Trying to move without spending money on packing supplies is hard. We've been in our new place for almost a week now and finally totaled it all up. We spent a mere SIX dollars on packing supplies. Six! here's how we did it:
1. Start a month or two in advance. Cardboard boxes are easy to find, but it takes time to gather them all up.
2. Get friendly with your local liquor store. They have lots of liquor boxes that they're happy to give away for free.
3. Stop by the copier and printer at the office. Any big office goes through paper like water. That means there are plenty of boxes left too.
4. Learn where the cardboard recycling areas area in your building or town. Online shopping is more popular than ever, which means people are discarding large boxes pretty frequently. This is a great place to find TV boxes, which are sturdy and have hand-holds.
5. Use your clothes instead of bubble-wrap. It's much more eco-friendly to sandwich your pot lids, dishes and wedding photos between bath towels than to spend $20 on a huge roll of bubble wrap that you'll only use once. Stuff mugs into multiple layers of socks. Use t-shirts that are destined for the "rags" pile for the glassware. You wouldn't want to find glass shards in your shorts!
6. Use your suitcases and backpacks. They're sturdy and are easy to transport. Fill them up!
7. Don't buy more packing tape than you need, but do buy the biggest roll you can find. We only went through two rolls (huge ones of super thick tape, $3 each). This way you aren't left with a huge multi-pack that you have to store.
And as you'll see in the next post, we had a LOT to pack...
We have moved 7 times in the past 6 years 4 of them being across the country and these are great tips. We have become pros at packing and moving lol. Whenever I have friends that move I always share these tips. It saves tons of money!
ReplyDeleteHi Erika, thanks for commenting! I'm glad to hear that these tips are tried-and-true. At first my husband thought I was a little off my rocker to be wrapping our china in beach towels!
DeleteIn web, we can find lot of tips. But providing good moving facility and service is another part where clients job is fully solved. I appreciate that.
ReplyDeleteHouston Apartment Movers
Hi Erica, thanks for your comments! I have a feeling that I'll definitely be taking your advice and having movers do almost 100% of the moving AND packing if I have to move when we have kids. It was so stressful this time and I don't want to do it again! Now, I just have to get rid of enough stuff so that it would be affordable to do that...wish me luck and thanks for visiting!
DeleteThese are great tips for DIY packers!
ReplyDeleteAnother tip on packing soft items if you're not moving far is to use garbage bags or recycling bags. They're light, take up less space than boxes, and can be re-used for their normal purpose once you've unpacked them. We use them to move our college kid from apt. to apt. and also for moving things like linens and clothing to our cottage and back.
That's a fantastic idea! They're so inexpensive, reusable and SMALL that I'm going to have to do this next time. Or when my hoarder parents move out. Yikes. Thank you for the tip!
DeleteLove all of it! Glad to see I'm not the only one using towels & clothes to pack up too :)
ReplyDeleteAs for the commenter who said to hire movers, I was 9 months pregnant with a 22 month old and did all of the moving myself, including heavy lifting. It can be done! (caveat: my FIL has a truck & trailer, so we get to move for free in the area).