I own nearly 3000 books and have moved house 17 times in my life, including right across the country - from Victoria to Western Australia and back again; and from Victoria up to Queensland.

The best way to pack books is to find small to medium, strong boxes. This makes it easier to move them as they are not too heavy, yet they stay well protected. I like using the boxes that frozen potato chips come in best. Pack the books flat in the box, that way when boxes are stacked on top of one another in the truck, the books don't get squashed and bent out of shape. Make sure you fit the books to the box so that there is no room for movement and pack any gaps with objects or newspaper if you need to.

I usually place a layer of naphthalene flakes (the stuff moth balls are made out of) on the bottom of each box and then lay a few layers of newspaper on top to protect the books. I do this if the books are going into storage for any length of time to protect against silverfish and the like.

I mark each box with what sort of books are contained in it eg. children's books, fiction, Western set, etc. for easy unpacking later.

I have never had any of my books damaged while moving around the country and find that my system works well.

Learn more about this author, Tracey Duke.
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