Where Can I Get Inexpensive Moving/packing Supplies?

grocery stores get rid of TONS of boxes. You just need to tell someone at the store you need them before they go in the bailer and get crushed.

Look in the yellow pages under moving supplies or perhaps boxes. Many warehouse businesses sell used boxes and moving supplies.

If you need pads for your furniture, then I would suggest blankets that you would put on a bed. They cost about the same as the moving blankets and you get to use them over and over again when guests come over.

The best boxes for light weight stuff like clothes are banana boxes. Grocery stores will give them to you free. Apple boxes also work well.

The best boxes for heavy items or fragile items are liquor boxes. They are also free.

If you have very fragile china or crystal to move, the best way to protect those very fragile items are the buckets that held icing. Most grocery stores that have in-store bakeries will give those buckets away. If you find one that charges, most only charge $1, but try another and they will probably give them away.

BTW, when you actually move, buy some name tags that you stick on a shirt in different colors. Place all of the boxes going to a specific room with the same color and write the name of that room on the name tag. That way your "moving buddies" can tell that all of the yellow name tags are kitchen items and go to the kitchen. You can sit in front of the TV and write on the name tags a long time in front of the move so they will be ready before moving day.

Good luck to you and yours.

Look on Craigslist for boxes. We have always had tons of luck with this.

Home depot and Lowes both carry moving boxes, tape, bubble wrap and shrink wrap (this is great for furniture). I found their prices were cheaper than U-Haul.

Use some extra blankets and/or towels and put around your furniture then wrap with shrink wrap to hold it in place. This needs two people to wrap tightly and will help prevent scratches.

Restaurants that serve beer in bottles have beer boxes that are perfect - not too big, not too small, sturdy, and they have handles. My husband manages one and they are always happy to set boxes aside for people, as long as they come to pick them up. Just call.

Not for furnature. We usually don't box that stuff up when moving. But for boxes you can probably go to a grocery store or walmart and see if they will give you boxes a lot of times they will. I know when we moved my husband tired to get egg boxes cause they are sturdy.

Use towels and blankets for the furniture. You can use packing tape around the towel/blanket to hold them in place.

For boxes, last time we moved, after we were done we posted our boxes on craigslist.org, free to anyone who would come pick them up. No joke, within an hour they were all gone. I'd keep an eye out on craigslist - you should be able to pick up boxes for free or close to it. Then all you'd need is packing tape, which isn't too expensive.

As a side note - check out flylady.net - she has some fantastic moving tips. I used her methods last time we moved and I've never had any move go so smoothly. Her ideas made it practically stress-free. Good luck with your move!

We found out when our local grocery store/Walmart received their shipments and asked them to hold back boxes. They almost always did.

If you want to get really creative, actually went to a line of business that had recycling bins out back. They usually have one that is specifically for cardboard, we pulled out a bunch of boxes from there. Then when we were done, we recycled them ourselves.

Ask around, you can almost always find someone who is moving to. Offer to pick up their boxes when they are done. As you can tell, we've never paid for a box. :)

craigslist.org

freecycle.org (you HAVE to be approved by the moderators to use it)

Grocery stores - get boxes there.

The packing blankets aren't cheap. Use your own blankets and sheets to wrap table parts in.

Moving tape...I've not seen that on craigslist or freecycle. you can get it in bulk at Wal-Mart, Office Depot, Staples, etc.

Well, the furniture wraps can be bought with your U-haul rental - like 10 dollars extra (worth it). In addition, if you know someone who works retail aksing them for boxes is helpful, they come in ALL the time. In addition, you can often ask grocery stores for them too. The tape you just have to buy, best deal I found was at Wal-Mart unless you want to use the "smart tape" that has the room name on it that is at U-haul, it says Dinning Room, Living Room, Master Bedroom etc and each are a different color. We used this last time and it was great, we put a small strip of the tape (bed 1,2,3 bath 1,2) on the door so everything when where it was supposed to go the first time.

the cheapest place to buy boxes is home depot. they are about half the cost of uhaul. however i have found that if you call your local grocery stores and ask what day they get their chips in you can get big boxes that day. just be there when the guy is unloading and they will give them to you. also go on the freecycle site for your town (freecycle is on yahoo.com) and ask for moving boxes you will be amazed at how many people will email and say I have boxes. as far as making sure you dn't scratch the dining room furniture etc. use your comforters and pillows around the legs of things it works.

