If you’re a plant fan, then chances are we don’t have to sell you on the why– indoor plants boost mood, reduce stress, clean air, and do their best to keep you healthy and happy. That’s why people work so hard to do the same for their plants. There are some obvious perils to plant life like pests and environment that can stress a plant out irrevocably. Luckily, moving doesn’t have to be one.
Prior to your move, getting cardboard boxes can be a hassle. They’re cumbersome, surprisingly expensive, and can leave cuts more obnoxious than paper cuts if you’re clumsy. (Full disclosure: I am clumsy.) After your move, you’ve got roughly a billion boxes and it’s just, if not more, as annoying because suddenly you have to get rid of them. Sure you could toss them in the trash, but then you have to live with the fact that you single handedly are probably causing global warming–you shouldn’t have taken that 20 minute shower. It felt so good, but at what cost?
This is a handy guide to getting and getting rid of boxes. Hopefully after going through some options, you can see which is the best for you and your move.
Getting Boxes
Buy Boxes
The first and probably most common step is just to straight up buy some boxes. You can get boxes from a ton of retailers, and even online at specially sites or plain old Amazon. Life Pro Tip: if you book us for packing services, you can buy boxes directly from us. We got you covered.
Rent Reusable Boxes
If you’re more earth conscious, you may want to rent reusable bins instead of using cardboard boxes. This is a quick and easy process– schedule deliver and pickup, pack bins, unpack bins, and you’re all set. You don’t have to worry about tape or cardboard everywhere, and you already know what to do when you’re done with them. Occasionally we have our own reusable bins for rent, but when we’re out we also recommend lendabox.com
Ask for Boxes
This is what I lived with as a kid! Any time it was time to move, my mom would be at grocery stores asking if they have any boxes. There’s no shame in trying! This strategy pretty much always landed us with loads of boxes for free. You could also check websites like Craigslist or ask apartment offices. When it comes to used boxes, though, you always need to test durability. You don’t want them falling about on you.
Getting Rid of Boxes
Return Boxes
This is the easiest option! If you rented your boxes, bam, return them and you’re all done.
Toss Boxes
You could throw boxes out, but every time you do a rare type of animal goes extinct.
Recycle Boxes
There are multiple ways to recycle your boxes. Literally putting them in a recycling bin is one. You could also use them to compost, or to line garden beds. You could also list your boxes on Craigslist for free, and they’ll be gone in no time.
Sell Boxes
If you’re looking to sell boxes, you could use Craigslist as well. Some places will buy back boxes that they’ve sold you (someone should really just telling them about renting boxes). Check out things like BoxCycle.com to buy and sell boxes.
Donate Boxes
While it may not be the first thing you think to donate, a lot of charities really appreciate donations of cardboard boxes. Check out some charities in your area to see if homeless shelters or food banks may be in need.
Make Something New
I could have lumped this in with recycling, sure, but I was much too excited to. When I was little, my mom would let us make play houses out of boxes. We went wild with leftover boxes–we even got in trouble for covering the basement stairs in boxes to make them a slide. At one point we covered a hill in disassembled boxes and slid down it on other boxes. When you’re a kid in a new place with no friends and a ton of boxes, you make your own fun. Nowadays the trend is to make furniture out of boxes (we’ve blogged about this before!), which I think is just about the most genius thing ever. Why’d I even move all this furniture then–I got boxes galore! Check out pinterest, youtube, and instructables for loads of tutorials, and be on the lookout for when we can do one of our own! I’m itching to get back to my cardboard crafting roots.
There you have it! There’s a multitude of ways to acquire and dispose of boxes, so don’t let it become one of your moving stressors! Don’t let old ideas about moving box you in–moving can be painless. Do the world some good and rent, recycle, donate, or up-cycle some boxes. Have fun with it! You’ll be glad you tried.