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Moving guidePacking is the part of a move that quietly decides how the day goes. Do it well and the truck loads fast and nothing breaks. Do it in a rush the night before and you spend moving day hunting for the kettle in a box marked "misc". This is the method we use ourselves, from the materials you need to a room-by-room walkthrough and how to keep fragile things intact.
Good packing is not about speed, it is about order. If you start early, use the right materials, and label as you go, you can pack a whole house without stress and hand our crew boxes that load in half the time. If you would rather skip it entirely, our Sydney packing service does the whole job for you, but if you are doing it yourself, here is how to get it right.
Buying the right supplies up front saves you a dozen trips back to the shops. For an average house, plan on a good stock of small and medium boxes, a smaller number of large boxes, and a couple of specialty cartons. Here is the working kit:
Do not use newspaper on anything white or glossy, the ink transfers. Clean butcher's paper costs little and keeps your crockery clean.
Three habits do most of the heavy lifting. Get these right and everything else follows.
The single most common packing mistake is a big box full of books. It becomes impossible to lift, and the bottom gives out on the stairs. Keep dense things in small boxes and save the large boxes for pillows and doonas. A box you can lift comfortably is a box that arrives intact.
Write the destination room and a one-line contents note on the top and one side of every box: "KITCHEN, pots and pans", "MAIN BEDROOM, bed linen". On the day, that label tells our crew exactly where to set the box down, so nothing lands in the wrong room and you are not shuffling boxes around at the new place. Mark anything fragile clearly on more than one side.
Set aside one box, or a suitcase, that you keep with you and do not load onto the truck. Fill it with what you need before you unpack anything: phone chargers, a change of clothes, toiletries, medications, the kettle, a few mugs, tea and coffee, toilet paper, and any paperwork for the move. When you arrive tired at the end of the day, you will be glad it is not buried in the load.
Pack one room at a time and finish it before you start the next. It keeps boxes grouped by destination and stops the whole house dissolving into chaos at once. Start with the rooms you use least.
The kitchen takes the longest, so start early. Wrap each plate in paper and stack plates on their edge, standing up, in a small box, they survive far better vertical than flat. Wrap glasses and mugs individually and pack them upright. Cushion the top and bottom of every fragile box with scrunched paper or a folded towel. Pack pots and pans together, empty out the pantry, and tape any bottles that could leak inside a plastic bag first.
Bedrooms pack fast. Use large boxes for linen, pillows and doonas since they are light. Empty drawers into medium boxes rather than moving a full, heavy chest of drawers. Keep a labelled bag of screws and fittings for any bed you dismantle, taped to the frame or in your essentials box so you can reassemble that night.
Books go in small boxes, always. Wrap the TV in a blanket and, if you still have it, its original box is ideal. Coil and bag cables, and take a quick photo of the back of the TV and console so you can plug everything back the same way. Wrap lamps and remove the bulbs and shades to pack separately.
Throw out half-used, expired products rather than moving them. Seal anything liquid in a bag, then a box. Keep a small kit of the toiletries you use daily in your essentials box so you are not opening cartons to find a toothbrush.
Hanging clothes are easiest in porta-robe boxes: lift them straight off the rail, hang them in the box, and they arrive uncreased and ready to hang. Folded clothes go in medium boxes or can simply stay in the drawers if the drawers are light enough to carry. Shoes pack better in their own boxes with a little paper inside to hold their shape.
The garage is where moves slow down, so do not leave it to last. Drain fuel from mowers and trimmers, our crew cannot transport flammable liquids. Coil hoses and cords, box hand tools in small cartons, and bundle long-handled tools together and wrap the sharp ends. Bag loose screws and hardware so they do not scatter through the load.
Fragile things break when they can move inside the box or knock against each other. The fix is simple: wrap each piece so it has a cushion, then pack tightly so nothing shifts. For the full technique on glassware, artwork, TVs and antiques, see our fragile packing guide.
Wrap every glass and plate individually in paper, stand glasses upright, and never lay plates flat in a stack. Fill every gap with scrunched paper until nothing rattles when you give the closed box a gentle shake. Mark it FRAGILE on several sides and keep these boxes light.
Tape a large cross of masking tape across the glass of framed pictures and mirrors, so if the glass does crack it holds together instead of shattering. Wrap each piece in a blanket or bubble wrap and stand it on its edge against something solid, never flat, where it can be leaned on.
Original boxes are best if you kept them, since they are cut to fit. If not, wrap each unit in a blanket or bubble wrap and pack it snugly in a box with cushioning around every side. Photograph cable layouts before you unplug, bag and label the cables, and keep small devices and hard drives with you rather than on the truck.
Finish packing before the crew arrives, not during. A fully boxed, labelled house loads fast, and on our Capped-Price Promise that keeps the move smooth from start to finish. If you want a full plan for the weeks leading up to the day, work through our moving house checklist, and if packing is the part you would rather not do, our packing and unpacking service takes it off your hands entirely.
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