What packing supplies do you actually need, and where do movers add cost?

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The honest supply list for most moves is short, and it scales with the size of your home rather than with whatever a “deluxe packing kit” promises. You need boxes in a few sizes, tape, packing paper or bubble wrap, a marker, and a handful of specialty containers for the kitchen and the closet. The place to watch your budget is materials supplied by the mover, where boxes and wrap are often marked up over what you would pay sourcing them yourself. Knowing roughly how much you need lets you decide what to buy on your own and what to leave to the crew.

What you actually need, by home size

The mix matters more than the brand. A practical baseline:

  • Small boxes for heavy, dense items like books and canned goods.
  • Medium boxes for the bulk of household goods, kitchenware, and toys.
  • Large boxes for light, bulky items like linens, pillows, and lampshades.
  • Packing paper and bubble wrap for wrapping and void fill.
  • Packing tape (buy more rolls than you think) and a couple of markers.
  • Specialty boxes as needed: dish packs with dividers, wardrobe boxes, and a TV box.

As a rough scale, a studio or one-bedroom typically needs on the order of 15 to 30 boxes, a two-bedroom roughly 30 to 60, and a three-bedroom home often 60 to 100 or more, with the count rising the more you own. Start a bit under your estimate and buy more as you go, since unused flat boxes are easy to return and overbuying is the most common waste.

Illustrative costs, dated

These are illustrative ranges from current 2025 to 2026 market sources, not quotes, and they shift by retailer and region:

  • Small boxes about $1 to $2 each, medium roughly $2 to $3, large around $3, extra-large near $4.
  • A 20-pack of assorted boxes commonly runs about $45 to $70.
  • Packing tape roughly $2 to $5 per roll; packing paper about $10 to $30 per bundle; bubble wrap around $10 to $35 per roll.
  • Dish packs about $10 to $15; TV boxes roughly $20 to $40.

A modest one-bedroom can often be supplied for a low-double-digit-to-mid-double-digit dollar figure, while a full house climbs into the low hundreds. Confirm current prices locally before you buy.

Where movers add cost

Materials are a legitimate line on a moving bill, but they are also where a quote quietly grows. Movers commonly mark up boxes and wrap above retail, and a full-service packing job rolls both the materials and the labor to use them into the price. Specialty items like dish packs, wardrobe boxes, and custom crating carry the steepest markups because they are priced as a service, not a commodity.

You are not required to buy supplies from your mover. You can source boxes yourself from retailers, buy used or free boxes locally, and reuse clean containers you already have, then have the crew bring only the specialty items you would rather not hunt down. If you do want the mover to supply everything, ask for materials to be itemized on the written estimate so a “packing supplies” line is not an open-ended figure you only see at the end.

To budget well, estimate your box count from your home size, price the basics at a couple of retailers, and decide which items are cheaper to self-source and which are worth paying the mover for convenience. Bring that comparison to the quote and ask for materials itemized, so you control the cost side instead of discovering it on delivery day.

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