What Movers Won't Move, And What to Handle Yourself

It's worth being clear about the distinction, because it changes what you do with each item.

Keep-with-you items are things movers are perfectly able to carry, but that you're better off keeping in your personal bag: your documents, cash, jewellery, medicines, and devices. The movers aren't the risk; the risk is a valuable or irreplaceable item getting lost in a hundred identical boxes, or arriving a day later than you do when you need it now.

Can't-go-on-the-truck items are genuinely different. These are hazardous or prohibited (gas, fuel, chemicals, firearms), and no professional mover will transport them because it's unsafe, against transport rules, or illegal. These need dealing with before moving day, not packed at all.

Sort your belongings into those two mental piles and the rest of this guide tells you exactly what goes where.

If there's one category to guard, it's your documents. Most are difficult to replace, some are nearly impossible, and you often need them at exactly the moment a move makes everything hard to find.

Carry these in your personal bag, packed a few days ahead:

Identification: passports, national ID cards, birth certificates, and any immigration or work-permit documents. If you're moving abroad, you'll need these in hand, not in a shipping container.

Ownership documents: land title deeds, vehicle logbooks, share certificates, insurance policies, and any share or ownership paperwork. These are the documents it's genuinely painful to replace, and they should never go on a truck.

Academic and professional certificates: degree certificates, transcripts, professional qualifications, and licences. Originals are hard to reissue, so keep them with you.

Financial documents: chequebooks, bank documents, and any cash you have in the house. Cash in particular should simply never be packed.

Medical records: prescriptions, vaccination records, and any ongoing treatment paperwork, especially if a family member has a condition that needs continuity of care.

A simple approach: one folder or document wallet, everything important inside it, and that folder stays in the car with you. If you're moving internationally, keep this folder even closer, since customs and immigration will want several of these documents on arrival. See our international moving services Kenya and cross border moving Kenya guides for what you'll need at the border.

Some things are worth too much, in money or in memory, to risk. Keep them with you.

Jewellery and watches, especially pieces that are sentimental or gifted. Small, valuable, and easily misplaced, they belong in your bag, not a box.

Cash and bearer assets: anything that's as good as cash if it goes missing.

Family heirlooms, the irreplaceable things. If it can't be bought again, don't put it on the truck. For genuinely valuable or fragile heirlooms (art, antiques, collections) that are too large to carry yourself, don't improvise: our fine art moving Kenya service handles high-value and delicate items with proper protection and handling.

Small electronics: laptops, tablets, phones, cameras and their accessories, external drives, flash disks, memory cards, power banks, and chargers. These are valuable, easily pocketed, and hold something more important than their price: your data. Keep them with you.

Your phone and M-Pesa line. Obvious, but worth saying: your phone, your SIM, and access to M-Pesa should be on you throughout the move. It's how you'll pay for things, coordinate the day, and reach anyone you need. Never let it end up in a packed bag.

Keys: house keys, car keys, office keys, padlock keys, and any spares. Keys have a talent for getting packed into a box and then being needed to open the very door the box is behind. Gather every key and keep the set with you.

Medicines deserve their own mention, because running out mid-move is a real and avoidable problem.

Keep all prescription medications with you, in your personal bag, with enough to cover the moving period and the first few days after, not packed in a box that might not be unpacked for a week. If anyone in the family takes daily medication, this isn't optional.

Bring the prescriptions themselves too, so you can refill without difficulty at the other end, especially if you're moving to a new town or country where you'll need a local pharmacy or doctor.

Also keep with you any medical devices and supplies: glucose monitors, inhalers, mobility aids, spare spectacles and contact lenses. Spectacles and sunglasses in particular are easily crushed if packed loose, so carry them in their cases.

If you're moving abroad with medication, check the rules for your destination before you travel, since some countries restrict medicines that are ordinary here, and you may need documentation. That's a conversation to have early, not at the airport.

This is the list that catches people out, because these are ordinary household things that movers genuinely will not put on a truck. They're flammable, explosive, corrosive, or under pressure: a real danger in a moving vehicle. Deal with them before moving day, because the answer isn't "pack them carefully", it's "don't pack them at all".

The most common one in a Kenyan home, and the one people most often assume will be fine. It won't. A cooking gas cylinder (K-Gas, Pro Gas, Total, whichever you use) is a pressurised, flammable container, and no mover will transport it, full or seemingly empty.

The easy solution is not to move it at all. Because gas in Kenya works on a cylinder-exchange system, the simplest thing is to leave your cylinder behind and simply refill or exchange one at your new home, exactly as you normally would. If you'd rather not lose the cylinder deposit, return or exchange it with your supplier before the move. Either way, the cylinder does not travel on the truck.

