Moving & relocation
The moving inventory app that keeps every box accounted for
Every move ends the same way. Thirty sealed boxes, one kettle, and no idea which is which. iFoundIt lets you number each box, record what went in it, and search for anything the moment you arrive.
Free to download • Works offline
Know what is in every box
Photograph items as you pack and assign them to a numbered box, so nothing becomes a mystery in transit.
Organize room by room
Tag the room each box is going to, so unloading puts things roughly where they belong first time.
Check everything arrived
Search your list against what came off the van. Missing items are much easier to claim for early.
Photo proof of condition
A dated photo of anything valuable before it is packed is useful if it arrives damaged.
Export your inventory
Generate a PDF for movers, for your records, or for an insurance rider on the move itself.
Nothing left behind
A complete list means fewer things forgotten in the loft, the shed, or the back of a cupboard.
How to label moving boxes so you can actually find things
Most moving advice tells you to write the room and the contents on the side of every box. It is reasonable advice and it half works. The problem shows up around box twenty, when you are tired, the marker is drying out, and “KITCHEN: misc” starts looking like a perfectly acceptable label.
There are three systems people actually use.
Colour coding. A colour per room, using tape or stickers, with a matching sign on each door at the new place. This is genuinely good for the movers, because it tells them where to put a box without reading anything. It tells you nothing about what is inside.
Writing the contents. Accurate for about the first ten boxes. It is slow, it forces you to compress twenty items into four words, and there is no space on the box for the detail you will actually want later.
Numbering with a master list. Every box gets a number and nothing else. The detail lives on a list. This is the system professional movers use, and it is the only one that scales past a studio flat.
The catch with numbering has always been the master list. On paper it gets lost. In a spreadsheet you are typing item names on a phone while kneeling on a floor. That is the part iFoundIt replaces: photograph the item, assign it to box 14, destination kitchen, move on. You never write anything down.
The best of these is not a single system, it is a combination. Number every box, colour or write the destination room so the movers can read it at a glance, and keep the contents in a searchable list. Then on night one you search “kettle”, get box 14, and open exactly one box. Our moving checklist walks through the full timeline if you are still in the planning stage.
How it works
Pack and photograph
As you fill a box, snap the items and add them to the app.
Number the box, tag the room
Write one number on the box. Put everything else in the list.
Unpack in a sane order
Search by room or box and open only what you need first.
Rules for labelling boxes that hold up on moving day
These are the details that separate a move you can search from a move you have to excavate.
Write the number on at least three sides
Boxes get stacked, and the one face you labelled will be against a wall. Number the top and two opposite sides. This costs seconds and saves you rotating a full box with your knee to read it.
Never reuse a number
If box 12 gets unpacked and repacked with something else, it becomes box 31. Reused numbers break the list quietly, and you will not notice until you are searching for something that the app swears is in a box you already emptied.
Photograph valuables before they go in
A dated photo of the television or the bike, taken before it is wrapped, is what settles an argument about transit damage. Movers are generally careful and things still get broken. Documenting takes a minute and is worth doing for anything you would be upset to lose.
Pack an open-first box and mark it clearly
Kettle, mugs, chargers, loo roll, a knife, medication, and whatever your household cannot function without for one evening. This box gets a real written label, not a number, because you want to spot it from across a room.
Check the list against the van, not the lounge
Count boxes as they come off, while the movers are still there. A box noticed missing at the kerb is a conversation. A box noticed missing a week later is a claim, and a much worse one without a dated inventory to point at.
Questions, answered
How should I label moving boxes?
Give every box a unique number written on at least three sides, mark the destination room so movers can place it without asking, and keep the actual contents in a searchable list rather than on the cardboard. Numbers stay accurate no matter what happens to the contents, and a list can hold far more detail than a marker pen.
Is it better to number boxes or write what is inside?
Numbering scales better. Writing contents works for a small move but gets vague fast, because there is no room on a box for twenty item names. A number plus a master list gives you the full contents of every box without slowing packing down.
What is a master inventory list for moving?
It is a record of which items went into which numbered box, plus the room each box is headed to. Traditionally it was a notebook or a spreadsheet. Doing it in an app is faster because you photograph rather than type, and you can search it with one hand while standing in a hallway.
Can I track which box an item is in?
Yes. Each item is tagged with its box number and destination room, so searching the item name tells you exactly where it is. That is the whole point of the numbering system, and it is what makes the first week after a move survivable.
Should I colour code my moving boxes too?
Colour coding is worth it if you are using movers, because it tells someone carrying a box where it goes without reading anything. It works alongside numbering rather than instead of it. Colour tells you the room, the number tells you the contents.
Can I share the inventory with movers or family?
You can export a PDF of the inventory to share with movers, family, or your insurer. It is also worth keeping a copy somewhere other than your phone, since the phone is going to be in a coat pocket in a van.
More ways to use iFoundIt
Make your next move searchable
Download iFoundIt free and know what is in every box before the van arrives.
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