Cardboard boxes are synonymous with moving day, but it’s time we switched up the vocabulary. While boxes may be the go-to when it comes to packing up your belongings, they’re not actually necessary.
Yes, that’s right, we’re suggesting you can pack up your entire house without using a single cardboard box. Why would you want to do that?
Think about it: You find or buy boxes only to recycle them when you’re done, which wastes your time and money. Instead, be resourceful (and eco-friendly) by reusing the protective packing material and storage solutions that you already have lying around your home.
Help yourself, and the environment, with these 8 creative tips for packing and moving your stuff without using boxes.
1. Suitcases
Suitcases for packing clothing? Groundbreaking. Switch it up and load those roller bags with important papers, printers, cumbersome serving ware, and small but heavy appliances. They will be much easier to transport from old home to new home without having to do any serious lifting. Plus, many suitcases have pockets, which are great for stashing easy-to-lose items like bags of screws and short cords.
2. Tote Bags
Oversized totes are a fantastic organization hack in general, but they can really shine on moving day. Wrap knick-knacks, picture frames, small kitchen utensils, and miscellaneous bits and pieces in bubble wrap or crumpled newspaper and stow them in a tote for convenient carrying.
3. Purses and Backpacks
A new home is no place for tarnished, scratched, or broken valuables. And the risk of losing small, delicate items during a move is far too high to just shove them into the corner of any old box and dig through the depths for them later on.
Protect jewelry, silverware, and other small, fragile items with tissue, clean socks, or jewelry bags, and put them in your purse or backpack. We also recommend letting your bags of treasure ride shotgun with you in your moving truck so that they don’t get damaged by any larger items in the trailer that may move around.
4. Briefcases
No need to reinvent the wheel here. Your family’s briefcases typically carry work-related materials? Perfect. They’ll be kept safe and identifiable by packing them in the same way. Laptops, user manuals for various electronics and appliances, and important financial documents will need to find a place in your new home office anyway, so they might as well take the journey there together.
5. Storage furniture
Ottomans and in-bed-frame drawers can be tricky to pack because you don’t want to add too much extra weight to an already bulky item. If you haven’t used your blankets, pillows, and sheets as packing material for your other stuff, fold and toss them into a storage ottoman or drawer. Just be sure to tape or wrap the storage pieces closed so that your linens don’t fall out and get dirty.
6. Baskets and Hampers
Just because picnic time may have to wait until the move is over doesn’t mean your basket can’t be put to good use. Wrap each of your plates in bubble wrap or dish towels and place them vertically in the basket. Doing so prevents the plates from banging into each other and potentially breaking.
Still need to pack your shoes?
No sweat. Toss them into a separate basket or hamper.
7. Dresser drawers
Think of dresser drawers as your ever-willing little helpers. They’re ready to carry anything in any form, as long as it’s easy for you. So generous.
Either remove the drawers from your dresser to act as separate bins for whatever you can fit, or leave the drawers filled with their usual socks, towels, t-shirts, and the like. Simply wrap the drawers (if you’re using them separately) or dresser in plastic wrap and you’re all set.
The best part: Everything is right where it needs to be when you’re unpacking and settling in.
8. MakeSpace
If you only need the essentials right away and can wait for the rest of your belongings, let MakeSpace safely store everything else. Simply schedule a MakeSpace pickup, pack your stuff, and leave the rest to us.
We’ll then transport your items to our secure, temperature-controlled storage facility. And like a well-labeled cardboard box without the wastefulness, we’ll create an online photo inventory of your stuff so you never forget what you packed. When you’re ready to decorate your new place, just log into your MakeSpace account, select the photos of the items you’d like back, and we’ll deliver them right to you.
Voila! You’ve made the house a home without a box in sight.
Now go and pour yourself a celebratory glass of lemonade and tell your boxes:
