The best packing techniques for your personal belongings

When moving private customers, the Eurêka teams take care of dismantling, reassembling and transporting your furniture, as well as any item listed during our visit. Sometimes our customers choose to pack their personal belongings themselves, often underestimating how much needs to go into boxes.

So, to avoid sleepless nights and rushed packing (boxes that give way on moving day), our packing specialists give you some tips for filling your boxes:

Where to start?

• Eurêka provides enough boxes, tape or moving crates in different sizes. All you have to do is describe the contents with markers in different colours and number them by room. Never use stickers or Post-its, which come off easily.
• Start with items that are out of season and that you will not need in the first few days after unpacking (clothes, books). Keep your administrative papers close to hand. Finish by packing the crockery, kitchen items and other things you will need until moving day.
• Pack your belongings room by room and avoid mixing items from different rooms of the house in the same box as far as possible.
• Have plain packing paper to hand (not printed newspaper, which will permanently mark your porcelain), bubble wrap and blankets for the most delicate items (photo frames). Leave the pictures on the walls, where they are safe; they are often packed at the end of the move.

Be methodical

• Write a clear description of the contents and which room the box goes in with a thick marker. Add “Fragile” and “This way up” if necessary. Number the rooms to be furnished and the corresponding boxes.
• If possible, limit the weight of boxes to 20 kg so they are easier to handle.
• Make sure boxes are full without bulging or sagging, that items do not knock against each other inside, and add enough padding (5 to 7 cm of crumpled paper at the bottom of the box) to absorb shocks.
• Fill the box with the heaviest items at the bottom, medium-weight items in the middle and the lightest on top.
• Do not interlock the flaps to close the box, as this weakens it. Instead, fold down the two smaller flaps and then the two larger ones, run tape along the whole seam and add strips across the width.

How to pack fragile items:

• Crockery : you can get cell dividers to separate glasses and/or plates and stop them knocking together. Without these dividers, stand the plates on their edge. The first layer of glasses should be placed upright (especially stemmed glasses); the second layer matters less, so you can lay the glasses down.
• Liquids: to stop liquids leaking (bottles, cleaning products, perfumes) and weakening the box, pack them in sealed bags and clearly mark “This way up” on several sides of the box. Do not hesitate to tape down the caps.
• Clothes: if possible, leave your clothes and blankets in the chest-of-drawers. Take out sheets that are too heavy.
• Silverware: Air tarnishes silver. Each piece of silverware should therefore be completely wrapped in tissue paper or plastic wrapping, and porcelain should be packed as carefully as possible.
• Lampshades : Never wrap them in newspaper, but in two or three sheets of tissue paper, a large pillowcase and a box.
• Books: Lay them either flat or with the spine touching the bottom of the box. Do not place them spine up, as this could damage the binding. Pack books of similar size together. Valuable bound volumes and those of sentimental value should be wrapped separately before packing.
• Photographs: Protect framed photos with padding and stand them on their side in the box; do not lay them flat.