Packing is the part of moving that most people underestimate. You look around your living room, see a couch and a TV, and think it will take a weekend. Three days later you are sitting on the floor at midnight, surrounded by half-taped boxes, wondering where the tape gun went.
It does not have to be that way. Once you know how to pack for moving, the job becomes a simple checklist instead of a panic. This packing guide is written for Australian homes, the double-brick townhouses, the outer-suburb family homes, and the small CBD apartments, and it covers everything from box sizes to the one box you should never let the removalists load.
Start Four Weeks Out, Not Four Days Out
The single best way to pack for a move is to start earlier than feels necessary. Professional removalists in Melbourne see the same pattern every week: the families who started a month ahead are calm on move day, and the ones who started on Thursday are still packing when the truck arrives (and paying by the hour while they do it).
Here is a simple four-week rhythm that works for most homes:
- Week 4: Declutter. Sell, donate, or bin anything you would not pay to transport.
- Week 3: Pack storage areas (garage, shed, linen cupboard, spare room, seasonal clothing.
- Week 2: Pack books, decor, artwork, most kitchen items, and anything you use less than once a week.
- Week 1: Pack clothing, bedding, and remaining kitchen items. Leave out only what you need for the final few days.
- Final 24 hours: Pack toiletries, chargers, bedding, and your essentials box.
If you want a full timeline that covers utilities, mail redirection, and bond cleaning as well as packing, our complete moving house checklist for Melbourne breaks the whole process into eight weeks.
Get the Right Materials First
One of the most common packing tips moving house experts repeat is this: cheap boxes cost you more than good boxes. A supermarket box that has been sitting in a loading dock will collapse under a load of books, and you will be picking your dinner plates off a driveway.
For a standard Australian home you will need:
- Standard cartons (approx. 400 x 400 x 430 mm) are the workhorse. Use for kitchenware, decor, toys, pantry goods.
- Book cartons / double-walled boxes smaller and stronger. Books, tools, tinned food, anything dense.
- Wardrobe cartons with hanging rails hang your clothes straight in, no folding, no ironing at the other end.
- Picture and mirror cartons are flat and adjustable, essential for framed art and TVs.
- Mattress bags keep mattresses clean in the truck and during storage.
- Packing paper (butcher’s paper), bubble wrap, and strong packing tape.
- Two thick permanent markers; you will lose one.
A three-bedroom Australian home usually needs somewhere between 40 and 60 boxes. Most people underestimate by about half. At Ashville Removals, free packing boxes come standard with every booking, and we also offer a materials-only package if you would rather pack yourself and just need the supplies delivered.
The Golden Rules of Packing a House
Whatever room you are in, these rules do not change:
- Heavy items go in small boxes. Light items go in big boxes. A large box full of books is a back injury waiting to happen and will often split at the base.
- Fill every gap. Empty space inside a box means movement, and movement means breakage. Stuff gaps with packing paper, tea towels, or socks.
- Never leave a box underfilled or overfilled. Boxes need to stack flat and flush in the truck. A bulging lid ruins the stack and wastes truck space, which costs you time on an hourly rate.
- Aim for 15–20 kg maximum per box. If you cannot lift it comfortably to your chest, repack it.
- Tape the base with three strips, not one down the seam and two across.
- Label the side, not just the top. Once boxes are stacked, you can only see the sides.
How to Pack a House, Room by Room
Kitchen
The kitchen is the slowest room in any house, so start it early and give it a full day. Wrap plates individually in packing paper and stack them vertically on their edges, like records in a crate. Plates are far stronger on their edge than lying flat. Glasses and mugs get paper inside and out and go in the upper layers of the box.
Pack pots and pans nested with paper between them. Knives go into a rolled towel, taped shut and clearly marked. Anything liquid—oils, sauces, cleaning products—gets its lid taped and sits inside a sealed plastic bag before it goes in the box.
Throw out open pantry items and anything past its date. There is no sense paying a removalist to move half a bag of flour.
Bedrooms
Wardrobe cartons will save you hours here. Hang shirts, dresses, and suits straight from the rail into the carton. Everything folded goes into suitcases and duffel bags you already own, so use them instead of buying more boxes.
Strip beds on the morning of the move, not the night before. Bag mattresses, and keep one full bedding set aside in your essentials box so you can make a bed at the new place without opening twenty cartons.
