The packing system: numbered boxes, room codes and a box register
Give each room in the new home a code, number every box as you close it, keep the contents on a register, and pack the open-first boxes last.
Start here Essentials
For a first pass, this chapter asks you to set a code for each room of the new home, number and register every box as you close it, keep boxes to a weight you can carry, and mark the boxes you open first. Everything marked Go deeper is optional.
- Set a code for each room in the new home. Write the codes on the room codes sheet (room codes).
- Number every box as you close it. Write the number, the code and the priority on the box, and give it a row on the box register with its contents (the register).
- Keep each box to a weight you can carry. Heavy things go in small boxes (how heavy).
- Mark one open-first box per room and pack those last. Mark them on every side and on the register (priority marks).
Minimum time: 30 minutes to set the codes and start the register, then about a minute per box as you close it. Done when: every packed box has a number, a code and a row on the register, and the open-first boxes are marked.
Room codes for the new home Understand
A room code is a short letter, or a letter and a number, for one room in the home you are moving to: A for the living room, K for the kitchen, R1 for the first bedroom. The code goes on every box bound for that room and on a sign on that room's door. Codes for the new home, posted on its doors, are our method, built on the move-management trade's practice of planning the new home's rooms on a floor plan before packing. This manual's convention
Why the new home and not the old one: the person who needs the label is the one carrying the box through a door they are seeing for the first time. A box marked "office" from the old home means nothing in a new home with no office; a box marked R2, with an R2 sign on the second bedroom door, goes to the right room without anyone asking you. The things from one old room often split between two new ones, too. The code is the decision about where each thing goes, made once while you pack, instead of once per box on the day.
Choosing the codes
Save your home size in setup and the room codes sheet starts with a set to rename. The starting sets:
| Home | Codes the sheet starts with |
|---|---|
| One room or a studio | A living and sleeping, K kitchen, B bathroom |
| 1 bedroom | A living room, K kitchen, B bathroom, R1 bedroom |
| 2 bedrooms | Adds R2, and S for storage, a closet or a basement |
| 3 bedrooms | A, D dining room, K, B1 and B2, R1 to R3, G garage or storage |
| 4 bedrooms or more | Adds R4 and F for a family room or den |
Rename them to the new home's rooms. A few habits keep codes readable at a glance. This manual's convention
- One code per room, and one room per code. A box going to the hall closet gets the hall closet's code, not the bedroom's next to it.
- Short and distinct. One or two characters, written large. Avoid pairs that look alike when written fast: O and 0, I and 1.
- Names a child can read where it helps: L for Leo's room tells a 7-year-old where to carry a box as well as a crew.
- Color is optional, and not the only signal. A colored dot or tape speeds sorting, but markers run out, tape colors look alike in a dim hallway, and some people cannot tell red from green. The letter carries the meaning; the color helps. Preference
Furniture gets codes too: the "goes to (code)" column on the inventory sheet holds them, and a strip of tape with the code on each piece tells the carrier where it goes (Your inventory).
Signs on the doors
On a sheet of paper per room, write the code as large as the page allows and the room's name under it. Tape it at eye level beside each doorway in the new home, and tape a simple floor plan with the codes marked just inside the front door. If you cannot get into the new home before moving day, put the signs up first, before the first box comes off the truck; Moving day puts it on the delivery run sheet. For a self-move with hired helpers, the signs mean you can stand at the door with the register while they carry. This manual's convention
Numbered boxes and the box register
The box register is a numbered list of every box, one row per box, entered when the box is closed. The box register sheet holds it. The move-management trade keeps a box list as one of its standard forms (NASMM's operations manual names a "box list inventory"); the form below, with the contents kept on the register rather than written on the box, is our method. This manual's convention
What goes on the box: the number, the code and the priority, large, on the top and on two sides so they show when boxes are stacked. Add FRAGILE or HEAVY where it applies, and arrows where a box has to stay upright. What stays off the box: the contents. The register has room for a useful description; the side of a box does not. A box that says "laptop" or "jewelry" also tells everyone in the hallway what is inside.
