Moving boxes: how many you need and how to pack without losing hours
A two-bedroom flat needs 35 to 50 moving boxes; a studio, 10–15; a three-bedroom, 50–70. The mix that works best is 60 % medium boxes, 25 % small ones for books and crockery and 15 % large ones for bedding and light items. And the fact almost nobody accounts for: packing is what moves the final price most. With the van at €50/h and a mover at €20/h, packing on the day turns a four-hour move into a seven-hour one and adds €140–210 to the bill.
Below you will find the box count by home size, which size to use for what, where to get boxes in Valencia and a seven-day packing plan we have seen work on hundreds of moves.
How many boxes you need by home size
The figures are for normally lived-in homes, without collections or an overflowing storage room. If you have been in the flat for more than ten years, go for the top of the range.
| Home | Total boxes | Recommended mix | Packing hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Studio / single room | 10–15 | 8 medium, 4 small, 2 large | 3–4 h |
| One-bedroom flat | 20–30 | 15 medium, 7 small, 4 large | 6–8 h |
| Two-bedroom flat | 35–50 | 25 medium, 12 small, 6 large | 12–16 h |
| Three-bedroom flat | 50–70 | 35 medium, 18 small, 8 large | 18–24 h |
| Small office (up to 6 desks) | 25–40 | 20 medium, 15 small for files | 8–12 h |
Packing hours are your hours, spread over a week. They never appear on an invoice, but they decide whether the move costs €280 or €420: the guide on how much a move in Valencia costs shows how every extra hour turns into money.
Which box for what
The rule that settles 90 % of questions: the heavier the contents, the smaller the box. A box a mover cannot carry comfortably up the stairs becomes two trips, or a burst box on the landing.
| Box type | Typical size | What it is for | Sensible maximum weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small | 40 × 30 × 30 cm | Books, crockery, kitchen jars, tools | 15–18 kg |
| Medium | 50 × 40 × 40 cm | Kitchen, toys, folded clothes, decor, cables | 12–15 kg |
| Large | 60 × 40 × 40 cm | Bedding, cushions, lamps, coats | 8–10 kg |
| Wardrobe box (with rail) | 50 × 50 × 100 cm | Clothes hung straight from the wardrobe | 10–12 kg |
| Crockery box with dividers | 40 × 30 × 30 cm | Glasses, tumblers, plates standing upright | 12 kg |
Two tips that save broken boxes: tape the bottom in an H shape (one strip along the seam and one along each edge) and do not fill a large box with books “because it fits”. It fits, but it weighs 35 kilos.
Where to get moving boxes in Valencia
Free. Supermarkets and local shops throw away cardboard every day: ask for boxes late in the morning, when they finish restocking, and take the fruit boxes with handles for heavy items. On Wallapop and in neighbourhood Telegram or Facebook groups, searching «cajas mudanza gratis» turns up whole sets from people who have just moved. Downsides: mixed sizes stack worse in the van, and you need to check the bottom of every box.
Buy. The big DIY stores around the city and stationery shops sell boxes individually; specialist online shops sell kits by number of rooms that include tape, paper and a marker. Always compare the full kit, not a single box: in the end the material costs a fraction of a single hour of moving.
Let us bring them. If you would rather not spend an evening hunting for cardboard, say so when requesting a quote for your apartment move and we price the material separately together with the move. No surprises later: what we say before the first box goes down is what you pay.
How to pack a flat in 7 days
- Day 7: throw out before you pack. Every piece of furniture or box that is not going to the new home is paid time wasted. If half the flat is surplus, it works out cheaper to combine the move with a house clearance on the same day.
- Day 6: the material. Boxes as per the table, two rolls of packing tape per 20 boxes, packing paper or newspapers, a roll of bubble wrap for fragile items, a thick marker and cling film for drawers.
- Days 5 to 3: in order of use. Start with what you will not touch for a week: storage room, terrace, books, decor, off-season clothes, the guest crockery. Leave the everyday kitchen and the bathroom for last.
- Label every box on two sides. Destination room, contents in three words and “FRAGILE” where needed. Number the boxes and note the number with the contents in your phone: it is the only way to know which box the charger is in when it is eleven at night.
- Day 2: kitchen, bathroom and dismantling. Pack everything except one day’s worth. Dismantle the obvious: bed, table, shelves. If a three-door wardrobe or a bunk bed is beyond you, book furniture assembly and dismantling together with the move.
- Day 1: the first-day box. Documents, chargers, sheets, towels, coffee, toilet paper, medicines, a change of clothes, a screwdriver and the keys to the new place. It goes into the van last and comes out first.
With this order, when the team arrives there is nothing left to do but load. And a move that only loads is the one that finishes in four hours rather than seven.
The six mistakes that cost the most hours
- Open or unsealed boxes. They cannot be stacked, so they take twice the space in the van and tip over on the stairs.
- Bin bags as boxes. They tear, they do not stack and nobody knows what is inside. Fine for bedding and little else.
- 30-kilo boxes. A large box full of books or plates bursts at the bottom or goes down in two trips. Heavy things go in small boxes.
- No labels. Without the room written on it, every box gets left in the hallway of the new flat and unloading takes twice as long. With it, it goes straight to its place.
- Full drawers. A drawer of socks wrapped in cling film travels as it is; a drawer of tools or crockery has to be emptied, because a chest with 40 kilos inside does not go down the stairs.
- Packing on moving day. The expensive mistake. Every hour the team waits with the van downstairs is €50 for the van plus €20 per mover.
Fragile and valuable items
Plates standing upright, as in a dishwasher, with paper between each one; glasses wrapped individually and the box filled until nothing moves. Pictures and mirrors between two sheets of cardboard with corner protectors, and the television in its original box or wrapped in a blanket and carried upright. For pianos, artwork, antiques or an inherited dinner service, ordinary packing is not enough: that is where white-glove transport comes in, with bespoke crating and dedicated securing.
What to do with the boxes after the move
Break them down and flatten them: flattened cardboard goes in the blue paper and cardboard container, and forty flattened boxes take up the space of one chair. If they are intact, post them on Wallapop or in the neighbourhood group the same day: in Valencia someone is always moving and they disappear within hours. And if the move has brought to light furniture or clutter you do not want in the new home either, old furniture removal is sorted in the same trip or a separate one, depending on how much there is.
