h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

My husband used to say that the reason he married me was that I could pack a house in 24 hours - at the time we were living in a country where naughty expatriates were often given 24 hours to leave, so it was a consideration although not, as it turned out, a foundation for a lasting marriage...
Anyway, in the last 30 years I have lived in 25 houses in 10 different countries. I have had professional packers twice in that time (the only two occasions on which anything got broken) and I have packed , or helped pack, for many friends in that time.
1) Get heaps more boxes (from office,grocer, offie etc) than you think you are going to need
2) Two pairs of scissors, parcel tape and marking pens go in a small box out of reach of children.
3) Don't put more in a box than you can comfortably lift yourself - you're going to find a box of books in the kitchen that should be two flights of stairs further up however careful your labelling.
4) Label everything in big letters. If you are going to another country, make 3 copies of packing lists. One goes inside the box. One is for customs and one for your file. These things should be remorselessly detailed (eg 75 poetry books,1 Chinese vase warpped in 8 pairs of tights - in fact, I have been known to list book titles, but that really IS anal) I have yet to pay import duty and most customs men are daunted by the prospect of checking the lists off - even the Bulgarians)
5) Do as much packing as you can while the kids are asleep. If you have a bossy friend like me, let her get on with it - you provide foor and liquor over several evenings
6)If children are under five years old, don't send them away to sleep. They will panic
7)However, harden your heart and send pets away for a few days
8) Leave the children's things till last if they're little. Older children can pack their own stuff if it's not breakable
9)Roll all clothes - fewer creases, so less ironing the other end
10)Medicine goes on your person - in hand baggage (with a prescription if there's any danger of it being mistaken for hard drugs at the border)
11) Don't leave spaces for things to rattle into and break. Cram underwear,socks, tampons into every spare inch.
12)Wrap all liquids in at least two plastic bags with sticky tape round the necks of the bottles.
(There's more, but I'll add it to the other conversations)