The numbers. Start at 1 and keep counting across every room; do not restart for each room, or two boxes share a number. Number a box when you close it, not when you build it, so the register and the boxes match. A number is used once: if box 17 is unpacked and repacked, it becomes a new number with a note on row 17.
| Register column | Filled in | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Box, Code, Room at the new home | When you close the box | Ties the number on the box to a room |
| Contents | When you close the box | What someone looking for the kettle needs to read: "kettle, 4 mugs, coffee," not "kitchen stuff" |
| Priority | When you close the box | Open first, first week, later or storage (priority marks) |
| Fragile, Heavy, Size | When you close the box | How to carry and stack it; the size feeds the volume calculator |
| Packed | The date you closed it | Shows how far along the packing is |
| Loaded | As it goes on the truck | A count at loading |
| Delivered | As it comes off | A missing number shows before you sign |
| Unpacked | As you empty it | The unpacking plan's progress |
One list, used four times: it is the packing log, the loading count, the delivery check and, if something goes missing, the claim record. If box 23 does not come off the truck, its row says what was in it, packed on what date, and that it was ticked as loaded; Damage, delays and disputes explains how that supports a claim, and Unpacking in order uses the codes and priorities to plan the unpacking.
Keep the register with you. On your phone, and printed: the box register prints and exports with the moving binder. It does not go in a box. Convention
When the movers pack
With full-service movers, the crew packs, and the mover writes its own inventory. That inventory is the document the federal regulation names for interstate moves: a written, itemized list that identifies every carton and every uncartoned item, with a matching number on each, prepared before or at loading so you can watch and check it, and given to you signed with the bill of lading (49 CFR 375.503). At delivery you can check items against it and note missing or damaged ones in writing. Your register does not replace it. It sits beside it: as each box is closed, write the mover's number in your register's contents column next to your own number and code. Ask the authority
Before the crew arrives, set aside everything they should not pack, in one room or closet with a sign on the door: the carry list and the items that cannot go on the truck (Your inventory), and the open-first boxes you pack yourself. Give the crew lead the codes and the floor plan, and ask that each box carry its room code. Whether a crew will write your codes is the mover's call; ask when you book. This manual's convention
Printing the register for the movers or helpers
Print two copies of the register the night before loading: one for you, one for the crew lead or the helper who stands at the truck. At loading, the person at the truck ticks each number as it goes on; at delivery, the person at the door ticks each one as it comes off and says the code aloud. With hired helpers, that person is usually you. Sort the printout by number for loading and keep a second view sorted by code for the person directing traffic inside. A count at the end of loading, boxes ticked against rows, is the cheapest check there is.
A crew packing your home
When the crew packs, the descriptions on the mover's inventory are written fast. Ask the crew lead, before they start, for room names on the cartons and specific contents where they can. Walk through each room with the crew lead and point out the set-aside room, anything fragile you have photographed, and the furniture going to each code. As boxes are closed, a member of the household with the register open can write each mover number and a few words on contents. On a long day, split it: one person with the crew, one with the register. Valuation, and how the mover treats any boxes you packed yourself, are questions for the mover's estimate and bill of lading (Hiring a mover).
Boxes, materials and weight
Moving boxes are sold in a handful of standard sizes, named by their volume in cubic feet. U-Haul's standard line runs from a 1.0 cubic foot book box to a 6.0 cubic foot extra-large box (U-Haul, Medium moving box and the size pages beside it). Its figures, with what tends to go in each:
| Size (cubic feet) | Dimensions as sold (inches) | Typical contents |
|---|---|---|
| 1.0 (book box) | 12 × 12 × 12 | Books, files, tools, canned food |
| 1.5 (small) | 16⅜ × 12⅝ × 12⅝ | Books, pantry, small appliances, bathroom |
| 3.0 (medium) | 18⅛ × 18 × 16 | Kitchen, toys, shoes, electronics |
| 4.5 (large) | 18 × 18 × 24 | Linens, towels, lampshades, pillows |
| 6.0 (extra-large) | 24 × 18 × 24 | Bedding, cushions, light bulky things |
| Dish pack | 18 × 18 × 28, about 5.2 | Dishes and glass, double-walled |
| Wardrobe | Varies | Hanging clothes, on a bar |
The "typical contents" column is a common pattern, not a rule: the size follows the weight of what goes in, which is the next section. Preference The same sizes appear in the state tariffs' carton classes: California's lists cartons of 1.5, 3, 4.5, 6 and 6.5 cubic feet, and Washington's less than 3, 3, 4.5 and 6, of board rated not less than 200-pound test. A U-Haul staff answer on its box pages (2015) says there is no industry standard for cardboard boxes, so check the size printed on yours, and put it in the size column of the register. Product-specific
A dish pack is a double-walled box for dishes and glass; U-Haul's Dish Barrel has an Edge Crush Test rating of 51 against 32 for its single-wall boxes. The Edge Crush Test (ECT) figure printed on a box is a rating of its board's strength: the higher, the stronger. A wardrobe box is a tall box with a hanging bar; U-Haul says its bar holds close to 100 pounds of clothes. Packing dishes in a dish pack is in Fragile, heavy and awkward things.
