The rule that organises everything: the later you'll need it, the earlier it packs. Work back from moving day in four waves, and the house stays livable until the last night.
Three weeks out: the museum wave
Everything you own but don't touch: books you've read, the good china, off-season clothes, photo albums, the spare linen, whatever lives in the top of cupboards. This is a third of most households and none of it will be missed. It's also the easiest packing you'll do, so it builds the habit while the pressure's off.
- Books in small cartons only. A big carton of books is a furniture item.
- Label with the destination room, not the current one. "Study" means the new study.
- Plates pack on their edges like records, never flat. Paper between each.
One week out: the comfort wave
The things you use weekly but can live without for seven days: most of the kitchen (keep one pot, one pan, a plate and mug each), the second bathroom, decorative everything, most of the wardrobe, the garage and shed. By the end of this wave the house should look like a display home with boxes in it.
- Do the garage now, not last. It's always bigger than remembered, and it's where the heavy awkward things live.
- Photograph the back of the TV before unplugging anything.
- Drain and coil hoses; empty fuel from anything with an engine.
The last two days: the daily wave
The working kitchen, the bathroom in use, bedside everything, chargers, the clothes you're actually wearing this week. Small cartons, honestly labelled, kept near the door. If we're doing your packing, this is usually the day we come: a crew packs a full kitchen in a couple of hours because we do it every week, and the technique is exactly what your grandmother would use, just faster.
The last night: the first-night box
One box (or a suitcase) that travels in the car with you, not the truck:
- Kettle, two mugs, tea or coffee, long-life milk
- Sheets for each bed, one towel each, toilet paper
- Phone chargers, medications, glasses, keys, documents
- Kids' non-negotiables and whatever keeps the dog calm
- Snacks. Moving-day hunger is real and pizza takes an hour
When the beds go up at the new place (first thing we assemble, always), this box turns a warehouse of cartons into a home you can sleep in.
Cartons, tape and port-a-robes: we can deliver materials ahead of your move so you're packing into proper double-walled cartons from day one, or take the fragile rooms off your hands entirely. The packing service.
What not to pack at all
Keep with you in the car: passports and documents, jewellery, cash, hard drives, and anything irreplaceable at any price. Not because the truck isn't safe, but because peace of mind should ride with its owner. Gas bottles, open paint tins and fuels don't travel in a moving truck at all; plan a separate run or dispose of them properly beforehand.
Packing sorted and the truck's the missing piece? Ask about packing help, or book the move and we'll talk through where your packing is up to on the callback.