“Where do I even start?” is the question our Southwest Florida crews hear more than almost any other in the two weeks before a move. Packing feels overwhelming because most people try to do it all at once, room by room, in no particular order — and end up scrambling the night before the truck arrives. The good news: professional movers follow a predictable sequence that makes the whole process faster and less stressful. Here’s exactly how to prioritize your packing, plus a few mistakes to avoid along the way.
What Order Should You Pack Your House?
What should I pack first when moving?
A: Start with the rooms and items you use the least, and finish with the ones you use every day. In practice, that means packing in roughly this order:
- Weeks 3–4 before the move: Attics, garages, and storage closets — holiday decorations, off-season sports gear, and anything you haven’t touched in six months. These items are easy to box up early because you won’t miss them before moving day.
- Weeks 1–2 before the move: Books, artwork, framed photos, off-season clothing, and guest bedroom items. These rooms see light daily use, so you can pack most of the contents while leaving out a few essentials.
- The final week: Everyday dishware, small appliances you can live without for a few days, and linens beyond what you need for the final nights. Leave your coffee maker and one set of dishes out until the very end.
- Moving day (or the night before): Toiletries, medications, chargers, a few changes of clothes, important documents, and pet or child essentials. Pack these last, load them last, and keep the box with you rather than on the truck.
A few packing habits make a bigger difference than most people expect. Wrap heavier items first and place them at the bottom of the box, keep individual boxes under about 30 pounds so they’re safe to carry, and label each box with both its destination room and a short description of what’s inside. If a box holds anything fragile, write “FRAGILE” on at least two sides so it’s visible no matter how the box is stacked on the truck.
If packing an entire house sounds like more than you want to take on alone, Two Chicks Moving’s professional packing services handle everything from fragile-item wrapping to full-house packing, so your boxes arrive at your new home in Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Naples, Estero, or Bonita Springs exactly the way they left.
For a broader planning framework, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Protect Your Move consumer education program offers a free planning checklist that covers what to do in the weeks, days, and hours before your move — useful whether you’re packing yourself or hiring professional packers.
Local Area Guide: Sweet Melissa’s Restaurant Settles Into Its New Fort Myers Home
If you’re settling into Fort Myers this summer, there’s a genuinely exciting reason to add Summerlin Road to your must-try list. Sweet Melissa’s Restaurant, helmed by James Beard Award nominee and Food Network alumna Chef Melissa Donahue, celebrated its new home at 16230 Summerlin Road with an official ribbon-cutting on Thursday, August 6, alongside the Greater Fort Myers Chamber of Commerce.
The chef-driven, farm-to-table restaurant has been a fixture of the Southwest Florida dining scene since relocating from Sanibel Island in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian in 2022, and the ribbon-cutting marked a formal celebration of its growth and its ongoing commitment to the community. Local leaders, chamber members, and media joined Chef Donahue and Executive Sous-Chef Thomas Juneau for the celebration, which is a good sign of the kind of neighborhood you’re joining if you’re relocating to Fort Myers.
It’s the kind of local milestone worth knowing about before your moving truck even arrives — read the full write-up from Florida Weekly for photos from the event. And if Fort Myers is where your next move is taking you, Two Chicks Moving’s Southwest Florida service area page covers everything you need to know about moving into the neighborhood.