Living Room and Electronics
Photograph the back of your TV, modem, and entertainment setup before you unplug anything. Those photos will save you a genuinely frustrating hour later. Coil each cable, tie it, and label it with masking tape.
TVs travel best in their original box. If you no longer have it, a picture carton with plenty of padding is the next best option. Never lay a flat-screen TV flat in the truck; it should always travel upright.
Garage, Shed, and Outdoor Areas
Australian garages hold the heaviest and most awkward items in the house: tools, paint, camping gear, and sporting equipment. Drain fuel from mowers and whipper snippers. Removalists cannot legally transport fuel, gas bottles, or flammable liquids. Same goes for aerosols, paint thinners, and pool chemicals.
Small tools go in a bucket or toolbox. Garden tools get bundled and taped together at both ends.
Fragile, Valuable, and Awkward Items
Artwork, antiques, glass cabinets, and instruments need more than bubble wrap. Pianos, pool tables, and safes require proper dollies and rigging. This is where you stop DIY-ing and call in specialist heavy item movers or a dedicated piano moving team.
Jewelry, passports, birth certificates, medications, and laptops should never go in the truck at all. Keep them with you in the car.
The Labelling System That Actually Works
Write two things on every box, on at least two sides:
- The destination room at the new house, not the room it came from.
- A short contents note: “kitchen: everyday plates + mugs.”
Then add a priority mark: a big star for boxes you need opened on day one, and nothing for the rest. When you arrive, tell the removalists which room each box belongs in and the crew will place them there directly. That one habit saves most families several hours of shuffling boxes around the hallway.
If you want a paper trail, number your boxes and keep a simple list on your phone. It takes ten minutes and makes insurance claims and missing-item hunts much easier.
The Essentials Box
Pack one clearly marked box that goes in your car, not the truck. It should hold a kettle, mugs, tea and coffee, phone chargers, toilet paper, hand soap, basic tools, scissors or a box cutter, medications, a change of clothes, snacks, and pet supplies if you have animals.
This is the difference between arriving and immediately being able to function and arriving and driving to the shops at 8pm.
When to Hand Packing Over to the Professionals
DIY packing is genuinely worth it if you have time. But packing services often pay for themselves if you are moving a large home in under two weeks, if you are working full time through the move, if the house is full of fragile or high-value items, or if you are moving interstate where items sit in transit for days.
A trained crew packs a three-bedroom home in a day, uses the correct materials for each item type, and importantly, the packing is covered under goods-in-transit insurance. Self-packed boxes generally are not covered for internal breakage.
Pack Smart, Move Easy
Good packing is not about working harder on move day. It is about starting early, using the right boxes, filling every gap, and labelling clearly enough that a stranger could put every box in the right room without asking you.
Do those four things, and the move looks after itself.
If you would like a hand with packing, materials, or the whole relocation, Ashville Removals covers 35+ Melbourne suburbs with fully insured local removalists and interstate services. Get a free written quote or call 0404 382 743.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does it take to pack a house for moving? For a three-bedroom Australian home, allow around 20–30 hours of packing spread over three to four weeks if you are doing it yourself. A professional packing crew will usually complete the same home in a single day. Kitchens and garages take the longest, so start with those.
How many boxes do I need to move house? A one-bedroom apartment typically needs 15–25 boxes, a two-bedroom home 25–40, and a three-bedroom home 40–60. Always get about 20% more than you think you need; returning unused boxes is far easier than running out mid-pack.
What should I pack first when moving house? Start with anything you will not use before move day: garage and shed items, seasonal clothing, books, decor, spare linen, and guest room contents. Leave the kitchen, everyday clothing, and bathroom items until the final week.
What items will removalists not move? Removalists in Australia cannot transport flammable or hazardous goods. This includes petrol, gas bottles, paint and thinners, aerosols, pool chemicals, fireworks, and car batteries. Most companies also ask you to personally carry cash, jewelry, important documents, and medication.
Is it cheaper to pack yourself or hire packers? Packing yourself is cheaper up front and works well if you have three to four weeks. However, poorly packed boxes slow down loading on an hourly-rate move, and self-packed cartons are usually excluded from breakage cover. If you are short on time or moving high-value items, professional packing often costs less overall.