How to label moving boxes so you can find anything after the move

Why most box labels fail

The usual label is "KITCHEN" in marker on the lid. It tells the movers where to carry the box and nothing else. Three weeks later, with twelve kitchen boxes stacked in a corner, you open them one by one to find the grater. Lids also get stacked under other boxes, so a label on top is the one nobody can see.

A good system answers three questions without opening anything: which room the box goes to, which box this is, and what is roughly inside. The first is for moving day. The other two are for the weeks after.

A system that works: number, room, keywords

Give every box three things, written large with a thick marker:

• A number. Count up from 1 across the whole move, not per room. A number never repeats, so "box 37" is one box. If you have more than one destination, add a letter: H37 for the house, S12 for the storeroom.
• A room. The room in the new home, not the old one. "Kids' room", not "Anna's things", because the movers don't know Anna.
• Two to five keywords. "Pans, grater, baking tins." Enough to tell this kitchen box from the other eleven.

Write all of it on two opposite sides, not only on the lid. Boxes get stacked, and a side is what you see. Add the number on the lid as well, since that is what you see when you look down into a pile.

Keep one master list

The box tells you where it goes. The list tells you what is in it. Every time you close a box, write its number and its full contents on one list: a notebook, a spreadsheet or a notes app on your phone. Keep it with you, not packed.

When you need something after the move, you search the list, read the number, and walk to that box. This is the step people skip, and it is the one that saves the most time. A photo of the open box before you tape it shut is even quicker than writing, and it settles arguments about what went where.

If several people pack, give each a block of numbers: 1 to 99 for one, 100 to 199 for another. Nobody writes the same number twice, and everyone still adds to the same list, or sends a photo of their page at the end of each day.

Before you start: a packing checklist

Set this up once, and every box after that takes a minute to label:

• A thick marker for each person packing, plus a spare
• Room names agreed in advance, and a coloured sticker or tape for each room if you use colours
• A numbering plan: one sequence for the whole move, with a letter per destination if there are several
• The master list started, with a column for the number, the room and the contents
• An "open first" box per person: chargers, medicines, documents, toiletries, a kettle, bedding for the first night
• "Fragile" and "this side up" marked on the boxes that need it, on the sides, not only the lid
• A sign on each door in the new home with the room name and colour, so movers don't have to ask

On moving day and after

Number the boxes as you load them, not as you unload, so nothing is unaccounted for. If someone helps you unload, ask them to put every box in its room, even if the room is crowded. A box in the right room is half unpacked.

Then unpack by need, not by order. The list tells you which box holds the thing you need today. Boxes you won't open for a while, like books or seasonal clothes, can go straight into storage. They keep their numbers and their place on the list, so they stay findable for months. Cross a box off the list once it is empty, and reuse its number only if you start a new list.

Doing it with Neatkept

In Neatkept you write a short code like H37 on the box with a marker, or stick a printed QR label, and the code opens that box in the app. Before you tape a box shut, open Capture, choose Box and photograph the contents from above; Neatkept proposes a list of what it sees, and you keep or drop each thing. At the new home, open the box, tap ⋯ and choose Move the box, or scan the box's label and then the room's. Everything inside goes along, and search finds any of it across all your homes. The moving house page shows it step by step.