How to Label Moving Boxes So You Can Find Anything (Numbers, Colours and QR Codes)

"Kitchen" written on the top of forty boxes is not a labelling system. It tells the movers roughly where a box goes and tells you almost nothing when you are looking for the kettle at 11 pm on the first night. A good system answers two questions fast: where does this box go? and what is inside it?

Here is a system that answers both, in the order you should set it up.

1. Number every box

Give each box a unique number and write it big. Numbers do three jobs words can't: you can count boxes on and off the truck ("we loaded 38, we have 37"), you can refer to a box in a list ("chargers → box 4"), and two boxes of "books" are no longer interchangeable. Keep the numbers in one list as you pack — that list is your inventory.

2. One colour per room — the room, not the contents

Pick a colour for each room of the new home and use it on every label and on a sign on that room's door. Movers don't read; they match colours. A blue label goes through the door with the blue sign. It matters most when the new layout is different from the old one: the "office" box may be going to a spare bedroom.

3. Label the sides, not the top

Box tops get covered the moment you stack. Put the label on at least one long side — two opposite sides if you can — so it's readable in a stack and on a dolly.

4. Flags that change how a box is handled

• Fragile — glass, ceramics, screens. Pack them tight, never at the bottom of a stack.
• This side up — liquids, plants, anything assembled.
• Heavy — books, tools. Small boxes only; tell the movers.
• Open first — the first-night box: chargers, documents, toilet paper, kettle, medicines, a change of clothes, bedding.

5. The contents list: what goes on the box, and what doesn't

A short list on the label is enough for you, but not enough for the box nobody remembers packing. The trouble is space — a label can hold five lines, a box holds thirty things.

This is where a QR code helps. A QR code can hold several hundred characters of plain text, enough for a full numbered list of a box's contents. Print it on the label; on moving day anyone can point a phone camera at the box and read the list. No app is needed, and because the text is inside the code itself, it works without mobile data.

One caution: a label is public. Don't print "jewellery" or "passport" on the outside of a box. Keep valuables in your own list only, and move them with you, not on the truck.

6. Keep the list where you can search it

Whatever you use — a spreadsheet, a notebook, an app — the system only works if you can answer "where is the drill?" in seconds. On the other side, track status: packed, loaded, delivered, unpacked. When the truck is empty, the boxes not marked delivered are the ones to chase.

Quick checklist

1. Choose room colours for the new home and print door signs.
2. Number every box; keep the inventory as you pack.
3. Label two sides; flag Fragile, This side up, Heavy, Open first.
4. Put the full list in a QR code or a printed inventory.
5. Keep valuables off the labels and with you.
6. Track delivered vs missing boxes on the other side.