hold on to the boxes your equipment came to begin with. Computer monitors and laptops are shipped by trucks and trains all the time before they're purchased, so the form-fitting Styrofoam and cardboard box that accompany each one should be good enough for travel with a household moving company.