A Damage-Free Move: Your Moving Packing List and Packing Tips for Your Home Office

Are you one of the 216,000 people who work from home? If so, you know how your home office can be bursting at the seams with paperwork, books, hardware and so much more.

So how can you move your home office without damage or loss? Read on for our top office moving tips including a moving packing list.

Make a Moving Packing List 

One of the wisest tips for packing to move is to have the right packing supplies on hand. You have lots of important and expensive items that you need to protect. 

Here’s a list of the home office packing supplies you’ll need:

• Strong cardboard boxes
• Packing paper
• Bubble wrap
• Packing tape
• packing peanuts 
• thick dark markers for labelling

Using the right supplies increases the likelihood that your items will arrive safely at your new office. Get these items well in advance of your move so you can get a head start in packing. 

Sort Through your Documents

It’s surprising how much stuff you can accumulate in a home office. Everything from glue crafts with Cheerios and grocery lists to pieces of jewellery you intend to fix.

There’s no point packing up items that you will discard when you get to the new location. So take time now to go through all your paperwork and drawers and sort it into three piles: pack, shred and toss.

Gather Important Documents

Make sure you keep all your important documents together. On the day of the move, you want to keep these items with you and not packed away in a box.

Things like birth certificates, passports, car titles, loan documents, insurance information, and school, medical, and vet documents should be in your possession at all times.

Place all these in a large envelope or folder.

Back up your Computer 

A lot can go wrong during an office move. Make sure to protect all your electronic files in case of damage to your computer during transportation.

Back up all essential computer files to an external hard drive, flash drive or onto the cloud.

Clear Out Non-Office Stuff

Somehow, a home office ends up the final resting place for a variety of items. Now that you are moving it’s a great time to get organized.

Don’t just pack up everything in your home office together. If you find tubs of acrylic paints put them with the arts and crafts supplies. If you find dog or kids toys, put those where they belong.

That way, when you unpack your home office, you’ll only have office stuff.

Pack Books 

If you have a lot of books you need to pack up, follow our moving advice and use small boxes.

Books are extremely heavy. Use copy paper boxes or plastic milk crates to move these items. If you use milk crates, insert a trash bag in the crate first and place the books inside the bag to keep them dry.

Pack the books flat with the spines touching the bottom of the box or carton. Never pack the books with the spine facing up as that can cause the glue to break away from the spine.

If you have expensive bound volumes or books that have sentimental value, wrap them in packing paper and bubble wrap before you pack these.

Carefully Disassemble Electronics

Don’t just unplug things and throw them in a box. This will lead to frustration and a lengthy set up in your new office.

First, take photos of how each device is wired up. One picture can save you precious hours when you go to hook up your electronics in the new place.

Also, use coloured stickers to mark port and cable so you know exactly how to hook everything back up. You might also want to write notes on the stickers to make setup easier. For example, “R” for right, “L” for left, and so on.

Prevent the cords from all getting tangled together by using zip ties to bundle cables together. Make sure to pack the cables together with their devices to stay organized.

Also, many printer manufacturer’s recommend that you remove the ink cartridge from your printer and copier.

Take Care of Monitors

Your computer monitors are delicate. You should use packing paper and bubble wrap to protect these from damage. Make sure that you don’t let tape touch the screen because it can damage it.

Never place monitors in boxes with other items that could damage your monitor. Instead, pack monitors individually with packing peanuts so the monitor doesn’t move around.

Write “fragile” on the outside of the box.

Office Furniture Moving Tips

Office furniture can be heavy, cumbersome and oddly shaped. If your furniture is nearing the end of its lifespan, you might consider donating your furniture and buying new items for your new office.

Otherwise, plan to spend the day before your move dismantling furniture.

Use tape to mark where modular furniture sections fit together. Keep drawer pulls and hardware together in one ziptop plastic bag. Take this bag to the furniture so you don’t lose it.

For furniture that can’t be disassembled, empty all the drawers. Then tape drawers and doors shut before moving.

Use the Original Boxes when Possible

If you kept the original boxes for your computer, perfect! The boxes for your tower, monitor, router and so on are specially designed for those items. 

If you didn’t keep those boxes, call your local moving company to see if they have boxes for transporting computer components. They usually do.

Final Word on Tips for Packing to Move Your Home Office

Thanks for reading. We hope that this article has given you the tips for packing to move. Remember, the earlier you get started, the better.

At Man with a Van, we are experienced office movers. Contact us today for a quote.