📦 How to Calculate Cubic Feet for Moving (Like an Overly Confident Intern Who Just Googled It)
Hi there. Welcome. Are you ready to become the ultimate master of cubic feet? No? Me neither. But here we are. Your moving company just hit you with “How many cubic feet is your stuff?” and now you’re sweating like it’s prom night and you forgot pants. Don’t worry. I gotchu. Kinda.
🧊 What Are Cubic Feet (And Why Do They Sound Like a TikTok Trend)?
Okay, so. A cubic foot is just a box that’s 1 foot long, 1 foot wide, and 1 foot tall. That’s it. Not scary. Not magic. Just math. (Okay maybe a little scary. Especially if math gave you trauma.)
Imagine your toaster, but invisible and made of numbers. That’s 1 cubic foot. And now imagine 50 of them stuffed with your bad shopping decisions. That’s what you’re moving.
📏 The Formula That Will Haunt You
It’s literally:
Cubic Feet = Length × Width × HeightAll in feet. Not inches. Not meters. Not vibes. Feet.
(I once gave inches to my movers and they just blinked at me like I was a confused raccoon. Learn from my mistakes.)
Example: My Sofa That I Definitely Didn’t Find on the Curb
- Length = 84 inches → 84 ÷ 12 = 7 ft
- Width = 36 inches → 36 ÷ 12 = 3 ft
- Height = 30 inches → 30 ÷ 12 = 2.5 ft
Now multiply: 7 × 3 × 2.5 = 52.5 cubic feet
That’s how much room your couch takes up. Or approximately 52.5 units of regret, depending on how you measure your life.
📦 Cheat Sheet for People Who Just Can’t Even
Look, if measuring things gives you flashbacks to high school geometry (same), here’s a chart I made while eating string cheese and crying:
| Item | Approx. Cubic Feet |
|---|---|
| Medium box (full of emotional baggage) | 3 – 4 |
| Queen mattress (used mostly for doomscrolling) | 60 |
| Sofa (probably haunted) | 50 – 60 |
| Fridge (home to a 5-year-old jar of pickles) | 35 – 40 |
| Washing machine (swallows dreams and socks) | 25 – 30 |
🧠 Why Knowing Cubic Feet Matters (Yes, Even for You)
- Movers need to know how much space your junk will take up in the truck.
- If you guess wrong, you’ll be playing emotional Tetris with your belongings.
- Too little truck = panic. Too big = you’re now transporting air. Congrats.
- And yes, they will silently judge you if you say “I think like… a hundred?”
😅 What I Told the Movers (That I Immediately Regretted)
“I have 3 chairs, 1 table, 9 boxes, and a broken ego. Do you need cubic feet or just, like… vibes?”
They did NOT laugh. But they did send a small truck and I had to leave my lamp behind. RIP, Gerald the Lamp.
📚 TL;DR (Too Long, Didn’t Relocate)
- Convert inches to feet. Divide by 12. Or just Google it while pretending to be good at math.
- Multiply length × width × height (all in feet, unlike my self-worth).
- Use the cheat sheet if you’re measuring-challenged (like me).
- Tell the movers. Try not to cry when they charge you $900 to move your broken IKEA bookshelf.
- Repeat in 8 months when your lease ends and you move again because life is a flat circle.
Bonus: Want a downloadable version with terrible doodles and even worse advice? Let me know. I made one. It includes a maze that leads nowhere.