Moving Boxes Needed Calculator
Ordering too few boxes means a second trip to the shop mid-move, and ordering too many leaves you storing empty cardboard. The count scales with the number of bedrooms, which is the standard shorthand for household size.
Total boxes
40
- Small boxes
- 20
- Medium boxes
- 12
- Large boxes
- 6
- Wardrobe boxes
- 2
- Tape rolls
- 3
Values update as you type. This calculator covers the single scenario its formula assumes — see Common Mistakes for what it leaves out.
The formula this calculator uses
boxes = bedrooms x 20, split 10 small, 6 medium, 3 large and 1 wardrobe
- bedrooms
- The number of bedrooms in the home
- small
- Small boxes, 10 per bedroom
- medium
- Medium boxes, 6 per bedroom
- large
- Large boxes, 3 per bedroom
- wardrobe
- Wardrobe boxes, 1 per bedroom
How to check the result by hand
- 1
Count the bedrooms
Not the rooms. A two bedroom flat with a study usually behaves like two bedrooms for boxes, and the study adds a few small boxes.
- 2
Multiply by twenty for the total
Two bedrooms gives 40 boxes in total, which is the headline order.
- 3
Split by size
Twenty small, twelve medium, six large and two wardrobe. That split is half the boxes in small and a quarter in medium.
- 4
Add specialty containers
Dish barrels for the kitchen, a mirror carton for each large mirror, and a television box if the original packaging is long gone.
- 5
Add supplies
Two or three rolls of tape for forty boxes, plus a dispenser, markers and a little bubble wrap.
For worked examples, common mistakes and the limits of this formula, read the full How To Calculate Moving Boxes Needed page.