I’m Alicia Ferro, and if there’s one thing years of fielding packing calls taught me, it’s that sorting boxes by fragility alone ignores the bigger variable: when you’ll actually need the contents again. A Jacksonville home adds its own wrinkles too — stretches of thick humidity before move day, a slim original driveway that caps how many trips the truck can make, and in some of our older neighborhoods, a stairwell that predates the whole concept of a moving crew.
Three Timing Groups Beat One Long Room List
Rather than walking wall to wall, we sort the house into groups based on how often you actually use what’s inside. It keeps the last couple of days calm instead of a scramble.
| Group | Rooms that fall here | Target timing |
|---|---|---|
| Group A – set aside first | Guest room, garage overflow, holiday storage, off-season clothing | About two weeks before the truck arrives |
| Group B – pack midweek | Bedrooms, closets, living room, entertainment gear | The weekend right before the move |
| Group C – pack last | Kitchen, bathroom, an overnight bag | The final day, sometimes the morning itself |
Supplies Worth Buying Before You Tape Anything
- Humidity-rated tape, two-plus rolls a room — regular tape gives out fast in our climate
- Small boxes reserved only for the heavy stuff: hardcover books, pots and pans, tools
- Bigger boxes for things that are bulky but weigh almost nothing: bedding, lamp shades, throw pillows
- Pick one color marker per room and label two different sides of each box
- Wardrobe boxes for anything currently hanging in a closet
- A single see-through bin, packed at the very end, for whatever you’ll need the first morning
How much should one box weigh?
Aim under roughly 40 pounds for anything a single mover carries alone — that’s the number that matters most going down an original Avondale stairwell or out a narrow Riverside side door. Put the heavy stuff in the small boxes, the light stuff in the big ones, and the whole crew moves faster no matter which exit you’ve got.
Group B: Bedrooms, Closets, and the Living Room
Empty every drawer before our team walks in — a dresser that’s still full turns into two people’s worth of lifting the second it meets a tight stairwell corner. None of what comes out of those drawers is wasted space, either: soft items like linens and folded clothing get repurposed as wrapping for anything breakable, while hangers go straight into a wardrobe box so they come out ready to wear. Homes along Riverside or Avondale get an extra few minutes here, since a lot of those staircases were built long before anyone imagined moving a modern-size dresser through them.
Media equipment usually takes the longest of anything in the house. Snap a picture of the wiring on the back of the TV, the receiver, the router, and anything with a game console attached — a few seconds with a camera saves you from guessing at cable placement later. Screens travel upright in their own box, never flat, and stay off the tailgate if there’s rain moving in that afternoon.
Anything Too Heavy or Awkward Goes Straight to the Crew
A gun safe, a stone table, a built-in-style armoire — the moment you spot something in that category, put it on a separate list. None of that belongs going down a historic Avondale staircase or around a tight Riverside corner carried by whoever happens to be around that day.
Getting a heavy piece through an original Jacksonville stairwell is about the right straps and the right number of hands, not extra muscle. Our team plots the route out ahead of time, protects every corner it’ll pass, and keeps it level from the first step to the last. — Alicia Ferro
There’s no shortcut worth taking on the big items — no dragging across the floor, no easing one down a step solo to save time. Most injuries and most dinged furniture happen exactly when somebody tries to save thirty seconds on a tight turn.
The Garage Has a Few Permanent No’s
A short list of items is barred from any moving truck under federal transport law — propane cylinders, paint, cleaning solvents, and pool chemicals among them. Plan to use those up in the weeks leading up to the move, or drop off whatever’s left at a household hazardous-waste site beforehand rather than the morning the truck arrives.
Group C: Kitchen and Bathroom, in That Order
- Individually wrap every glass and stemware piece — one sheet of paper each, nothing touching
- Plates go in standing on their edge, not stacked flat, since a flat stack is what actually cracks
- Dishware never goes in anything bigger than a small box, full or not
- Flag fragile boxes so they’re the last ones loaded and the first ones off
Save the bathroom for the very last box. Bag every liquid twice and double-check each cap — a single leak on the truck creates more cleanup than just that one item. Whatever holds your first morning’s essentials deserves a label that jumps out from a row of identical brown boxes.
Not looking to pack anything yourself? Full-service packing takes on the entire house using humidity-resistant supplies, room-labeled and sorted, and it’s already part of your flat quote — just ask for it when you book.
Quick reference by area
| Area | What lives there | How we pack it |
|---|---|---|
| Bedrooms | Clothing, bedding, dressers, bed frames | Drawers cleared first, soft goods reused as padding, hangers into wardrobe boxes |
| Living room | Screens, receivers, cables, larger furniture | Wiring photographed, screens upright, kept dry |
| Heavy & oversized | Safes, stone furniture, built-in armoires | Handled by the crew with proper rigging, start to finish |
| Garage | Fuel, chemicals, tools | Used up or dropped off in advance, none of it loaded |
| Kitchen | Plates, glassware, cookware, pantry goods | Glass wrapped piece by piece, plates stood on edge |
| Bathroom | Liquids, toiletries, cleaning items | Bagged twice, boxed last, labeled for first opening |
A few more answers
What’s the very first box we should tape shut?
Something from the two-weeks-out group — a guest room or off-season closet works well, so the final days aren’t packed solid.
Can we buy our own boxes, or do you supply them?
Either is fine. Grab supplies from any hardware store, or ask us to drop off a starter set when we confirm the date.
What if we only want help with part of the house?
Common request. Most households hand off just the kitchen or the heavy furniture and box everything else themselves — the add-on scales to whatever slice you want covered.
Whichever group a room lands in, keep every box near that one-person weight limit and let the crew handle anything heavy or oddly shaped. Everything arrives in the same shape it left in, whether that exit was down a narrow Riverside driveway or through a front door that’s been there for a century.