If you’re a bookworm, like me, one of the things you dread most about moving is packing up your books. There’s a lot of them, they’re never the same size or shape, and you have to pack them in just the right way to make them easy to move, it’s just so tedious. Here are six of the best tips for packing books to help simplify the task of packing up your collection.

Purge Your Library

I know, it’s hard to let go! However, once you really start to sort through your bookshelves, I guarantee you will come across books you forgot you had, novels you never read, duplicates or texts you absolutely hate. Use your move as an excuse to really sort through your collection and purge all the books you no longer feel the need to hang onto. Give the books you no longer want away to friends and family, or donate to local charities or libraries. The more you donate, the lighter your load.

Group by Size and Weight

Once you’ve decluttered your shelves, start by sorting the books you are keeping into piles by size and weight, this will help you when you’re packing them up later on. Small, lightweight pocketbooks in one pile, heavy hardcover coffee table books in another, etc. Doing this will really speed up how long it takes to pack your books in boxes later on.

Pack (and Unpack) Them First

The fact of the matter is, books take a while to pack and they also take up a ton of space. Taking on the task of packing (and unpacking) your books first will free up precious space for the rest of the moving process and get one of the more tedious tasks out of the way first. If you’re using a moving company like Madison Smooth Moves take advantage of their furniture building services and have them assemble your bookshelves first thing when you arrive in your new home so you can rid your space of all those boxes ASAP!

Use Enough Boxes

It’s tempting to try and fit as many books as you can in as big of a box as you can find but realistically, books are really heavy and that’s just going to make it more time-consuming and difficult to move. Your best bet when packing books is using small boxes, and a lot of them. This is when your sorting by size and weight comes in! Try to pack a few heavier books along the bottom, and stack a bunch of lightweight books in various positions (lay them flat, stand them on their spine, keep them upright) on top but try not to fill the box completely. Instead, use lightweight packing material to fill in gaps and help keep your books from moving too much in transit.

Pack and Label

Your books are packed up, now what? Do Nomad Movers a favour and make sure you reinforce your boxes by sealing them with double layers of tape. The worst thing that can happen to your books in transit is having the bottom of the box fall open leaving your books in various forms of disarray!

To simplify the unpacking process, make sure you label your boxes well. Be detailed about what’s in the box, for example, “Books, Non-Fiction” instead of just books, and label which side is up, a weight warning if necessary and whether or not they’re fragile (like with antique or collectors editions).

While you may be dreading the chore of moving your beloved library, these five tips are the best way you can pack (and unpack) your books with ease.