How to Pack without Going Insane

Part 2 of How to Move without Going Insane

Feb 16, 2026

Ah, packing. Boxes. Tape. Bubble wrap. Existential dread at being confronted by just how much stuff you own.

This is Part 2 in my Moving Series. This post focuses on packing: what kind of boxes to get? What kind of cushioning? Do you really need all those fancy specialty boxes, like the ones for a hanging wardrobe or drinking glasses? (No, the answer is no.)

Packing Tips

Pack a suitcase, like you’re going on a trip (because you are). Even if you’re just moving down the street, you’ll probably spend several days unpacking on the other end. If your move is short, you’ll have immediate access to your clothes (the movers will just pick up the dresser) but you should still pack a suitcase for your toiletries, medications, etc.

While packing, have a tiny cardboard box or plastic crate with all your supplies. Things like your box cutter, screwdrivers, and extra Sharpies. Buy the 5-pack of Sharpies, because they’ll inevitably go missing. This will also be the place where you store all the little screws and pegs from disassembling your Ikea furniture. Don’t lose them.

Pack small furniture pieces into boxes

Things like nightstands, folding chairs, and narrow storage shelves will be much safer in a box than just out in the truck. I learned this during my first big move. My company at the time paid for a full service move, where professionals packed and moved my stuff for me. The crew arrived with a bunch of giant boxes, wrapped my smaller pieces of furniture in padding, and just stuck them in said giant boxes. This technique has served me well. If you take nothing else from this guide, pack your small furniture into boxes.

But that will require you measuring all your little pieces of furniture and trying to match them to a box with similar dimensions. And that can get... complicated.

(Have I mentioned I made a spreadsheet to help with this?)

Telescope boxes to make them taller

“But Amanda,” you say, “I can’t buy a giant tall box at the hardware store! They don’t sell them! The only tall box I can find is the ridiculously overpriced Wardrobe Box!”

Skill issue.

You can stack boxes into a tall tube. The flaps fold over one another.

Prepare a box the normal way by taping the bottom flaps.
Grab a second, still flat, box.
Insert the second box over the first. The flaps slide past each other. The flaps of the top box should be on the outside, and the flaps of the bottom box on the inside.
Tape this seam within an inch of its life.

So now it just becomes a matter of matching small furniture to a box with a similar footprint, and telescoping two boxes until they match the height. Simple!

Store things in plastic crates normally

One of the reasons I have an easy time moving is because I already store a lot of my hobby items and DIY supplies in small plastic crates. When it’s time to move, I just tape up a box, plop the crates in, seal the box, and move on.

I would recommend packing everything into boxes, instead of trying to move the plastic crates directly. It’s easier to load the truck, and the crates won’t pop open during transit.

I specifically buy plastic crates that will fit into the standard Small sized moving box (12”x16”x12”).

Currently, my daily driver is the Samla series from IKEA. I primarily use the smallest size (11” x 7½” x 5½”) and the next-smallest size (15¼” x 11” x 5½”). Two of the smallest size together = the next-smallest size. Two of the next-smallest stacked on top of each other fits perfectly into a Small Box.

Samla crates in a standard Small sized moving box.

Packing Supplies

If you can afford it, I recommend buying all new moving boxes. Knowing that every box is the same size and that they’re not squished/bent/torn is a huge relief when loading up the truck.

It’s possible to scrounge for used moving boxes on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace,1 but it is a serious time and effort sink. The savings:effort ratio of trying to get these supplies second-hand is not worth it, unless you really really can’t afford it.

Thankfully, a lot of packing supplies and specialty boxes are gimmicks. You don’t need them. Here’s what you do need:

Boxes
Enough tape for said boxes (3–6 rolls)
Tape dispenser
Packing paper (300ct roll)
A small (small!) roll of bubble wrap
Cling film
Sharpies (at least 5)
Box cutter
Twine and/or ratchet straps
Moving blankets (rent)

If you buy everything new, expect to spend about $100–150 on the boxes themselves, and another $50–100 on the rest.

