Packing a whole house feels like one job, but it is really a dozen small ones in a particular sequence. The order matters because every room you finish is a room you can stack boxes in. Start where life is least disturbed and end where you sleep.
Stage one: storage areas
Attics, basements, sheds and garages hold the most items you have not seen in years, so start there. Sort before you pack, since donating a box costs less effort than moving it twice.
Garage chemicals need their own plan; see how to pack a garage and tools.
Stage two: guest rooms and rarely used spaces
The guest room, the dining room and the formal living room hold items you can live without for a month. Pack wall art, extra linens, books and decor, and use these rooms as a staging area for finished boxes.
For art, see how to pack artwork, and for books, how to pack books.
Stage three: the home office and closets
Back up files, photograph cables and carry documents yourself, as described in how to pack a home office. Closets go next; how to pack a closet gives the top-down order.
Seasonal clothes and gear can move early, and the current season's clothes go last.
Stage four: kitchen, bathrooms and living areas
The kitchen takes the longest and the most boxes, so give it two sessions; see how to pack a kitchen. Bathrooms are quick and mostly liquids, and how to pack a bathroom explains the leak-proof method.
Living room items such as lamps, small decor and media go next. Leave a chair, a lamp and the TV until the final evening.
- Label every box with the room it belongs to at the new house, not the room it came from.
- Number the boxes in each room so you can see at a glance if one is missing.
- Keep an inventory sheet of what is in each box.
Stage five: bedrooms and the essentials
Pack your bedroom last. Beds come apart on moving day or the day before, and each person keeps a small bag of clothes, chargers and toiletries. A first-night box for the kitchen and bathroom completes the set.
Kids' rooms keep their comforts to the end; how to pack kids' rooms explains why.
When to ask for help
O'Brien's packing services include full packing, partial packing and box packing only. A common mix is for the crew to pack the kitchen, the art and the fragile rooms, while the family handles closets and books. The packing calculator turns your rooms into a box count.