How to pack a 20-tote move without losing your mind

Why 20 totes is usually enough

Most one- and two-bedroom moves fit in 20 totes. A three-bedroom house with kids' rooms can run 30–40. Anything bigger and you're doing a partial-pack-and-truck job that needs more.

Twenty totes works out to roughly 27 cubic feet of packed volume. That's enough for the contents of a typical kitchen, bedroom closet, living room shelves, and bathroom drawers — minus the furniture, which goes in the truck or U-Haul separately.

If you're unsure, start with 20. You can always message us mid-move and we'll drop more — no rebooking, no upcharge on the originals.

Pack by room, not by category

The temptation is to gather all your books from every shelf into a "BOOKS" pile, all your kitchen drawers into a "KITCHEN" pile, and so on. Don't.

The right move is to pack one room at a time, fully, then close those totes and stack them in that room. When you arrive at the new place, you carry those totes straight to the new version of that room. No mid-move sorting.

The heavy-bottom rule

Each tote holds about 50 pounds before it stops being one-person liftable. Books, dishes wrapped in towels, canned goods, and tools are heavy. Pillows, linens, lampshades, and clothes are light.

Mix them: heavy on the bottom, light on top, every single tote. A tote that's all books is too heavy to carry up two flights. A tote that's all pillows is wasted volume.

If a tote feels like more than you can lift one-handed, repack. Your back will thank you on day-of.

Lid down means done

Don't half-pack a tote. Don't leave the lid off "just to add a few more things later." If you do, the kids will use the tote as a step-stool, the cat will sleep in it, and you'll lose track of what's where.

Rule: when the lid clicks shut, that tote is sealed. Sharpie a label, stack it, walk away. Open it again only at the new house.

Label with masking tape, not stickers

Stickers don't peel off cleanly from our totes and we have to scrape every one before the next rental. Use a strip of masking tape across the lid, sharpie the room and the top three contents, done.

Three lines is plenty:

• Room: KITCHEN, BATHROOM 2, LIVING-ROOM
• Contents: the three highest-value items inside ("plates, mugs, instant-pot")
• Urgency: mark OPEN FIRST on the totes you need on day 1 (coffee, kettle, toilet paper, phone chargers, kid clothes for tomorrow)

Peel the tape off before pickup. Takes 30 seconds.

Day-of loading order

If you're loading a truck or large van yourself, the order matters:

1. Furniture and big stuff first — couches, dressers, bed frames. These go against the cab wall.
2. Totes stacked four-high along the sides, OPEN-FIRST totes on top of the stack closest to the door.
3. Soft stuff in the middle — mattresses, rugs rolled up, lamps wrapped in linens.
4. Last on, first off: the OPEN-FIRST totes plus anything fragile in your hands directly.

Totes are designed to stack — you can put four loaded ones on top of each other without crush. Cardboard fails at three.

What NOT to put in a tote

The plastic is rigid but not magic. A few things don't belong:

• Liquids that can leak — open shampoo, half-used olive oil, cleaning sprays. Bag them separately or tape the caps.
• Plants — they need light and air. Carry them in your car.
• Hazardous stuff — propane tanks, gas cans, lithium batteries, fireworks. Most moving services won't touch these and neither will we.
• Valuables / documents — passports, jewelry, hard drives, the cash you found behind the dresser. Pack those into a labeled tote that only goes in your car, not the truck.
• Anything wet — the lids seal tight enough that mold sets in fast. Dry everything before it goes in.

Other than that, in it goes.