Estimate how many boxes, tape, bubble wrap, packing paper, and other moving supplies you need for your move.
Planning a move? Use this calculator to estimate the packing materials you’ll need based on your home size, rooms, belongings, fragile items, and packing style — then walk away with a personalized, editable shopping list and estimated budget.
Quick Estimate
Customize My Estimate (optional — room-by-room detail)
Rooms
Add each room and rate what’s in it. Leave this empty to use the quick estimate above instead.
Furniture Quantities
Do You Have These Items?
Recommended Box Mix
Your actual cost may vary depending on box sizes, packing density, material quality, where you purchase supplies, and how much protection your belongings require.
Your Moving Supplies Shopping List
Edit quantities or prices — your totals below update automatically.
| Supply | Recommended | Your Qty | Unit Price | Subtotal |
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Supplies by Room
Packing Supplies Checklist
Check items off as you buy them. Your progress is saved on this device.
Moving supply quantities are estimates. Actual requirements vary depending on the amount and type of belongings, packing method, box sizes, and how efficiently items are packed. Supply prices are estimates and may vary by retailer, location, brand, quantity, and time.
How Many Moving Boxes Do I Need?
The honest answer is: it depends on more than just bedroom count. The number of boxes you need is driven by how much you own, how many books and how much clothing you have, how fragile your kitchenware is, and how tightly you plan to pack. That’s why this calculator asks about rooms and inventory instead of just multiplying bedrooms by a flat number.
As a rough starting point, a studio apartment often needs around 20–25 boxes, a 2-bedroom home often needs 45–60 boxes, and a 4-bedroom house can need 90+ boxes — but your actual number depends heavily on how much you own.
How the Calculator Works
The estimate starts from a baseline for your home size, then is adjusted by how much stuff you have. If you use the room-by-room customization, each room’s books, clothing, fragile items, kitchenware, electronics, and decor levels add to the box mix, packing paper, and bubble wrap totals directly — rather than relying on a single flat multiplier.
Furniture quantities drive furniture-pad and stretch-wrap recommendations. Specialty items you check (TVs, mirrors, artwork, glassware, and so on) add the appropriate specialty boxes and extra cushioning materials.
Packing Supplies Guide
- Small boxes — books, cans, tools, and other dense, heavy items.
- Medium boxes — kitchen items, toys, and general household goods.
- Large boxes — bedding, pillows, and lightweight bulky items.
- Wardrobe boxes — hanging clothes, moved straight from the closet.
- Dish/glass boxes — fragile kitchenware with built-in cell dividers.
- Book boxes — small, reinforced boxes sized for heavy stacks of books.
How to Save Money on Moving Supplies
- Use towels, linens, and clothing as padding for fragile items instead of buying extra packing material.
- Reuse sturdy boxes from grocery or liquor stores where appropriate.
- Avoid oversized boxes for heavy items — they’re harder to carry and more likely to break.
- Use smaller boxes for books and dense items so boxes stay a manageable weight.
- Buy specialty boxes (wardrobe, dish, TV) only when you actually need the protection they offer.
- Compare bundle/kit pricing at retailers instead of buying every item individually.
- Reuse packing paper and bubble wrap from things you’ve recently purchased.
- Don’t overbuy until your room-by-room inventory is complete — buy in a couple of passes if needed.
How Heavy Should Moving Boxes Be?
As a general guideline: put dense, heavy items like books in small boxes, and reserve large boxes for lightweight, bulky items like bedding. Avoid packing any box so heavy it’s difficult or unsafe to lift, use appropriately sized boxes for fragile items, and seal every box securely with tape on both the top and bottom seams.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Ready to Finish Planning Your Move?
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