Everything else: packing tape and a tape gun, packing paper, thick markers, a few sheets of labels, zip-top bags for screws and hardware, mattress bags or cartons, and moving blankets if you are loading a truck yourself. The optional supplies sheet lists what you have and what you still need.
How many boxes. We found no source that gives a box count per room that a household could rely on. Start from the box estimate on your inventory (Your inventory) and buy in two rounds: most of the boxes first, the rest once two or three rooms are packed and you can see your own rate. For scale, Noor Haddad's 1-bedroom estimate (fictional) is 20 small, 18 medium, 4 large and 2 wardrobe boxes.
How heavy a box should be
The printed rating on a box is a strength rating, not a lifting recommendation. Each of U-Haul's standard boxes is labeled as holding up to 65 pounds. U-Haul's own packing advice is that a filled box should weigh no more than about 30 pounds, and no more than you can lift easily (U-Haul, How to pack boxes for moving). PODS suggests keeping a box of books under 40 pounds, in small boxes, with books spread among lighter things (PODS, How to pack books for moving). Neither company gives a source for its figure. Our default is the lower one: about 30 pounds, and less if that is more than you can carry down the stairs you have. This manual's convention
- Heavy things in small boxes, light things in large ones. A 6.0 cubic foot box of books would weigh far more than anyone should carry; a 1.5 of books is already heavy. Physical principle
- Fill each box. U-Haul notes that over-packed boxes can break open and under-packed ones can collapse in transit. Fill the gaps with paper or soft things so the top does not cave in when another box is stacked on it.
- Mark it. Tick "Heavy" on the register and write HEAVY on the box, so whoever carries it knows before lifting.
- Lift it before you tape it. Pick the box up to waist height and walk a few steps. If that is hard, take something out. Test it
The 30 and 40 pound figures are two companies' advice, given without a source, and the 65-pound label is the box's strength. None of them is a safe limit for any particular person. NIOSH's often-quoted 51 pounds is a workplace starting figure that its own equation reduces for reach, height, twisting and frequency, and NIOSH says the equation does not cover carrying beyond a step or two. Your limit depends on your back, your stairs and your health; if a condition limits what you lift, that limit comes from your doctor, not from a box. Moving it yourself covers lifting and carrying, and Fragile, heavy and awkward things covers what goes to a specialist.
The tariffs' carton classes and deemed weights
California's Maximum Rate Tariff 4 sets deemed weights for cartons: figures used only when a claim is settled, so that a lost box has a weight without anyone weighing it (California Maximum Rate Tariff 4, 2026 (PDF), Item 92). By size, cartons are deemed to weigh from 20 pounds (under 1.5 cubic feet) up to 50 pounds (6.5 cubic feet and over); a dish pack 60, a wardrobe 50, a mattress carton 60 or 80, a lampshade carton 10, and any carton of books or records 50. These are claims figures in one state's in-state tariff, not packing targets. They are also a reason to list what is in each box: a deemed weight sets a figure for the box, while your register says what was in it. Washington's tariff, for its part, requires carriers' cartons to show their dimensions and cubic content (Washington UTC, Tariff 15-C (PDF)). In both tables the carton classes match the sizes sold, which is why the register's size column uses them.
Packing order and priority marks
Pack the rooms you use least first, one room at a time, and the things you need every day last. That order is our method, and the timing below is our suggestion, set against the move calendar. This manual's convention
| When (our suggestion) | What to pack |
|---|---|
| About 4 weeks before | Storage spaces, the guest room, out-of-season clothes, books you are not reading, decorations, files |
| 2 to 3 weeks before | Pictures and decor, most of the living room, the second set of everything in the kitchen |
| The last week | Most of the kitchen, most clothes, the bathroom cabinet except daily things |
| 3 days before | Everything except the open-first boxes and the essentials box |
| The day before | The open-first boxes and the essentials box |
| Moving morning | Bedding into the bedroom open-first box; the last bathroom things |
For a move fewer than four weeks away, compress the table; the quick start does that for a two-week move.
One room at a time. Finish a room's boxes before you open the next room. A box holds things for one room in the new home and carries that room's code. When the old room's contents split between two new rooms, pack them in separate boxes.
