Which rooms should you pack first when moving house?
With a house move in sight, it can be tempting to start packing everything as soon as possible. This is understandable: moving house can be a long and stressful process, not least packing up all your belongings into cardboard boxes. However, it is much better to approach packing strategically and patiently with our tried and tested packing plan. Packing up the right rooms at the right time will ensure you don’t waste your time and energy packing, unpacking and packing again when you realise you need something that’s currently at the bottom of a pile of boxes.
Recommended packing order and timeline
The idea is straightforward: start with the rooms and items you use least, while creating spaces to store packed boxes out the way.
One month before
Storage areas, garages, lofts, plus seasonal items or out-of-season clothing
3 weeks before
Spare rooms, guest bedrooms, home offices
1 week before
Main bedrooms, living rooms, dining rooms
2 days before
Kitchens, bathrooms
Night before
Your essentials box, including a kettle, tea and coffee, mugs, toilet roll, chargers and basic tools
One month before
Storage areas, garages, lofts, plus seasonal items or out-of-season clothing
It’s unlikely that you will be using any items usually found in an attic or garage any time before your move. The garage might also be a useful space to keep boxes that are already packed. The beauty of these areas is that most items within them might already be packed into boxes.
3 weeks before
Spare rooms, guest bedrooms, home offices
It’s unlikely that you’ll have guests staying over at your house while getting ready to move, meaning you can pack up these spare rooms fairly in advance. Plus bed linens and spare towels make great cushioning for your packing boxes.
Clearing out these rooms will also give you a dedicated area within your home to store boxes from other rooms.
1 week before
Main bedrooms, living rooms, dining rooms
It’s crunch time now. By this point most things in your main bedrooms, living room and dining room can comfortably be packed, save a few essentials or daily items which you can pack into a suitcase or weekend bag to use as you need them.
2 days before
Kitchens, bathrooms
Pack most of your cookware, crockery and non-perishable food in your kitchen, setting aside the essentials: enough crockery to eat off, pots to cook with, and food to eat. In your bathroom, set aside your daily toiletries, perhaps even decanted into miniature travel bottles to save space in your day-bag, and pack up everything else.
The night before
Your essentials box, including a kettle, tea and coffee, mugs, toilet roll, chargers and basic tools
The big moving day is almost here. The night before almost everything should be packed and ready to move, so you can focus on destressing and double-checking your moving day plan. Now all you need is your essentials box: a kettle, tea and coffee, mugs, soap, toilet roll, pet food, cleaning spray, chargers and basic tools. Future you will thank you.
What to include in your moving essentials box
When moving house it can be hard to know where to start with so many rooms holding so many items. Use this guide to clear out spare rooms first and essential rooms last so you don’t need to keep unpacking things when you need them.