Petrol, diesel, paraffin, kerosene, lighter fluid, and any jerrycans of fuel: none of it goes on the truck. If you run a generator or keep fuel at home, use it up or dispose of it safely before moving. The same goes for the fuel in petrol-powered equipment like lawnmowers and generators: drain it before the move.

Paint and thinners, household cleaning chemicals, pool and garden chemicals, pesticides, and pressurised aerosol cans (including some deodorants and sprays) are all classed as hazardous. Movers won't carry them, and packed in a hot truck they can leak, react, or burst.

Use up or give away what you can before the move: that half-tin of paint, the garden chemicals in the shed. For what's left, don't just bin it or pour it down the drain. See the disposal note below.

Movers will not transport firearms or ammunition, even licensed ones. In Kenya a licensed firearm carries its own legal handling and transport conditions, and it remains the owner's personal responsibility at all times. If you own a licensed firearm, move it yourself in line with your licence conditions, and if you're unsure how a relocation affects those conditions, speak to the relevant firearms authority before you move rather than after.

Car batteries and other large batteries are corrosive and hazardous, and shouldn't go on the truck or into your ordinary rubbish.

For hazardous household waste generally (old paint, chemicals, batteries), the responsible route in Kenya is not the bin and not the drain. Contact NEMA (the National Environment Management Authority) or a licensed waste handler for guidance on disposing of hazardous waste properly, and return car batteries to a dealer or collection point that accepts them for recycling. It's a small effort that keeps chemicals out of the water and the soil, and it's the correct thing to do rather than leaving a problem behind in your old home.

Not dangerous, just impractical, and sometimes restricted.

Food, especially fresh and frozen. A long moving day is not kind to perishable food. Run down your fridge and freezer in the week before the move, cook or give away what you can, and don't plan to transport fresh or frozen food any real distance. Dry, sealed, non-perishable food is fine to pack.

Open and opened items. Half-used cooking oil, opened sauces, and anything that can spill are best used up or discarded rather than packed to leak over everything else.

Plants. Movers can often carry houseplants for a short local move, but plants travel badly: they get crushed, they dry out, and they don't enjoy a dark truck. For a long-distance move they're better carried in the car if you can. And if you're moving across a border, live plants are often restricted or prohibited by agricultural rules entirely, so check before you plan to bring them. Our cross border moving Kenya guides cover what can and can't cross.

A short but important list. Some things are illegal to transport, and no mover will touch them, nor should you attempt to move them yourself.

This includes narcotics and illegal drugs, ivory, and unlicensed wildlife trophies or products, all strictly controlled in Kenya under wildlife and customs law, with serious penalties. Kenya takes wildlife protection seriously through KWS and KRA, and there is no grey area here.

It also includes anything else prohibited by law. If you're moving internationally, be aware that the prohibited and restricted list gets longer and varies by destination: items that are legal to own here may not be legal to import elsewhere, and customs authorities enforce this. Our international moving services Kenya guidance covers what you can and can't ship.

This is the trick that separates a smooth first night from a miserable one. Whatever else gets packed, set aside one clearly labelled box (or a bag that rides in the car) with everything you'll need in the first 24 hours, so you're not opening ten boxes at midnight looking for the kettle.

What goes in it:

The essentials: phone chargers, a change of clothes for everyone, basic toiletries, toothbrushes, and any medicines (though those stay in your personal bag). Toothbrushes are worth carrying separately anyway, since it's a hygiene thing and you don't want them loose in a box.

The practical: a torch or lamp, phone chargers, toilet paper, hand soap, a few basic tools or a knife for opening boxes, and any keys and remotes for the new place.

The kitchen minimum: a kettle, a few mugs, tea, coffee, sugar, and some snacks. The first cup of tea in a new home, made without hunting through boxes, is genuinely restoring.

For children: comfort items, a favourite toy, snacks, and anything that helps them settle. For a baby, a full night's supply of everything.

For pets: food, water bowls, and something familiar. If you're relocating a pet properly, see our pet relocation Kenya service.

Label this box "OPEN FIRST" in big letters, or better still keep it with you so it never goes on the truck at all.

Here's the reassuring part. Once you've set aside your documents, valuables, medicines, and the handful of hazardous items that need dealing with, everything else (your furniture, appliances, kitchen, wardrobes, books, and the hundred ordinary things that make up a home) is exactly what InMover's vetted movers handle, carefully and professionally.

That's the whole point of using vetted movers rather than a random truck: your belongings are handled by people who pack, load, and transport for a living, who are rated by customers after every move, and who you can track in real time on the app. You keep the irreplaceable few things with you; they take care of the rest.

If you'd like the packing handled too, our professional packing services team can pack your home properly, and knowing which items to keep back becomes even simpler when professionals are doing the rest. Need to store some things during the move? See our storage solutions Kenya.

The short version of this whole guide: keep your documents and valuables in a bag with you, deal with gas and chemicals before the day, and let your movers do what they're good at.