People ask us all the time: what should I pack, what should you guys pack? Honest answer, it depends on your budget and your patience. But there are a handful of items that always make sense to do yourself, and a few you should never touch.
Pack Yourself or Leave it to the Movers
Here's what we tell every customer.
Pack yourself: documents
Birth certificates, passports, tax records, social security cards, deeds, titles. Anything that proves who you are or what you own. Put it in a clearly labeled bin or a cheap fireproof box and throw it in the front seat of your car on move day.
Movers are insured for damage, not for the chaos of a lost-in-the-truck Social Security card. I've had three customers in five years swear we lost their passport. Each time it turned out to be packed in a box somewhere. Spare yourself the heart attack. Do this one yourself.
Pack yourself: jewelry and small valuables
Wedding rings, watches, family heirloom necklaces. If it fits in a shoebox, it goes in the car. Same logic as documents.
Most movers will pack jewelry if asked, but the valuation insurance for small items is usually $0.60 per pound by default. Your grandmother's diamond ring weighs an ounce. Math says no.
Pack yourself: prescriptions and medical supplies
Especially if anyone in the house takes daily meds. Same goes for CPAP machines, hearing aids, glucose monitors. Bring these with you in a clearly labeled bag. Don't pack them in a box that ends up at the bottom of a stack.
Pack yourself: the first-night stuff
Pajamas. Toothbrush. Phone charger. Coffee maker. Toilet paper. We call this the "first night box" and it's the smartest 15 minutes you'll spend before the move.
Pack one per person and label it FIRST NIGHT. Tape it shut and either keep it with you or hand it to us with a note saying "load last, unload first."
You'd be surprised how many people unpack at 11pm and realize their toothbrush is in box 47 of 89.
Pack yourself: anything irreplaceable
Photo albums you haven't digitized. The kid's handprint plate from preschool. The framed letter from grandpa. If losing it would make you cry, pack it yourself, label it, and watch where it goes.
We're careful, but we're moving thousands of items in a day. The irreplaceable stuff deserves your full attention, not ours.
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Leave to the movers: pianos
I see this every spring. Someone bought a piano dolly on Amazon and decided to save the $300 specialty fee. Two friends show up. The piano ends up at the bottom of a basement staircase with a leg snapped off. Sometimes it goes through drywall.
Uprights look manageable. Grand pianos are 800 to 1,200 pounds of awkward. Leave them to crews who do it weekly. Same goes for church organs and electronic console pianos.
Leave to the movers: gun safes
A typical 750-pound safe doesn't move with two guys and a furniture dolly. It moves with a stair climber dolly, three trained crew, and proper straps. Trying it yourself is how you crush a foot or wreck a hardwood floor. We charge extra for safes because they're harder than they look. Worth every penny.
Leave to the movers: large furniture you can't easily disassemble
Sectionals. China hutches. Armoires. Treadmills. Anything heavy and awkward where you'd need to take a door off the hinges to get out. Movers do this all day. You do it once.
The exception is IKEA furniture. That stuff falls apart in the truck even when we pack it carefully. If you have a five-year-old IKEA dresser, do yourself a favor and assess whether it's worth moving at all. Sometimes the move costs more than the piece is worth.
Leave to the movers: artwork and mirrors over two feet
Mirror boxes and picture cartons aren't expensive. Maybe $8 to $15 each. But knowing how to pad, wrap, and stack them is the difference between zero damage and a $400 broken mirror. We pack these in mirror cartons standing up, with corner protectors and bubble wrap, then load them strategically in the truck.
If you really want to do this yourself, watch a YouTube video first and use proper materials. Don't use bedsheets and prayer.
Leave to the movers: TVs over 55 inches
Modern flatscreens are surprisingly fragile and surprisingly expensive to replace. We use TV cartons with foam corners. The original box is the gold standard if you saved it, but few people do.
A 65-inch OLED runs $1,800 new. A TV box is $25. Don't make this hard.
Two things people forget
First. Anything that's been in your attic or garage for ten years and you haven't touched: don't pay to move it. Toss it, sell it, donate it. We see truckloads of stuff every spring that the customer regrets paying $200 to relocate just to throw out three months later.
Second. Plan for the night-of stuff. Walk through your current house at 10pm the night before the move and ask yourself: what would I need if the truck didn't show up tomorrow? That's your overnight bag.
If you want help thinking through what to pack and what to leave, give us a call. We do this every day and we're happy to talk through it.
