Packing Tips for Moving House: A Room-by-Room Strategy

Packing a house takes roughly twice as long as most people expect. The usual reason is starting too late, packing without a system, and then hitting moving day with half the kitchen still loose on the counters. A better approach is methodical: start early, use the right materials, pack in a deliberate order, and label every box so the unpack at the other end doesn't become its own project.

Here is a practical system for packing up a house from start to finish.

Start With Materials — Get This Right First

The single biggest packing mistake is underestimating supply needs and making multiple trips to buy boxes. Before you pack a single item, calculate what you need:

Box sizes and their rules:

• Small (book boxes, around 1.5 cubic feet): For books, canned goods, tools, records. The rule is simple — heavy items go in small boxes. A large box of books will be too heavy for movers to safely carry and may split at the bottom.
• Medium (around 3 cubic feet): The workhorse. For pots and pans, toys, small appliances, folded clothes, linens.
• Large (around 4.5 cubic feet): For pillows, duvets, lampshades, stuffed toys, light bulkier items. Light items only — never use a large box for anything dense.
• Wardrobe boxes: These stand upright and allow hanging clothes to travel without creasing. They save significant ironing time and are worth the extra cost.

What else you actually need:

• Packing tape: Use acrylic or hot-melt tape. Duct tape and masking tape peel off cardboard, especially in warm trucks.
• Packing paper (clean newsprint, ink-free): Better than bubble wrap for dishes and glassware. Bubble wrap is best reserved for electronics and genuinely fragile art.
• Permanent markers: At least two. They disappear constantly.
• Coloured stickers or painter's tape in different colours: For the room-colour system described below.
• Clear zip-lock bags: For screws, bolts, and small parts from disassembled furniture. Tape the bag to the relevant furniture piece.

Avoid reusing supermarket or liquor store boxes for anything important. They are rarely sized for efficiency and have already been weakened. If cost is a concern, ask on local community groups — people who have recently moved often give away quality moving boxes for free.

The Order of Packing When Moving

The correct order is: least-needed first, most-needed last. That sounds obvious, but here is what it means in practice.

Pack first (4–6 weeks before the move):

• Books, CDs, DVDs
• Decorative items, picture frames, vases
• Off-season clothing and shoes
• Extra linens and towels you are not currently using
• Items in storage (attic, basement, garage shelves)
• Collections, memorabilia, anything not in daily use

Pack second (2–3 weeks before):

• Kitchen items you rarely use: bakeware, the third frying pan, appliances used less than monthly
• Books from secondary shelves
• Office files and paperwork (keep recent documents accessible)
• Artwork and wall décor (leave walls bare at this stage)
• Most bathroom items except daily-use toiletries

Pack last (final 3–5 days):

• Everyday kitchen items — pack these only when you're close to done cooking in that house
• Main bathroom: pack everything and switch to a toiletry bag
• Bedding: strip the beds on moving morning and pack mattress covers last
• Electronics: computers, monitors, consoles
• Children's bedrooms: pack everything except sleep essentials and one box of toys, which stays separate

Never pack: Passports, birth certificates, property deeds, marriage certificates, financial documents. These travel with you personally. Also never pack: prescription medications, jewellery of significant value, or devices you will need on moving day (phone charger, laptop).

Room-by-Room Packing Guide

Kitchen

The kitchen is the most time-consuming room. Budget three to four times more packing time than you expect.

Dishes: Do not lay plates flat. Wrap each plate individually in packing paper and pack them vertically — on their edges, like vinyl records. The reason is physics: a vertical stack distributes impact along the edge rather than across the face, which is where plates crack. Cushion the bottom of the box with several inches of crumpled paper before placing the first plate.

Glasses and stemware: Wrap the stem first, then the bowl. Pack glasses upside-down in the box — this distributes weight onto the rim, which is structurally stronger than the base.

Pots and pans: These are heavy. Use medium boxes only. Nest smaller pans inside larger ones, but wrap each with paper to prevent scratching.

Small appliances: Use original boxes where you have kept them. If not, wrap in bubble wrap and fill voids with crumpled paper. Do not pack appliances with residual water (coffee machines, kettles) — drain them first.

