What Packing Supplies Do You Actually Need?

Walk down the moving aisle of a hardware store and the shelf makes packing look complicated: six box sizes, four kinds of tape, foam sheets, corner guards, three widths of bubble wrap. Most of it is optional. A house gets packed well with a short list of supplies bought in the right quantities, and most packing disasters trace back to the list being wrong: too few small boxes, not enough paper, tape that lets go. Here is the list, and the reasoning behind it.

Box sizes, and what belongs in each

Box logic is one sentence: the denser the contents, the smaller the box. Small boxes, around 1.5 cubic feet, exist for books, canned goods, tools, records, and anything else heavy for its size. Medium boxes, around 3 cubic feet, are the default for most of a household, from pots to toys to folded clothes. Large boxes, 4.5 cubic feet and up, are strictly for light and bulky cargo: bedding, pillows, lampshades, plastic storage. The classic beginner mistake is inverting this, dropping books into large boxes because they fit, and the result is boxes that hurt people or split open.

Two specialty boxes earn their place in most moves. Dish packs are double-wall cartons that protect the kitchen's breakables and resist crushing under a stack. Wardrobe boxes have a hanger bar so closets move without folding, wrinkling, or rebagging anything. Ordering roughly a 3-to-3-to-1 ratio of small to medium to large is a sane starting point, adjusted for how many books and how much bedding a home actually holds. And expect to be wrong low: nearly everyone needs more boxes than their first count.

Paper first, bubble second

Plain newsprint packing paper does most of the protective work in a move. It wraps dishes and decor, fills gaps so contents cannot shift, pads box bottoms and tops, and stuffs glasses and shoes. It is also the supply people underbuy by the widest margin. A kitchen alone can eat many pounds of it, and running out of paper mid-pack is how "just this one box" ends up loose and rattling. Buy more than the calculator says. Leftover paper still works after the move; broken glasses do not.

Bubble wrap is the specialist. It outperforms paper on electronics, glass shelves, framed pieces, and delicate ceramics, anywhere a single knock matters more than general abrasion. It is also bulkier and slower to work with, so the paper-heavy, bubble-light pattern suits almost every house. One caution: newsprint can transfer faint gray onto light dishes over time, so anything white and porous gets a first layer of tissue or unprinted paper if you care about it.

Tape, markers, and stretch wrap

Tape is the supply where the bargain bin costs the most. The tape holding a box bottom is the only thing between fifty pounds of contents and the driveway, and thin gift-wrap-grade tape or masking tape releases under load, usually in cold weather or mid-carry. Real packing tape, the heavier acrylic or hot-melt kind sold for shipping, holds. A tape gun dispenser turns taping from a fingernail exercise into a one-second pass and pays for itself in the first hour of packing.

Markers seem trivial until move day, when an unlabeled box might as well be sealed luggage. One thick permanent marker per person packing, labels on the top and two sides, room name plus a word or two of contents. Stretch wrap, the wide plastic film on a roll, is the sleeper on the list. It bundles rugs and bed rails, holds dresser drawers and cabinet doors shut without touching the finish the way tape would, keeps upholstery clean, and corrals awkward loose things like garden tools into one carryable unit.

What to skip, and what never to skimp on

Plenty of the moving aisle can stay on the shelf. Foam pouches duplicate what paper does. Specialty glass kits beyond a few cell dividers are a convenience, not a requirement. Branded box-labeling stickers do what a marker does. On the other side, three supplies punish every corner cut on them: boxes, tape, and paper. Free grocery boxes are fine for towels and stuffed animals, but a mixed pile of worn cartons stacks unevenly in a truck, and the stack is only as strong as its mushiest box. Used boxes from a recent one-time move are a reasonable middle ground, if they are dry, intact, and roughly uniform.

Or skip the shopping trip entirely

There is one way to get every supply on this list in the right quantity without guessing: have the movers bring it. Roger That's packing and unpacking service arrives with the boxes, paper, and wrap the job needs, and the packing gets done by the same company running the move. For a full pre-move plan beyond supplies, the Milford moving checklist walks through access, sorting, and quote prep, and a free estimate settles what the whole job looks like.

FAQ

What box sizes does a move actually need?

Mostly smalls and mediums. Small boxes carry dense items like books, mediums carry the bulk of a household, and large boxes are only for light, bulky things like bedding and lampshades.

Is packing paper or bubble wrap better?

Paper is the workhorse for wrapping and filling gaps, and bubble wrap is the specialist for glass, electronics, and anything that cannot take a knock. Most homes need a lot of paper and a modest amount of bubble.

Are used grocery boxes fine for moving?

For light, unbreakable items, they can work if they are dry, clean, and close cleanly. For anything heavy or fragile, mismatched worn boxes stack badly and fail unpredictably, and they are the wrong place to save.