Cheap packing materials for moving house

MaffyD

I like all these suggestions, but I'm wondering what the scale is of all these moves. We're moving in 3 weeks, and we're a family with 4 children and years of accumulated stuff. Most of this stuff is not cheap (subjective) so we're probably over-protective of it all.

The moves we have had are always professional moving companies and lately have been 2 truck moves. The packing was done by them (not this time though) and they've always used brand new boxes.

It has cost usd an arm and a leg every time (more in recent years as the number of children has grown). But we've finally decided to trim it back.

We filled 2 skips
We donated furniture to BHF
We gave maybe 10 bin bags of clothes to charity
We bought and are packing our own boxes (to those who think this is still way over the top, it's partly lack of time to source enough free boxes that are good enough, and a desire to make sure we're putting stuff in boxes our removal company is happy with)
And it's really helped. We're not there yet, but the worst of it is done.

The box company we used is an online one, and I can't include the link as I'm a new user. The name is Removal Boxes UK.

Dicegirly

Hospitals indeed are great - Particularly the Pharmacy department. They will ALWAYS have a good supply of various sized boxes and bubble wrap. Just ask them to put some aside for you.

GFM

I moved home last year, not once but twice in 6 months !
After scrummaging around for decent packing boxes, I managed to get a few decent ones from various shops/supermarkets.
Towards the end of my packing days I went into Toysrus and was served by a remarkably wonderful, helpful shop assistant. She showed me some very strong, very large boxes which they had stacked by the front of their store for recycling/disposal...... Needless to say I took them all !
Her attitude was impressive, she even went to the back to see if there were anymore I could utilise. I had never been served by anyone more helpful.
I then moved into my temporary home waiting until my new house was ready. Within 3 months I was preparing to move again, I went into the same store to grab another couple of boxes to pack my temporary items, shock, horror !!....... the store now had all the same boxes tied together in small bundles, which you now had to pay for !!!
Advertising them as 'moving home- packing bundles' !!!
So if you get a decent freebie, grab it quick, before some bright spark commercialises it !

Wilma33

DigForVictory wrote: »

My colleagues who run the stationery cupboard have a lovely knack of having a tidy up & ensuring thick felt tips & a couple of rolls of the broad sellotape emerge as "spare", but then they're wonderful supportive folks.

Theft is not a legitimate money saving tip.

squirrelz

When we last moved house, the removal guys told us a horror story of a woman moving from a large 4 bedroomed house, who'd packed *everything* in supermarket carrier bags. :rotfl:

I have to admit that we used their packing service, some things are just worth paying for if you can afford it. They packed the entire contents of the house in about 6 hours. We'd have been living out of boxes for weeks if we'd had to do it ourselves.

fleur38

I used to be an Avon lady and the deliveries come in very strong boxes, so ask your local avon lady for hers (yes those cosmetics can be really heavy!).


Also, pop quilts pillows etc. inside wardrobes/chests of drawers.


Get cardboard boxes that used to have wine bottles in them and keep in the separators and they will be good for packing mugs or other bottles.


I'm thinking of moving in the next few months so any boxes and bubble wrap I get from deliveries is getting popped up in the loft.


Put household products in the (clean!) kitchen bin.


Also when I last moved I put a sticker on every box saying which room it should go into and when I got to new house put post-it notes on doors saying bedroom 1, bedroom 2 etc. which matched up with stickers.
I did have to stand at the door and repeat it to cheeky removal men who were trying to leave everything down in the lounge though!


Wrap blankets and towels around mirrors and pictures and tie with string if they are too big for boxes.

Jellywobble123

I have recently moved and visited my local industrial estate locating the distributors who have boxes by the shed load and don't always recycle them straight away, I got most of mine this way, plus you can resell them afterwards! Win win! I labelled all the boxes with the neon coloured card "flashes" which made it easier