The short version
Two weeks out: get your boxes or bins, pack storage, decor and off-season things. One week out: books, most clothes, the guest room, half the kitchen. Three days out: the rest of the kitchen, bathrooms, the garage. Last night: bedding, chargers, toiletries and one "open first" box. Count: about 30 medium boxes for a one-bedroom, 48 for a two-bedroom, 66 for a three-bedroom, or about a sixth fewer in bins.
Before you start: three decisions
- Boxes or bins. Cardboard you buy or find; bins you rent and give back. Boxes need taping, bins come built with lids and stack on a dolly. Cardboard is cheaper on the receipt. Bins save the building, taping and the pile afterward. The details are in where to get moving boxes in Houston.
- How many. Use the moving box calculator. Then add a quarter if you have a garage, a book collection or a kitchen you are proud of. Running short on day thirteen is the packing problem nobody plans for.
- Where the packed stuff goes. Pick one wall or one room now. Stacks that grow in a corner stay out of the way. Stacks that grow where you live get moved three times.
Days 14 to 11: the things you will not miss
- Storage closets, the attic, under the beds. If it was put away, it can be packed away.
- Off-season clothes and shoes. In Houston in October that means coats. In April it means nothing, so pack the dressy clothes instead.
- Decor, books you are not reading, photo albums, games. Wrap frames in towels, not paper, and you pack the towels at the same time.
- The spare bathroom and the guest room, right down to the sheets.
- Start a donate pile and a trash pile in the garage. Every box you do not pack is a box you do not carry, unpack or pay a mover to lift.
Label as you go. Write the room the box is going to, not the room it came from, and write it on two sides. Boxes get stacked, and a label on top disappears.
Days 10 to 7: most of the house
- Books. Small boxes only. A large box of books weighs more than anyone wants to carry, and the bottom gives out on the stairs.
- Clothes you can live without for a week. Leave seven outfits hanging. Pack the rest. Hanging clothes can go straight into a wardrobe box or, in a bin, folded in a stack with a trash bag over the hangers.
- Half the kitchen. Serving dishes, the good glasses, baking pans, small appliances you use monthly, the pantry's back row. Leave two of everything you eat with.
- Kids' rooms, with each child keeping one box of favorites out until the last day.
- The office. Paper is heavy, so half-fill those boxes. Photograph the back of the TV and the router before you unplug anything.
Days 6 to 3: the kitchen and the garage
- The rest of the kitchen except a skillet, a pot, a knife, a cutting board and a plate, cup and fork per person. Plates pack on edge, like records, with a towel between every few. Glasses go upside down in a box with crumpled paper, never stacked inside each other.
- Bathrooms down to one towel and one toiletry bag each. Tape the lids of anything that pours.
- The garage. Drain fuel from the mower and trimmer. Propane tanks, paint and chemicals do not go in the truck with your things. Where they go instead, with addresses and hours, is in donating and disposing before a Houston move.
- Eat down the fridge and freezer. Plan the last three dinners around what is left.
Days 2 and 1: the last of it
- Pack an "open first" box and keep it in your car, not the truck: sheets for every bed, towels, toilet paper, a shower curtain, chargers, medicine, basic tools, scissors, trash bags, coffee and whatever makes the first morning normal.
- Defrost the freezer the night before and prop the door open.
- Pack the kitchen leftovers, the last outfits and the bedding the morning of the move, in that order. Bedding goes in last so it comes out first.
- Walk every room with a flashlight after the truck is loaded. Cabinets, the dishwasher, the dryer, the shower caddy.
How many containers each room takes
In bins. For medium cardboard boxes add a fifth. Kitchens always run high.
- Kitchen: 10 to 18
- Living room: 5 to 10
- Each bedroom: 6 to 12
- Each bathroom: 2 to 3
- Office: 6 to 10
- Garage or storage: 8 to 20
If you are moving in Houston
We rent the bins. They arrive built, with lids, labels, zip ties and two dollies, and we collect them from the new place when you are unpacked, anywhere within 30 miles of downtown. A one-bedroom's worth is $119 for a week. If you are moving somewhere we cannot pick up from, cardboard is the right call, and the guide above works the same way.
The weather is its own packing rule here. Candles, crayons, vinyl records and anything with a battery do not ride in a hot truck. More in moving in Houston heat and rain.
Questions people ask
What should I pack first when moving?
Whatever you will not touch before the move: storage, off-season clothes, decor, books, the guest room. Pack the kitchen and bathrooms last, in the final three days.
How long does it take to pack a two-bedroom apartment?
Plan on roughly 20 to 30 hours of actual packing. Spread over two weeks that is an hour or two a day. Done in one weekend, it is two long days and a sore back.
How do I pack dishes so they do not break?
Plates on edge with a towel or paper between every few, glasses upside down and never nested, heavy pieces at the bottom, and no box heavier than you can carry comfortably. A lidded bin that stacks without crushing helps more than any amount of paper.
How many boxes do I need for a two-bedroom?
About 48 medium boxes, or 40 bins, for a normal amount of stuff. The calculator adjusts for how much you own.
What goes in the open-first box?
Sheets, towels, toilet paper, a shower curtain, chargers, medicine, basic tools, scissors, trash bags, coffee, and a change of clothes for each person. Keep it in your car.
Last updated October 2, 2026.