No "miscellaneous" boxes. Every box gets one code and a contents line that would let you find a single thing. The odds and ends left at the end of a room go into boxes by where they are going, like everything else. A box labeled "misc" is the box that sits unopened in a closet for a year. This is our method, not a rule from any source we cite. This manual's convention
Photograph before you pack. Move managers photograph cabinet contents so they can set the kitchen up the same way at the other end, according to accounts NASMM reprints in its free guide (NASMM, Guide to Rightsizing and Relocation (PDF)). A photo of each open cabinet, closet and the back of the television also helps you rebuild the room, wire the electronics (Fragile, heavy and awkward things) and show what was there if a claim follows.
Close, number, register. Pack heavy things at the bottom and light ones on top, fill the gaps, tape the bottom and top seams, then number the box and enter its row before you start the next one. A register filled in at the end of the day from memory is a guess.
Priority marks and the open-first boxes
Each box carries one of four priority marks, on the box and in the register's priority column:
| Mark | Means | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Open first | Opened the day you arrive, before anything else in that room | Sheets and a pillow for the bed; a kettle, mugs and soap for the kitchen |
| First week | Opened in the first few days | Most clothes, everyday dishes, work things, school things |
| Later | Opened when the house is working | Books, decor, the second set of everything |
| Storage | Not opened in the new home soon, or going to a storage unit | Out-of-season clothes, keepsakes, files |
An open-first box is the one box per room that holds what that room needs on the first night and the next morning. Mark it OPEN FIRST on every side, pack it last, and put it where it will be loaded last and so come off first: on a truck you load, by the door; with a crew, ask the crew lead. A child's open-first box (a night light, the familiar blanket, a few books) is packed last and travels with you. This manual's convention
Separate from the open-first boxes is the household's essentials box, the one you carry yourself: medicines, glasses, documents, chargers, a phone, snacks and water, basic tools, toilet paper and soap, bedding, cleaning supplies, payment for the mover, and pet food and a leash. NASMM's guide suggests a similar move-day bag. The unpacking plan has the list as a checklist, and Unpacking in order covers the first night.
Storage boxes need the best contents lines of all, since you may not see them for months. If they are going to a storage unit, give the unit its own code, such as S.
Packing one room in a day
For a room you have to pack in one sitting, this sequence keeps the register honest. This manual's convention
- Photograph the room, each closet and each open cabinet.
- Pull out the carry items and the cannot-go items first, and take them to the set-aside place.
- Build boxes by size: a few small for the heavy things, medium and large for the rest. Write the code on each before you fill it.
- Work from the top shelves down, and from the back of the room to the door, so packed boxes stack by the door.
- Close, number and register each box before you build the next.
- Last: the room's open-first box, marked, by the door.
- Count the boxes against the register, and write the count and the date in the room's row on the unpacking plan.
See it: the Brandts' first three boxes See it
Elena Brandt (she/her), 38, and David Brandt (he/him), 40, are fictional, as is every fact about their move. They are moving their 3-bedroom house 870 miles to another state with full-service movers, with their children Mia (she/her), 7, and Leo (he/him), 3, and their dog, Biscuit. Loading is Monday, June 21, 2027; the delivery window is June 25 to 28, and they stay with relatives until it arrives.
Known: the crew packs most of the house. The Brandts pack three boxes themselves before the crew comes, using codes they renamed from the starting set for the new home's rooms, among them K for the kitchen, L for Leo's room and D for the den.
Assumed: that box 3, hardcover books in a 1.5 cubic foot box, stays near the companies' 30 to 40 pound advice. That is the Brandts' assumption; a bathroom scale settles it.
Open: how the mover's valuation treats boxes the Brandts packed themselves (the mover's tariff and bill of lading settle it, in Hiring a mover); and whether the crew can load the open-first boxes last (the crew lead settles it).
| Box | Code | Room at the new home | Contents (fictional) | Priority | Fragile | Heavy | Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | K | Kitchen | Coffee maker, 4 mugs, kettle, dish soap, sponge, 1 pan, 4 plates and forks | Open first | Yes | 3.0 | |
| 2 | L | Leo's room | Crib sheets, night light, 3 books, stuffed rabbit | Open first | 3.0 | ||
| 3 | D | Den | Hardcover books, shelf 1 | Later | Yes | 1.5 |
The outside of box 1 reads "1 · K · OPEN FIRST · FRAGILE" on the top and two sides; the coffee maker and mugs are on the register, not the box. Box 2 is Leo's open-first box. The delivery window means four to seven nights with relatives before the truck arrives, and the night light and crib sheets are things a 3-year-old needs in a strange room, so under that reasoning box 2 rides in the family car rather than on the truck; the register's "loaded" box stays empty and the notes say "in car." Box 3 is a small box because books are heavy, marked HEAVY and "later," since nobody needs the den shelf in the first week.
