Packing is the part of moving that eats the most time, and the part most people underestimate. This is the order we'd suggest if you're packing yourself, room by room, along with the mistakes that cause the most grief on moving day.
Start with the rooms you use least
Spare rooms, the loft, the garage, seasonal decorations, these can all be packed weeks ahead with zero disruption to daily life. Getting these done early takes the pressure off the final week, which should be reserved for the rooms you actually use every day.
The kitchen
Leave this until closer to moving day, but not until the last minute, it's usually the most time-consuming room. Wrap plates vertically (like records, not stacked flat) to reduce breakage, use plenty of paper between glasses, and pack a clearly-labelled "first night" box with a kettle, mugs, basic cutlery and a tea towel so you're not unpacking everything just to make a cup of tea.
Bedrooms and wardrobes
Wardrobe boxes with a hanging rail save a genuinely surprising amount of time versus folding and re-hanging everything at the other end. Bedding and towels double as padding for fragile items if you're short on bubble wrap, a useful trick that saves buying more than you need.
Fragile and valuable items
Wrap individually, don't just cushion a box generally, and label these boxes clearly on more than one side so they're handled and placed correctly at the other end. For anything genuinely valuable, antiques, art, a piano, it's worth flagging this when you book so the crew brings the right materials and, if needed, extra hands.
The most common mistakes
Overpacking boxes, especially with books, makes them too heavy to carry safely. Under-labelling means everything ends up in the wrong room at the other end, adding a full label with room and rough contents saves real time on unpacking day. And leaving everything until the final 48 hours is the single biggest cause of a stressful moving day, start earlier than feels necessary, you'll thank yourself.
If you'd rather not pack it all yourself
You don't have to do all of this yourself, or any of it. We can pack everything, just the fragile and valuable items, or supply the materials if you'd rather do it yourself with the right kit.