The most organized way to label a box is to inventory all the contents and tape the sheet to the top of each box, but the truth is that being organized is only half the battle when packing–you also need to move swiftly and avoid burning out.

A proper labeling system is a crucial piece of the job.

Tip 1

Advice about moving always starts with this one genius tip that will save you the most time and effort–get a clear tote and fill it with the essentials.

Essentials include:

• Charging cords for cell phones and laptops (and a power strip or two)
• A change of clothes for a day in case you can’t unpack everything the night you move in
• Toiletries (shampoo/soap, razor, hairdryer, etc.)
• A couple rolls of toilet paper and paper towels
• Box cutter or utility knife, extra pens for labeling or crossing things out
• Extra batteries
• Tote also acts as a place for purses or other valuables that need to travel in the passenger seat of your car

Tip 2

Decide on a system before you begin. Now, gather ALL the items you’ll need so you can follow it consistently. Pick a color of tape for each room you have and make sure that tape is on every box for that room so that it’s highly visible which room it’s going to at the destination.

Tip 3

You’ll be writing all the information on three sides of every box; the top, the front, and the right or left side. (the right/left side are one of the two narrow sides, and one on the two longer sides.)

Tip 4

We recommend getting a second clear tote to hold all your packing and labeling items. This will allow you to transport it lock-stock-and-barrel from room to room.

Items you’ll need include in your packing supply tote include:

• A clipboard with paper to record important information (phone # of moving company, new house address, etc.), plus any random notes that come up during the move.
• Rolls of packing tape (in multiple colors)
• Waterproof markers for labeling
• A box cutter and/or scissors
• Baggies for the screws and bolts when you take something apart

Tip 5

Pack all the boxes in a room before sealing anything shut (whenever possible) and number each box. There are a few different numbering schemes that include ideas like, open box 1 first and box number 2 second, etc. If you like the idea, you can number them in the order you seal them shut. This allows you to make sure you’re getting the right box labeled #1 before you tape it shut.

However, most of the time, you’ll end up packing parts of a room you can live without in the week before moving day, which will mean the lowest number boxes are least important. It doesn’t really matter, because the goal of numbering is to have a single sheet on your clipboard where you record the total number of boxes that come out of each room. An added benefit to numbering the boxes and recording the number is that a professional local moving company will likely ask how many boxes you have as part of accurately estimating the cost of your move. Already having those boxes numbered will make that a synch.

Tip 6

The biggest question can be whether to label things according to the rooms they come from or the rooms you think they’re going to at their destination. Many of the rooms, like bedrooms, it’s going to be easy. Other places, like your home office, you may be tempted to label them according to where you think they’ll go in your new home, in the hopes that helpers or professional movers will deposit the boxes in the correct location at your destination. This can cause more trouble than it’s worth–resist the temptation.

Sometimes, you change your mind when you move in. Sometimes, like in a two stage move when items are stored at a secondary location for a time, you may end up moving to another final location entirely (it happens a scary number of times).  The best plan is to put the destination room color on the bottom of these boxes so that as you unpack you can easily restack them to the side to be dealt with later in the process.

If you do decide to inventory your entire move there are now apps for iPhone (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/moveadvisor/id1056650742) and Android(https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.moveadvisor.bundle&showAllReviews=true) that will let you type in your inventory for your entire home.

Another idea that might help is downloading a set of labels you can print on sticky paper which could either speed up labelling or slow you down depending on your personal organizational style. Here’s a link (https://www.onlinelabels.com/templates/moving-labels.htm).