Start with a photograph, not a screwdriver

Before you unplug a single cable, take out your phone and photograph the back of your television, the router, the desktop tower, the games console and anything else with more than two leads going into it. Take one wide shot showing the whole panel, then a close-up of each cluster of ports. It takes five minutes and it will save you an evening of guessing and swapping cables around when you are tired and the broadband is not due to be connected until Tuesday.

It also helps to photograph the underside of items where feet, brackets or wall-mount plates attach. If you are taking a television off a wall bracket, photograph the bracket on the wall and the plate on the back of the set, then keep the bolts in a labelled sandwich bag taped to the plate. Nothing gets lost that way, and you will not be hunting through a box of assorted screws in three months' time.

Label every cable as you pull it out

This is the single most useful habit in the whole exercise. As each cable comes free, wrap a strip of masking tape around both ends and write where it goes and what it belongs to. "TV HDMI 2 – Sky box" is far better than "HDMI". If you are using coloured tape, keep a written key on your phone so you remember what the colours mean.

• Coil, don't bundle. Loop cables loosely over your hand and secure with a velcro tie or a twist of masking tape. Tight knots and sharp bends are what damage the fine wires inside.
• Keep the wall plug with its lead. A cable that is separated from its plug and its device is a cable you will not trust again.
• Bag small items together. A freezer bag labelled "desk – monitor power, HDMI, USB hub" saves an enormous amount of rummaging.
• Photograph the power supply bricks. They look identical and are not. Mark each one with its device name.

Once a cable is labelled and coiled, pack it in a strong plastic storage box rather than a cardboard carton. Cables are heavy, and a box that survives the first lift often does not survive the second.

Use the original boxes if you still have them

Nothing protects a television or a printer like the packaging it arrived in. The moulded polystyrene or foam inserts hold the item away from the walls of the box, absorb shock and stop movement. If you kept the box, use it, and add a strip of tape across the flaps in both directions so the base cannot drop out.

If the original packaging went out with the recycling years ago, build your own. Line a double-walled carton with bubble wrap, add foam pipe insulation along the edges, and make sure the item cannot slide when you tilt the box. Fill any void with crumpled paper or spare towels — a loose item in a big box is more vulnerable than a snug one. Mark every electronic box FRAGILE – THIS WAY UP on the top and at least two sides, and write the room it belongs to as well.

Cushion screens properly

Flat screens are the most commonly damaged items in a house move, and the damage is usually a cracked panel rather than a smashed screen. Pressure is the enemy: a box pressed against a screen in a packed van can crack the display without leaving a mark on the packaging.

• Never lay a television face down on a bare surface. If it must travel flat, rest it on a duvet or thick blanket and support the whole panel evenly.
• Standing upright is best. Most manufacturers recommend transporting flat panels upright, ideally in the original box.
• Cover the screen with a soft layer first. A clean cotton sheet or a microfibre cloth, then bubble wrap with the bubbles facing away from the glass.
• Do not tape anything to the screen. Remotes, screws and labels go in a bag, not on the display.
• Protect monitors and laptops individually. A laptop in a padded sleeve inside a padded box is fine; a laptop wedged between two boxes of books is not.

Small devices, batteries and data

Remove discs from consoles, printers and DVD players — a disc left inside can jam or scratch the mechanism in transit. Take ink and toner cartridges out of printers and seal them in a bag, since they leak in heat and cold. Remove batteries from remotes if you will not be using them for a while, or at least tape over the terminals so nothing switches on inside a box.

Back up before you move, not after. Copy anything irreplaceable to an external drive and, if you can, to a cloud account, then keep the external drive in your own bag rather than in the removals van. Label hard drives FRAGILE – MAGNETIC MEDIA and pack them in anti-static wrap or their original caddy.

Most home contents policies do not automatically cover goods in transit, and many only cover them if a professional removals firm is used. Check before moving day and, if you are hiring a van yourself, ask about extended cover. Photograph your packed electronics so you have a record of condition and serial numbers.

The first-night box and the final load

Pack a small box for the first night: phone chargers, the router and its power lead, a couple of extension leads, batteries and the remote controls. Take it in the car with you. There is nothing worse than arriving at a new house at nine in the evening with no way to charge a phone.

Electronics should travel in the van last and come out first, sitting on top of heavier loads rather than underneath them. Never leave a television or computer in a cold, damp garage or loft for weeks, and avoid leaving them in an unheated vehicle overnight in winter. Bring them into the house, let them reach room temperature before switching on, and check them gently one at a time. With your photographs to hand, reconnecting everything takes minutes rather than hours.