Moving to a new home can significantly impact the environment, but there are effective ways to minimize this effect. By adopting sustainable practices, you can reduce waste, lower emissions, and make your move eco-friendlier.
Packing is a huge part of moving, whether you're moving across the city or out of the state. Finding ways to pack your things without breaking the bank matters. There are several cost-effective ways to pack for your move and here are some of the best choices.
Chicago GreenBox offers eco-friendly plastic moving boxes you can rent. Instead of spending money on cardboard moving boxes, renting boxes may be a more cost-effective solution. In addition to the cost-effective benefits, when you rent plastic moving boxes you'll be choosing to move in a more eco-friendly way.
You probably own suitcases, some boxes, bags, and other things you can use for packing. Even reusable grocery bags may help with some of the packing.
Instead of spending money on boxes, use what you have first, and then rent the moving boxes you need for the rest of your things. Pack with what you already own first and you won't need to buy as many supplies. In addition, towels and other soft items can be used to protect items and keep you from needing as much bubble wrap or other packing items.
Before you start packing for your move, take the time to minimalize. If you have old things you don't use or need, sell them, donate them, or trash them. Go through your things and decide what you really need to take with you and what can be sold, donated, or thrown away.
By minimalizing first, you won't need nearly as many moving supplies. You can save money by using this cost-effective strategy to minimize the items needing to be moved.
Air-pillow packing can be very expensive. You don't have to spend money on this type of packing material when the dollar store will sell you balloons for super cheap.
In addition, with balloons, you can control how large you make them fill the space needed to be filled perfectly.
If you have a shredder or you can rip up paper you already have, you can use it in the place of packing peanuts. You don't need to spend money on packing peanuts to pack fragile items you don't want to break. Shredded paper of any type can work well as a packing filler and save you some money.
We already talked about using what you have, but many people forget to fill their hamper, baskets, and other items they already own. Even dresser drawers can be filled and packed separately to make furniture easier to carry. You can even cover drawers in plastic wrap to help protect the items inside.
While it's not necessarily a tip for cost-effective packing for a move, when you move in the offseason, the cost of moving will be lower. Moving companies need the businesses and they will be more likely to provide discounts on the packing supplies you do need during the off-season.
The most cost-effective move will include renting plastic moving boxes, using your own things first, and minimalizing as best you can. Chicago GreenBox offers excellent reusable moving boxes, which make a great choice for a cost-effective move.
When you want to have an eco-friendly move, you do things like using reusable moving bins and finding containers around the house to help save on moving supplies. One thing you may not have thought of though is that you can increase the eco-friendliness of the move by packing your kitchen last.
This is because you’ll be more likely to eat up the last of the food before the move rather than throwing it away and you won’t be relying on extra take-out where you’ll be throwing away wasteful Styrofoam containers all week. For these reasons and more, packing the kitchen last will allow you to have a more eco-friendly move. Take a look at the best way to pack your kitchen and why you should do it last.
One major perk of waiting to pack your kitchen until last is that you’ll have the ability to cook at home for a longer time before the move. Moving often means there is going to be a lot of take-out and not enough home-cooked meals.
Saving the packing of the kitchen until last means you’ll have access to your utensils, pots and pans, dinner plates, and knives all of the way up until right before the move in order to cook regular meals and finish up the food you still have in your fridge.
While you can take your pantry items with you, many people end up tossing them or giving them away which means you’ve wasted money on them and you’re spending money eating out when you have food at home that could be made. The eco choice would be to not waste that food still at home and to avoid eating out when you could be cooking.
When you do decide to order pizzas and Chinese delivery, you end up buying waste paper plates and plastic cups instead of using what you own. This means you are tossing away more environmentally harmful items and killing trees to provide you with dinner plates.
Instead, you could use your own supplies at home and cook meals up until a day or two before the move to ensure you don’t have to buy plastic and take-out. When the whole family teams up to prepare meals the week of the move and then pack the kitchen up last together, everything still gets done and you got to enjoy waste-free homemade dinners all week.