What not to pack: Leftover cleaning products, open food containers, anything perishable or hazardous. Use up pantry staples in the weeks before the move.

Bedrooms

Pack in a wardrobe box wherever possible for hanging clothes. For folded items, line large boxes with a bin bag to keep clothes clean if the box gets dirty in the truck.

Label "open first" on one bedroom box per person containing: pyjamas, a fresh outfit, chargers, and whatever each person needs for sleep the first night.

For children's rooms, involve them in the packing if they are old enough. Letting them choose which box holds their most important toy — and labelling it clearly — reduces distress on moving night when they want something specific.

Disassemble bed frames. Keep the bolts and screws in a labelled zip-lock bag taped to the frame itself, never loose in a box.

Living Room

Electronics need care. Use original packaging where available. For televisions without original boxes, lay the screen flat (face up, not face down) in a large box padded with blankets. Do not let anything rest against the screen surface. Photograph the back of all cable setups before unplugging — this photograph will save significant time during setup at the new place.

Artwork: wrap in paper, then in bubble wrap, then tape to a flat piece of cardboard. Label "FRAGILE — DO NOT STACK."

Books: small boxes, maximum 20–25 books per box. Even this weight is significant. Alternate books spine-down and spine-up to distribute pressure.

Bathroom

Pack toiletries in sealable zip-lock bags before boxing them. Liquid products frequently open in transit. A single opened bottle of shampoo can soak everything in the box.

Keep a "last-day" toiletry bag accessible and not in the truck. This bag gets you through moving day and the first morning in the new house without needing to locate and unpack a box.

Labelling System That Actually Works

The standard approach of writing a single word on top of a box ("kitchen," "misc") breaks down the moment boxes are stacked in a truck and you need to find something.

A better system:

Colour-code by room. Assign each room a colour (blue = kitchen, red = master bedroom, green = children's room, yellow = bathroom, etc.). Stick a coloured dot or strip of coloured tape on at least two visible sides of every box. When movers arrive at the new house, put a matching coloured piece of paper on each room door. Movers can place boxes without asking a single question, which saves real time.

Number every box. Write the number on every side. Keep a master inventory — even a note on your phone — that records what is in each numbered box. If box 34 is missing at the destination, you know immediately what was in it rather than opening twenty boxes to search.

Write the destination room, not the origin room. The question movers are asking is "where does this go?", not "where did this come from?"

Mark fragile boxes on all four sides and the top. One "fragile" label on the top is invisible when the box is at the bottom of a stack.

Packing Strategies for What Goes in the Truck Last

The items loaded into the truck last are unloaded first at the destination. This means your most-needed items on arrival — bed frames, the essentials box, basic kitchen items — should be packed on the truck at the end.

Before the truck is loaded, set aside any items you are transporting yourself: documents, valuables, the essentials box, children's immediate needs, pet supplies. These do not go in the truck at all.

When loading begins, furniture and heavy appliances go in first (against the cab wall), then boxes from heaviest to lightest, then last-out items near the door.

Packing Up a House When Time Is Short

If you are packing under time pressure — a tight deadline or a last-minute move — prioritise ruthlessly. Essentials and valuables first. Everything else second. Use bin bags for soft items (clothes, linens, pillows) — they are faster than boxes and every bit as effective for non-fragile content.

Hire professional packers if the timeline is genuinely unworkable. The cost is typically $300–$600 for a team to pack a two- or three-bedroom house in a single day, and it is often worth it for the time and stress saved.

The Part Nobody Plans For

Packing a house surfaces things you forgot you owned. Built-in shelves in the garage, items at the back of high cupboards, things in the attic. Budget for a full final walkthrough the day before the truck arrives: every built-in, every shelf, every storage space. Then walk through again after the truck is loaded.

The moving day final check should cover the attic, basement, under beds, inside the dishwasher, inside the washing machine drum, the tops of wardrobes, and the back of every cupboard.

Our Moving Checklist includes a complete room-by-room packing guide, box labelling templates, and a moving-day walkthrough checklist — so nothing gets left behind.