How Many Boxes Do I Need to Move Home?
Underestimating the number of moving boxes and accessories you need is a common home moving mistake. Heres a guide to help you with estimating what you may need, along with resources to enable you to get packing.

How Do I Estimate What I Need??
The most time-consuming and painful task of moving home is the packing, and your impending packing for your home move will undoubtedly throw many puzzles your way:
How do I pack fragile items for moving home?
How do I pack books when moving home?
What is the best way to pack clothes when moving home?
So many questions, in fact, that it can feel quite daunting. Where do I start? Also its worth knowing what you can and cannot ask you moving company to move on your behalf. Checkout our Blog here to answer these very questions.
“But ‘how do I?’ is only a part the packing equation: what type of boxes are best for moving home? What packing materials do I need when moving home? What are common packing mistakes and how do you avoid them?”
Rest assured here at C2C Movers we can help with all these problems, we offer a number of packing services for you, so feel free to let our surveyor quote you for our team doing the packing on your behalf or simply providing you with the boxes you require from our shop, should you want to pack yourself.
Crucially, you need to know how to estimate how many boxes you need to move home. However, there are so many variables, every supplier will offer you the average box size, and nearly every ‘average’ will be different from the next ‘average’, then, of course, the contents of every home are unique too. Estimating the number of boxes, you need for moving home is a puzzle in itself.
How Do I Calculate how many boxes I Need to Move Home?
Before rushing out and sourcing your home moving boxes based on the figures below, please take the time to read to the end of this article. There is some information that there will give you some food for thought, and may change your mind about a couple of aspects of your home move.
So, to help you figure out how many boxes you will need to move home, we will use the UK Removal Trade Industry of average box sizes, the ones professional packers use, and base the number of items to be packed upon the minimum average home contents. Please note this is only intended to be a guideline.
How Many Boxes do I need to move a 1 Bedroom home?
Based on the needs of a couple in a 1-bedroom property, you will need, on average:
10 x Small moving Box (318 x 268 x 318mm)
5 x Medium moving Box (457 x 330 x 330mm)
3 x Large Moving Box (457 x 457 x 499mm)
Average cost for this number of boxes is around £55-£60. These can be purchased separately from our ‘Shop’ or as a ‘Moving Kit’.
How Many Boxes do I need to move a 2-3 Bedroom home?
A typical family of 3-4 people with an average amount of possessions you will need:
10 x Small moving Box (318 x 268 x 318mm)
10 x Medium moving Box (457 x 330 x 330mm)
5 x Large Moving Box (457 x 457 x 499mm)
Average cost for this number of boxes is £70-£80. These can be purchased separately from our ‘Shop’ or as a ‘Moving Kit’.
How Many Boxes do I need to move a 3-4 Bedroom home?
With a typical family of 4, moving the average number of items, you will require the following:
15 x Small Box (318 x 268 x 318mm)
10 x Medium Box (457 x 330 x 330mm)
10 x Large moving Box (457 x 457 x 499mm)
Average cost for this number of boxes is £90-£100. These can be purchased separately from our ‘Shop’ or as a ‘Moving Kit’.
Bear in mind that this is the average number of boxes you will need to move home, if you are a hoarder, then quite honestly you could easily triple the number of boxes required. Carry on reading the rest of the Blog, to find out how you can reduce the number of items that you need to pack, and consequently the number of boxes you will need.
Packing Supplies Calculator
Uniform sized moving boxes helps save space in the removal van.
Always overestimate the amount of packing tape you will need too. It is better safe than sorry, so plan on two 166m rolls of tape for every 15 boxes.
The amount of bubble wrap and tissue paper you need depends on how many fragile items you have to pack obviously, but plan on 5 meters for the average home move.
If you collect glassware or figurines, for example, you will need to plan on at least 10m depending upon the size of your collection. You can use bedding, towels, and clothing to protect and pad your boxes to save money on bubble wrap if you need to.
You will also need marker pens to help you clearly label your moving boxes with the contents description and which room they are destined for in your new home. All of these above items can be purchased from our online ‘Shop’.