When it’s time to start packing the kitchen, you’ll first want to make sure there is nothing you may want to donate that you don’t use anymore. Then you can start sorting things by the essentials, like silverware and the coffeemaker, to the seldom used, like the platters and vases, in order to pack properly.
If you pack the things you rarely use first, then you can leave the items you use daily in a more accessible way. Pack things like the fine china, cookbooks, platters, and pitchers separately from things like the cutting knives, dinner plates, bowls, and glassware. Then make sure you prepare a bin of things you’ll use when you arrive, such as dishwasher detergent, sponges, kitchen towels, and coffee filters, in a handy place so that you can get into your new kitchen without missing a beat.
You may be tempted to pack the kitchen first since it can sometimes feel like the hardest room to pack, but save this one for last to contribute to a more eco-friendly move.
When it's time to move, it's time to protect the environment during your move. This means you may need to get creative with your packing materials. Sure, you can just rent some green moving boxes, but there are other options to help compliment your rental boxes.
If you're preparing for a move and you want to make sure it's eco-friendly, you need a few tips. Here are a few great ways to get creative with your packing materials.
You probably own suitcases, duffel bags, backpacks, and other bags you can use to pack some of your things. These don't have to be used just for clothing. Smart movers will use their suitcases to pack clothing with fragile items protected by the clothing.
When you use your current bags and suitcases, you can save on boxes, but you can also save on bubble wrap. Let your sweaters, blankets, and towels help pad the bags and protect your fragile items.
You probably have plenty of furniture with drawers. Nobody says you have to leave these empty. You can remove them to make the furniture easier to move, but you can also pack these drawers and slide them into the furniture once they are in the truck.
Another way to go is to use plastic wrap for each individual drawer. This can allow you to turn each drawer into its own type of box and give you some easy packing materials to work with.
They may not look pretty, but packing with garbage bags can allow you to pack a large number of things for super cheap. You can use heavy duty black garbage bags for things, such as blankets, bedding, pillows, hangers, toys, and more. You want to use them only for lighter items and don't pack anything fragile in a garbage bag.
There are so many things you can pick up from the dollar store for packing. Some dollar stores actually carry packing materials for super cheap, but others may have super cheap cloth rags or towels you can use for packing. Get creative with what they offer, and you might cut your packing supplies budget in half.
Do you have extra wrapping paper from the holidays? This can be an excellent choice for packing paper to help fill in gaps and protect items. Whether it's still on the roll or you saved it from gifts you received, it can work great for packing materials.
Other ways to get creative with your packing materials include:
Yarn - Use it to help pad items you pack in boxes, suitcases, or drawers.
Sandwich Bags - You can use sandwich bags to hold smaller items.
Junk Mail - It's great to use as packing paper.
Popcorn - Just like the packing peanuts you've seen, you can pop popcorn and use it to protect items when you're moving.
There are many creative ways you can go about packing for your move. While not every choice on this list is entirely eco-friendly, compared to spending a large amount of cash on cardboard boxes and packing materials, you'll have a more eco-friendly move with these tips. Of course, mixing any of these ideas with eco-friendly moving boxes will go a long way to making your move friendly to the environment.
Moving from one commercial space to another is a big task. Maybe you're moving for a better location or for lower overhead. No matter the reason, you should be looking into how to move in the most eco-friendly way possible. Here are some of the best tips to ensure your commercial move is as eco-friendly as possible.
Use Eco-Friendly Moving Boxes
Your commercial move has to include eco-friendly; reusable moving boxes if you want it to be an eco-friendly project. Using cardboard boxes just won't cut it, even if you recycle those boxes after moving. Not only is cardboard much worse for the environment, but it's also not nearly as strong as green moving boxes.
