How to Pack for a Move, Room by Room
The easiest way to pack a whole house is to treat it as one room at a time, starting weeks out with the rooms you barely use and finishing with the ones you live in daily. Gather your boxes and paper first, declutter as you go so you are not paying to move things you will throw out, pack and label one room before moving to the next, and keep an essentials box aside for the first night. Work to that system and packing stops feeling like one enormous job and becomes a series of small, finished ones. Here is the order and the method that make it work.
Gather your materials before you start
Before you pack a single box, get everything in one place: a range of box sizes, packing paper and bubble wrap, strong tape, and thick markers for labelling. Small boxes are for heavy things like books and tins, medium boxes for most household items, and large boxes only for light bulky things like linen and pillows. Having it all ready means you never stall halfway through a cupboard hunting for tape.
Work out how much you are actually moving
It helps to know your volume before you start, because it tells you how many boxes to buy and what size truck the move needs. Walk through the house and take stock of the big furniture and how many cupboards of smaller items you have. Our inventory calculator lets you build a room-by-room list and see roughly how much space it all adds up to, which is a good sense-check before you commit to buying packing materials or booking a truck.
Declutter as you pack
Packing is the best chance you will get to move less. Every box you fill is a decision, so use it: set up piles or bags for donate, sell and bin as you work through each room. It is far cheaper and quicker to deal with unwanted things now than to carry them to the new place and store them for another year.
Pack room by room, least-used first
The trick is to start with the rooms you can live without for a few weeks and leave the essentials until last. A sensible order for most homes is:
- Garage, shed and storage areas
- Spare rooms and the study
- Living room, books and display shelves
- Wardrobes and out-of-season clothes
- The kitchen, which is a job of its own
- Main bedrooms and the bathroom, last of all
Finish and label one room before you open the next. A stack of sealed, labelled boxes in a room you have cleared is far more motivating than half-packed chaos in every room at once.
The kitchen deserves its own method
The kitchen has the most fragile and awkward items in the house, so it is worth its own approach rather than being lumped in with everything else. Plates packed on their edge, glasses wrapped individually, the pantry run down and the fridge defrosted all need their own attention. Our guide on how to pack a kitchen for moving walks through the whole room step by step, so leave it near the end and follow that when you get there.
Label so unpacking is easy
A box is only as useful as its label. On the top and one side, write the room it belongs in and a short note of what is inside, and mark anything fragile or that must stay upright. Some people add a number and keep a quick list, or use a different coloured marker or sticker per room so the crew can carry each box straight to the right place. Whatever system you pick, the aim is that nobody has to open a box to know where it goes.
Keep an essentials box for the first night
Pack one box, or one per person, of the things you will need before you have unpacked anything: a change of clothes, toiletries, phone chargers, medication, basic tools, toilet paper, and whatever the kids or pets need. Load it last so it is the first thing off the truck, and you will not be tearing open cartons at midnight looking for a toothbrush.
Common questions
When should I start packing? Begin with rarely used rooms three to four weeks out and work towards the everyday rooms, leaving the kitchen and bedrooms until the final days.
What should I pack first? The garage, spare rooms and anything seasonal or decorative. These are the things you can live without while the boxes sit sealed in a corner.
How do I stop boxes getting too heavy? Put heavy items like books and tins in small boxes and save the big boxes for light, bulky things. A box you cannot lift comfortably is too full.
Should I pay for packing or do it myself? Either works. Packing yourself saves money if you have the time, while a packing service is worth it when the move is close or the house is large. We can pack all or part of a home if you would rather not do it yourself.
Once you know what you are moving and roughly when, we can match the right truck and crew, confirm the standard half-hour local rate and estimate the likely duration. A fixed-price option can also be requested. Ask us and we will help you plan the packing around your date.
