15 Tips To Make Your Move More Sustainable

I recently just made a move and it can be a stressful and wasteful time. Between all that plastic bubble wrap, plastic tape, and plastic wrap. I’m here to show you with a little creativity and planning you can make a move more sustainable using what you already have.  Plus saving you money!  These tips more apply to making a short trip move. However if you’re making a longer cross country move you can still use a lot of these tips as well! 

1. Wrap fragile items with packaging you already have on hand. Things such as newspaper, toilet roll wrappings, reused packaging paper, old wrapping paper or even clothing! 

2. Use what you already have on hand to pack. Such as reusable grocery bags, decorative boxes, duffle bags, or even a picnic basket.  

3. Ask friends or a buy nothing group for free boxes. Even ask stores (especially grocery stores) if they are willing to part with any empty boxes.  When finished with your move be sure to pass along the boxes to someone else in need. 

4. Your luggage is probably the most under utilized item when it comes to moving. Pack heavy books in luggage to help make those heavy items a little easier to move. Let those  roly wheels do all the work for you!  

5. If you have a rolling office chair utilize that to transport heavy boxes to and from your moving locations. 

6. If you have any of those plastic sterilite drawers don’t empty them out. Keep what’s already inside and just tie some string around the drawers so they don’t open upon moving.

7. Label and tape any small hardware that goes together. For example I have these special screws that go together with a shelf. Once they are taped to the shelf and labeled it makes reinstalling it super easy! 

8. If you have any plastic totes, a chalk board marker writes very clearly on them. Label what’s inside and when finished they wipe right off with some water.

9. Store sharp items such as knifes in between some cardboard that is stapled together. Make it tight so it doesn’t fall out. Be sure to label what’s inside with a warning that a sharp item is in there.

10. Store small items like earrings on buttons so they don’t become an huge entangled mess.

11. Pins can also all be stored on a piece of cardboard.

12. Store appliance attachments together so you can easily find them. For example I have an instant pot which I use daily, so I stored the rack, strainer, and cooking utensils all inside the pot. It made making a first meal in the new place so much easier.

13. If you’re making an in town move make your own ice packs with a stasher bag to transport your cold groceries to your new home. No one likes any food waste! 

14. Labeling items is key to making a move as smooth as possible. Reuse those bread tags as labels for all your cords. You’ll never be confused again as to ‘what does the cord go to again??’

15. Do you get those free address labels in the mail and just throw them away when you move? Next time consider cutting your name off the top and leaving the address labels for the next person living there. They have a better chance at being reused then just being throw away.

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