When you choose green moving boxes, you're using a box that can be reused by many people after you before it must be replaced. You're choosing a box that's rigid and will better protect your business items as you move. It's simply a better choice for the environment and for your overall move.
Choose Eco-Friendly Packing Materials
While it all starts with the boxes, you want to make sure you also use plenty of environmentally-friendly packing materials. Instead of buying rolls of commercial bubble wrap, get biodegradable bubble wrap. You can also use newspaper, egg cartons, blankets, towels, and other reusable items as packing materials.
Hire the Right Green Moving Company
Some moving companies simply don't care about the environment, but others are very eco-friendly. When you choose a moving company committed to eco-friendly practices, they will use trucks running on cleaner fuels and they will provide reusable moving boxes as a part of their business model.
Take the time to look for a commercial moving company willing to go the extra mile for the environment. If they don't have eco-friendly moving practices in place, you may want to keep looking.
Limit the Number of Trips Made
Moving is a big deal and commercial moving usually doesn't mean you're leaving the city. Instead, you may be moving to a bigger location or a better location. You don't need to make a ton of trips in between these two locations to move, however.
Instead of trying to make small trips here and there, make the fewest number of trips possible. When you take fewer trips, you won't use as much fuel and it will be a more eco-friendly move. Don't move things little by little. Hire a moving company to move as much as possible on moving day and if you must move things ahead of time, pack your vehicle as full as you can to eliminate multiple trips.
With the right green moving boxes, the right packing materials, and the right eco-friendly moving company, you can make your commercial move an eco-friendly project. You don't have to let the environment suffer just because you're moving to a better location for your business.
Take the time to use these tips and put other eco-friendly practices in place. Once you're in the new location, you can also implement many new practices to ensure your business is as eco-friendly as possible.
When you're ready to move, even if it's just across town, the right boxes make a difference. Traditional cardboard boxes collapse under too much weight, become worthless if they get wet and could be crushed. Do you really want to deal with those issues during your move?
Plastic boxes provide a better choice and they will actually improve the packing process for your move. In addition to improving the packing process, plastic boxes improve the overall moving experience. Here are some of the ways your move will be improved by using plastic boxes.
No Assembly
When you choose cardboard boxes, you have to assemble them with tape to use them. Plastic boxes come assembled and ready to be used. You don't need tape or anything else to put them together.
Delivery and Pickup Available
With cardboard boxes, you have to go find them, purchase them, pack them, move and disposed of them. Why go through that process when you can simply rent plastic moving boxes, have them delivered, and then have them picked up when you’re done with the boxes?
Stackable, Both Empty and Full
While cardboard boxes may lay flat before you assemble them, once they are assembled, they will take up quite a bit of space. They are also not as easily stackable as plastic boxes because they will slide around during the move.
With plastic boxes, you can nest them when they are empty, which means one will fit right inside the other. You won't have to worry about a bunch of assembled cardboard boxes getting in your way. Simply have one stack of plastic boxes in one area and get a new one when you're ready for it.
In addition, when you actually move, the boxes are made to sit inside the top of each other. They have a ridge in the design so they won't slide off the top during the move.
Easier to Reopen
If you pack a cardboard box and you tape it up, it's a pain to reopen it for an item you forgot to pack inside. Plastic boxes don't cause this hassle. You can easily reopen them, pack the item, and close it back up.
Avoid Moving with Unwanted Pets
Did you know that termites, beetles, silverfish, and roaches all love cardboard boxes? You could end up moving with these pests if you use cardboard. With plastic boxes, you don't have to worry because these pests won't eat plastic!
No Water Damage
Accidentally set that cardboard box in water and you'll wish you weren't moving. The box will fall apart and you may break something. At the very least, the box will need to be repacked.
With plastic boxes, you don't have to worry. They cannot be damaged by water in the way cardboard can, which helps to keep your items much safer.
When it's time to move, you want to make sure you get the right boxes. Plastic boxes will help to improve the packing process and the rest of your moving process, as well.
