How to Pack Plates for Moving in 8 Easy Steps
Imagine loading your perfectly stacked plates into the car and arriving at your new home to find them still in pristine condition!
Moving is stressful on its own and seeing broken crockery as you unpack can affect your mood negatively. Packing plates and other fragile crockeries requires extra care. You may have to spend unexpected money to replace them since they break easily if not correctly packed.
Besides, broken plates mean more work for you when unpacking. The good news is you can avoid this disaster by using professional movers. But first, follow this eight-step guide for packing your dishes like a pro and preparing them for moving.
Step 1. Start Packing Early
It is often tempting to start packing a few days before leaving. However, that is only advisable when you have a few items that don’t require extra care. If you don’t pack early, you end up rushing the process and will not properly pack your plates.
Therefore, one trick to perfection here is to pack early. Especially your dishes. It is common for people to pack dishes last since they often use them until the last minute. But that should not be you. Replace your dishes with paper plates or disposables to save yourself from damaging them.
Depending on the proximity of your new place, you should start packing at least a month before the moving date. Not only does this help you organise your packing, but it also saves you time, and you won’t feel worn out.
Step 2. Get Packing Materials
Now that you are ready to start packing, you need to get all the materials that make the process easy. You don’t have to spend money on these materials. If you check around your house, you may be surprised that you already have some of them.
What Will You Need?
You will need lots of:
- Packing sheets
- Packing tape
- Bubble wrap
- Labels or markers
- Storage boxes
Your storage box can be medium-sized boxes or dish boxes. You should also know the number of plates you will pack and determine how many boxes you need. Make sure to put that in mind when shopping for your packing supplies.
Step 3. Prepare the Storage Boxes to Pack Dishes
Now that you have your supplies and packing is underway. Follow these steps on how to pack plates for moving. To pack plates safely, your moving boxes must be strong. So, you must ensure they are well arranged, taped, and reinforced.
Dish boxes are better for this since they are thicker than regular boxes. However, not everyone can afford them. So, your regular boxes will do; they just need extra reinforcement.
Steps to Follow
- Add more tape to the bottom of the box where the box flaps join to make it stronger.
- Add layers of packing paper inside the box to make a soft bed. This is the time to use bubble wrap if you have any.
- If you don’t, use your packing paper or newspapers to add a thicker layer. Just ensure that you add enough layers to cushion the box.
- Spare more packing paper, as you will need it to cushion the top of the box when you are done.
Step 4. Wrap the Plates
Once the box is ready, the next step is to wrap your plates. Only wrap up to one plate in a single piece of packing paper. That is a recipe for damaged corners and stained plates. You must wrap each plate individually and place them in the box vertically.
How to Wrap Your Plates in Packing Paper
- Spread packing paper on a flat surface or a large table. The packing paper should be large enough to go around the plate.
- Place plates on the centre of the packing paper and wrap one corner of the paper around it.
- Do this for the remaining three corners. And remember that the plate must be completely covered.
- With your tape gun, secure the end of the packing paper with packing tape to avoid extra shifting space.
- You can also do this without a tape gun. A kitchen knife or blade can suffice.
- Pick a second plate of the same size and wrap it precisely like the first.
- Repeat the process for all your plates, cups, and other packing fragile items.
Step 5. Box Them Up
When you finish wrapping your plates, the next thing is to place the plates in the box.
Things You Should Do
- Double-check your box to ensure it’s properly reinforced. Add more packing materials or bubble wrap. It adds more security to your box.
- To safely pack serving dishes, you should sort them. The heavier dinner plates should go first into the storage box. The lighter dishes should be at the top of the storage box.
- Place the first plate inside the storage box sideways. It is essential to do it this way. Plates should not be packed flat; doing that can cause them to break.
- Add more plates to the box. Fill up extra spaces with cups and other items.
- Gently shake the box. There should be no sound inside the box when you do this. If you hear any sound, the plates are not tightly packed, and there is extra room in the box.
- If there are still more spaces in the remaining corners of the box, fill them with balls of packing paper. You can also use towels or even clothes to fill up extra room and avoid more pressure.
Step 6. Close the Box With Packing Tape
Ensure that the box is light enough to lift. Heavy boxes can be a problem when you move them. Cover the top of the box with a packing paper sheet and close it. You can also use the bubble wrap here if you have it. If you have more plates, you can put them in separate boxes.
You may end up causing unintended damage if you stack too many dishes in a box. You can close and seal your box if you don’t hear any sound when you shake it. Keep your box closed with tape. Apply several layers of tape to the box flaps on the top to seal the boxes.
This is important for packing plates when you want to move safely.
Securing the top of the box with tape can prevent it from shifting when in a moving truck. You don’t want to open your boxes later and realise that you need to buy new plates.
Step 7. Label the Box
You may have one or two helping hands when moving house; labelling your boxes can make it easy to know how to handle them. The moving box with your plates should be labelled fragile.
You can also mark moving boxes “this way up” with an arrow showing how they should be carried and placed. Recognising and differentiating the boxes will be easier if you do this.
Step 8. Load Your Box
Put your fragile boxes in a different corner than the rest. When you are ready to load your box in a truck, inform those carrying them about its contents so that they can be more careful.
One way to avoid damage is to use professional movers. They have experience moving fragile items and know what to do to prevent unnecessary damage.
Final Tips
- Don’t use large boxes
- The bottom of the box must have a thick layer
- Stack each plate individually of the same size together
- Add cushioning material at the top and bottom of each layer
Wrapping It Up
To pack dishes safely, you need to be extra careful. Plates are fragile, and packing fragile dinnerware requires more work. Therefore, it is essential to properly pack dishes for moving house to prevent them from breaking.
You only need a little packing material to pack your next plate. All you need is packing paper, tape, and a moving box. You can use newspapers, linens, or towels if you need more packing paper. The most important thing is to ensure that the plates are wrapped individually and stacked vertically (especially if you are moving interstate).
Plates can break easily in transit when laid flat; therefore, you should avoid that. You can use the steps in this article for other fragile items like cups, mugs, soup plates, etc. In addition, using pro movers can ease the process of moving house. Many of them also sell boxes that are perfect for your dishes.