Moving house is one of the most stressful events which occur during a person's life. You are an avid book reader, so news that your parents have bought a new house already makes your back hurt with the thought of transporting your novel collection. The good news is you only have to pack up your room, but the bad news is the number of books you own is a weighty problem. These moving tips for relocating a lot of books will make short work of this task.

Right sized box

While the temptation is there to choose a large box for your books so you can pack them faster, large boxes cannot stand up to the weight of their contents. Not only is a large box at risk of falling apart in transit, but also the mover's back is at risk from damage while lifting this heavy item.

A small or medium size box which you can pack up to 20 paperbacks in is the ideal size for this task. Because you don't want the books flying out of the bottom of the box, make sure you double tape the bottom with wide packing tape.

A moving company can help you choose appropriately strong boxes to best store and move your items.

Packing the books

Paperback books can be packed into the box either flat and stacked on top of each other or with their spines and pages facing up. Don't pack paperback books with their spine and pages facing downwards. The weight of the book pushes down on the pages. The pages then flare apart and buckle under the weight, which then leaves them bent.

When stacking your layers of books into the box, don't be tempted to try and cram little books in at odd angles. Doing this will damage the books. Instead, use crumpled paper and small linen to fill in the gaps between the books. They will arrive at your new home in a perfect condition by doing this.

Finally, when you are packing up your books, be honest and selective about which ones you take with you. Moving house is an ideal time to cull the book collection and only keep the genres and stories you love. Donate the leftover books to the local op shop so they may make money to help others less fortunate. The major benefit of only taking your most cherished books to your new home is that you'll now have room on your bookshelf to buy lots more!