I wanted to add the 1 thing you might want to buy at uhaul. they have these kits that cost about $15. in it is rolls of tape. each roll is a different color and has a name on it. yellow for kitchen, red for dining room, green for bathroom etc. we bought the set that had 4 bedrooms although they have them in 2, 3 and 4 bedroom sizes. that way when you move you know what goes in each room without having to dump it all in the living room on moving day and sort from there. saved us a lot of time.

If any of your friends or family coupon, ask them for their newspapers...they probably get more than 1 at a time. Otherwise, go thru recycling or post a request on freecycle.org

We've moved more than I care to.

LIQUOR stores for boxes!!! Very durable boxes, usually never broken down, and free. It makes it easier to carry smaller, heavier boxes.

Also get a roll of plastic wrap. You can wrap up almost anything....put sheets/towels, etc. around the furniture.

Good luck.....it can be quite cheap if down right. We moved a LARGE house full of stuff and a 2 car garage worth of stuff in one trip. I only paid for the plastic wrap, and one package of bubble wrap. (Used newspaper for the dishes.)

We are in the same packing boat as you. We are getting most of our boxes from the grocery store....a friend gave us a ton of the plastic wrap and I plan to hit the goodwill/thrift shop for cheap blankets and sheets to wrap things in.

Ours is do it yourself...actually...its all me and the 4 kids...dh won't be around much before the move. I am panicing a little ;)

Get on Craigslist or freecycle.org for free boxes. For your furniture MAKE SURE you cover all wood in sheets or foam b/c I only covered the tops and my "mover" (hubby's friends) broke the corner wood off of the bottom on my bed, broke a door off of my daughter's bed, and the wood scratched the wood off of the door that it hit.

Craigs List and FreeCycle.
We got almost all our moving boxes free that way.
And we got rid of them the same way.

I would go to wal-mart late nights, they are unpacking things for shelves, and are very willing to give you any boxes you ask for, that's how we got our boxes to move, you can get tape at any 99cents stores, and newspapers, well we would buy the sunday paper and use that, or ask someone for their unwanted newspapers. we have someone come into our business and give us their newspapers for our puppies to use. and now we have box fulls of papers.lol hope this helps:)
Dee

S.,

You might try a grocery store for boxes. They're usually happy to give you their empty boxes. Old blankets (or not-so-old blankets) are good for wrapping your dining room furniture. Ask around among neighbors, friends, co-workers to see if someone has moved in to a new place recently. When we bought our condo, we gave our empty boxes to a friend of my parents' neighbor who was moving.

Good luck!
R.

For boxes, check with your local liquor store. The boxes have the nice inserts that are great for packing dishes and knick knacks.

Start by packing up your closets and dressers. You'll probably find some old clothing, sheets, blankets or towels that you can use to wrap items. You may also be able to find these items at a yard sale really cheap.

Ask people you know (friends, family, coworkers) who have newspaper subscriptions to save the daily paper for you. Be sure to pick them up at least weekly.

Ha! yeah, in this day and age, something as simple as newspapers are hard to find nowadays! Totally funny.

Well, can't help you with the papers, but, for boxes, what I used to do is get up early in the AM, like around 6:30AM or 7, and troll supermarkets, department stores like Marshall's and TJMaxx, and drugstores...I would go to the back and usually at that time there is a group of workers unpacking large shipments items that have come in for the day. And there is always one "big order" day, for me I found it was a Thursday the last time I did it. Then I would simplywalk up to the workers and ask if I can take a few boxes. Never had a problem, and often these would be great boxes -- big, thick corrugate board, and pretty clean for the most part.

Thinking off the cuff, for plates and stuff maybe you may want to use your clothes and linens for that? I would if you havent had luck with newspapers by now you may never end up getting a large enough stash.

go to any strip mall. go behind stores. Look for boxes (may be flattened) in or around dumpsters. take boxes. If they have bubble wrap take that too. (if you want you can just jump on the bubble wrap to hear the cool popping noises)

ask neighbors to save newspapers or go around on recycling day and get them out of recycling containers

moving supplies can be free, honest.

for your furniture, wrap it in blankets or other such things. Even sweat shirts work for that. Tape with masking tape not duct tape if using stuff you want to save