Cutting Moving Costs By Reducing Your Packing Supply Expenses

If you are planning to move from one house to another, then your best option to get through the move as quickly as possible is to hire a professional moving company. The professionals are worth the investment, but you may be on a tight budget. This means that you need to find other ways to cut down on your moving costs. Follow some of the supply tips below to keep your moving expenses as manageable as possible.

Find Boxes

Most people purchase packing tape, boxes, bubble wrap, and other supplies when they start packing their belonging. Fortunately, you do not need to buy these materials if you think outside the box. You can find boxes for free at many different locations around your town as long as you plan early and look in the right places. Grocery stores often have many boxes in their stock rooms that have been used to ship food items to the retailer. These boxes are broken down and recycled, and grocery store managers are often willing to give away these boxes so that employees do not need to spend their valuable time crushing the containers.

Liquor stores are a good place to look for boxes as well, and often times people will give away boxes after they are done moving. Search your local message boards or exchange websites to see if anyone is offering boxes. Fast food restaurants are a good place to find boxes as well, because these establishments receive regular shipments of food that come in large containers. You can even ask your professional moving business if they have an exchange program where boxes can be transferred from one customer to another.

Use Your Clothes Instead of Bubble Wrap

Packing supplies like bubble wrap are often considered expensive, but they are necessary to keep your dishes and other breakables from becoming damaged during the moving process. Fortunately, you have your own soft materials in your home that can be used to wrap your breakables. These materials are your clothing.  

You will need to pack the clothes that hang in your closet along with your other items and this can greatly increase your need for boxes. You can cut down on both your box and bubble wrap needs by using your shirts, sweaters, and socks to wrap your breakables. You can roll up your clothes and stick them in the extra spaces in your boxes or you can layer your clothes in between stacks of plates. Sock rolls also make the perfect stuffing for cups.

Do Not Empty Dressers

You likely have quite a few dressers and other furniture items that you use to store your belongings. You may think that you need to remove the items from the dressers during the moving process to reduce weight. This is not true.  

The average dresser weighs about 160 pounds, and an average outfit weighs between two and four pounds. This means that you will be adding only between 20 and 40 pounds of weight to the dresser if you have about 10 outfits stuffed in the drawers. Refrigerators and other appliance can weigh well over 300 pounds, and your professional movers will be more than capable of lifting the weight of your full dresser.

Seal Your Clothes

If you plan on leaving your clothes in your dressers, then make sure that the items cannot shift during the moving process. Make sure that the clothes fill up the majority of the spaces within the drawers and place a protective film over each drawer opening. One of the best materials you can use for this is cling wrap or saran wrap. Buy a product that sticks in place when you press on the edge of the material. Add a layer of the wrap over your clothing and seal the material by running your finger across the wood of the dresser drawer. Replace your drawers once you are done sealing them.

If you plan on moving soon, then you may be concerned about the costs of the move. Thankfully, you can reduce some of your expenses by cutting back on the packing materials that you buy. Check out sites like http://midwaymoving.com/ for more tips to help your moving process go smoothly.