When the crew starts on June 21, the crew lead's inventory gives every carton a number. Elena keeps the register open on her phone and writes the mover's number beside each Brandt number as the cartons are closed: box 1 is the mover's 001 (fictional), and so on. The mover's inventory, signed by both, is the document for the move; the register is the household's own map of it. At delivery, the D boxes go to the den door, the K boxes to the kitchen, and the gaps in the "delivered" column show anything that has not come off the truck before anyone signs.
- 49 CFR 375.503: the federal rule on the mover's inventory at loading and delivery.
- U-Haul, How to pack boxes for moving: the 30-pound advice and how over- and under-packed boxes fail.
- PODS, How to pack books for moving: small boxes and the 40-pound figure for books.
- California Maximum Rate Tariff 4, 2026 (PDF): one state's carton classes and the weights it deems for claims.
Practice: one room, packed and registered Practice
Minimum: the room codes set for the new home, and one room packed with every box numbered, coded, marked with its priority and entered on the register, its open-first box marked. Time: 30 minutes for the codes and signs, then two to four hours for a typical room. Materials: boxes in two or three sizes, tape, packing paper, a thick marker, the room codes sheet and the box register (or a printed copy, or paper ruled into the same columns).
- Set the codes. Rename the starting codes to the new home's rooms. Write each code and room name large on its own sheet for the door signs.
- Choose the room. One of the least-used rooms. Photograph it, its closets and its cabinets.
- Pack one box at a time. Heavy things in small boxes; fill the gaps; lift it before you tape it.
- Close, number, register. Number, code and priority on the top and two sides; a row on the register with contents a stranger could search.
- Mark the open-first box. If this room needs one, pack it last, mark it on every side and set it by the door.
- Count. Boxes in the room against rows on the register. They match, or you find the box that is missing a row.
The whole house. Repeat room by room in the order in the packing order table, buying boxes in two rounds and keeping the supplies sheet. With a crew. Before the packing day, walk the crew lead through the codes and the set-aside room, and plan who keeps the register while the crew packs. For the day. Print two copies of the register sorted by number for loading.
Your move Your move
Check your work Check your work
Criteria
- Does every room in the new home have one code, written on the room codes sheet and on a door sign ready to tape up?
- Does every closed box have a number, a code and a priority on its top and two sides?
- Does every box have a row on the register, with contents specific enough to find one thing?
- Do the numbers run without gaps or repeats, so a count of boxes equals a count of rows?
- Is every box one you can lift to waist height and carry a few steps, with heavy ones marked?
- Is there an open-first box for each room that needs one, marked on every side and packed last?
- With movers packing: are their numbers beside yours on the register?
Worked example
The Brandts' first three rows pass: each has a number, a code from their renamed sheet, contents a stranger could search, a priority, and the fragile, heavy and size columns filled. Box 3 passes on weight once the bathroom scale settles the assumption. Noor Haddad's 44 boxes (fictional) pass as well: numbered 1 to 44 across her four codes, A, K, B and R1, with an open-first box for the kitchen, the bathroom and the bedroom. On moving day her helpers carry while she stands at the truck with the register and ticks numbers. None of this tells either household whether anything arrives undamaged; the register is the record that helps answer that question if it comes up.
Common mistakes
- Codes for the old home's rooms. The carrier at the new home needs the new room. "Office" means nothing in a home without one.
- Restarting the numbers in each room. Two box 5s make the count and the claim record useless. Count across the whole move.
- Registering at the end of the day. Contents written from memory are guesses. Register each box as you close it.
- Filling a large box with books. It may hold together; nobody can carry it. Books go in small boxes.
- A "misc" box. Sort the leftovers by where they are going.
- Packing the register. It travels with you, on your phone and on paper.
What is still unresolved
Packing dishes, art, electronics and appliances is in Fragile, heavy and awkward things. Loading the truck in an order that protects the boxes is in Moving it yourself. Checking the boxes off at delivery and what to write before signing are in Moving day, and the order you open them is in Unpacking in order. What a mover owes for a lost or damaged box depends on the valuation you chose and the mover's paperwork, settled through the claim process in Damage, delays and disputes, not by the register alone.