But: where to buy boxes? What sizes to get? How many?

Boxes

In terms of box quality (i.e. do the flaps fold up and actually meet in a straight seam?) the best boxes are at Home Depot. Lowe’s boxes are flimsier, and the seams often don’t fold up properly. U-Haul boxes are in the middle.

Moving boxes come in several standard sizes. For most retailers, the Small is 12”x16”x12” and the Medium is 18”x18”x16”.

Convenient diagrams from the Lowe’s website.

However, once you get into the other sizes, the shenanigans start.

For example, the Lowe’s Large box is 18”x24”x18” (a sideways brick) while the U-Haul Large is 18”x18”x24” (same volume, same dimensions, but standing up tall instead of on its side).

And... don’t even get me started with Home Depot.

Back in the halcyon days of the late 2010s, Home Depot had the same sizes as everyone else. The Smalls were small. The Mediums were medium. Then they went and started changing their moving box sizes around 2020.

And they didn’t just do this once, oh no. They’ve consistently done it about once every year or two, like clockwork, since 2020.

I first noticed this when I went to pack for the 2022 move. I went to go pick up a bunch of Small boxes at Home Depot, thinking they’d be 12” wide by 16” long.

I got there and discovered to my horror that they’d changed them to be 11” wide by 17” long. Which meant my plastic boxes no longer fit. And I had to go to Lowe’s like a barbarian, crappy seams and all. How could you do this to me, Home Depot!???

And then they recently changed them again to be 10” wide by 16” long by 12” high. Two inches narrower than the standard Small box. And it still doesn’t fit my plastic crates!

And that’s just the Small. The Medium changes all the time, too! And the Large! Every time I move, I have to re-check the box sizes to verify that my nightstand still fits in a box.

So if the Home Depot boxes are the wrong size, and Lowe’s boxes kind of suck, where should you get them?

Allow me to introduce you to ULine.

ULine.com is a general-purpose “business supply” company. Among other things, they sell every size and shape of box imaginable. This is typically meant for businesses who need to purchase lots of boxes for shipping merchandise, but ULine has an entire section dedicated just to moving boxes.

The one downside is that they only sell things in giant bundles. So it’s only worth it to buy a bunch of the Small boxes. Order two 25ct bundles (50 boxes total). That will do a kitchen and a few bookcases of books.

Buy other box sizes as-needed, in small quantities, from the hardware store. Just pay extra careful attention to the dimensions printed on the box, and make sure it’ll fit your items.

In Part 1, I talked a lot about U-Haul trucks. And they’re good trucks! I swear I’m not sponsored. The reason why you know I’m not sponsored is because I can say this: don’t buy (most of) your boxes from U-Haul. At the storefront, the line to check out moves ridiculously slowly. The counter where you pay for supplies is the same one that handles truck pickups, so most of the people in front of you in line are picking up reservations. That means that each person takes 10-15 minutes to fill out paperwork and get keys. If there are three people in front of you in line, that means you’ll be waiting 30–45 minutes to check out.

That being said, U-Haul sells every possible type of custom-shaped box. I recommend the Picture Frame box (fits a 2ftx3ft poster) and the Vacuum Cleaner box (which is 4ft tall, perfect for those random poles and rods that would never fit in any other kind of box.)

Cushioning

You need packing paper, a small amount of bubble wrap for glass picture frames, and a small roll of cling wrap. That’s it.

The only good “moving hack” is to sandwich styrofoam plates between your regular plates. 10/10 great idea. However, it’s 2026, and styrofoam plates are a little hard to come by these days.

You do not need any of those special “foam pockets” to wrap each individual dish. You do not need a giant roll of foam wrap. Packing paper is good enough for 95% of fragile items, and plain old bubble wrap is good for the remaining 5%.2 Drinking glasses can be wrapped in ordinary packing paper and put in an ordinary box. No need for those special overpriced boxes with the dividers. Maybe stuff some towels around them if you’re paranoid. (But seriously, they’ll be fine with just the packing paper.) Ball up extra sheets of packing paper in between items to keep them from shifting.