Moving Boxes

Hi there..I found the same thing last time I needed boxes and I too refuse to pay for them. I took a few that were already broken down and taped them back together..WHen I got tired of that...I hunted down the stock boy in the grocery store and nabbed the boxes as he unloaded produce onto the shelves!!

Last time I packed up my entire house I too got boxes from FreeCycle. They came from someone who worked in a fish and chip shop and they'd held the deliveries of potato chips so were pretty tough. Now I live near a supermarket that chucks out all it's boxes, but they don't crush them in a machine. The staff break them up by hand and stuff them in the bins, and then I come along and take the whole ones out again! I use masses of cardboard both at home and in the garden, so I figure that when I see a good strong cardboard box it's worth grabbing it and stashing it. The trouble is, I always seem to find the real big ones when I only have the little car! I've got puppies at home just now so I'm really glad of the big boxes I saved earlier. I'm cutting them down to make 'nests'.

I went to grocery stores and gas stations and just asked if they had any boxes. Sometimes I would only get one or two. We got a lot of boxes from a friend who worked at the shoe department in the mall and he saved a bunch of boxes for us. I wish you lived close to me. I have a ton of boxes in my basement from when I moved and I haven't gotten around to getting rid of them because there's so many.

Why I was moving I brought the empty computer paper boxes home from work. I also went to Costco's and got boxes. Usually at the wholesale warehouse stores, boxes are used to cart your groceries since they do not have bags. If there is a BJ's, Sam's club or Costco near you, try them to see if you can get boxes.

I actually use the ones that were broken down. All you have to do is buy packing tape and tape the boxes. They work great. When the stores say they break them down all they are doing is opening the two ends of the boxes and making them flat. The boxes should be in decent shape. If they are actually cutting the boxes up ask them when their trucks come in and see if they will save you some or if you can be there to grab the empty boxes. Stores are getting protective over their cardboard!

I went to the grocery store and asked them for their banana boxes! There great for packing stuff and a lot of times they tend not to break those ones down right away like they do the other boxes.

Try Craigslist, liqour stores, bars and restaurants. If they break them down, ask what day and if you can pick them up before they destroy them. I would not buy bxes either! By the way - did you guys decide to move? Remember, don't leak the new address to the in laws.

A great place to go is the alchol beverage stores. They usually have a day when they allow people to come and get boxes. For us it's Tuesdays. You just have to ask. They're great two because they have those dividers in them you can use to pack you glasses or you can remove them. They're also very sturdy. The dollar tree will also let you take their broken down boxes if you ask. Then all you have to do is get some good packing tape and rebuild them. That's what I had to do. Hope this helps.

Call up your local Walmart and ask them to save some Banana Boxes for you. They normally don't break those down right away and they have handles. If you call I am sure they would keep them for you if you were going to come in and pick them up the same day. I have gotten banana boxes from there before.

Well I last moved four years ago, so I would just go to my local supermarkets and get boxes from there. Now though I have noticed that they do not have boxes lying around like they used to so maybe next time we move we might have a problem!!

Fortunately for us we got a ton of boxes since my husband works retail. I know our grocery store will set aside boxes for people if you ask them. Since most stocking is done over night or first thing in the morning. Maybe you could call your local grocery store, Walmart, Target, etc....the night before and they could tell the shift that does all the stocking to hold boxes for you. I know also , sometimes you can get them if you get to the store as soon as it opens....sometimes they haven't crushed them yet. Hope this helps.

Hey kats! I know what you are going through! Even though I haven't moved in years I did need to pack up things when I got my apartment painted to get things out of the way so they wouldn't get broken! I had a really hard time getting boxes too! The stores told me the same thing! I went from store to store and collected what I could and had to put the boxes back together with tape! You would think that it would be a simple thing to get boxes from stores, but it wasn't! I went to the beverage store which always has boxes, grocery stores and the convenience store and I took whatever I could get and that wasn't much!

I normally would go on freecycle or craigslist and ask for them. Another way is i call local stores and ask them to hold them. THey give them to me for free. Also if you go to walmart. Go to the aisle with the paper towels. If you find an empty box or a box that is about to empty you can take it. Walmart doesn't care. My mom does that alot. Im like you though why pay for something like that when you can get it free.

Maybe try a produce market, or the produce section. A lot of times you see banana boxes that are still in tact. Most of the boxes in the grocery are slit open with a knife and don't have proper lids. Here is something that may work. Maybe you can go into the grocery when they are stocking at night. I find that the stockers have the boxes right there and sometimes are willing to just let you have them. It saves them having to break them down. It depends on who you ask. If you can't get a response on freecycle for paper boxes, maybe ask if anyone has free plastic boxes with lids. That would be cool because you could see most of what you are moving and have extra storage containers when you unpack. If I think of anything else, I will add it. This is so exciting that you are getting to close to your dream.

I agree boxes are hard to get now. Most of the companies do break the boxes down because they are big and bulky and hard to discard and manage whole. The last place I worked was a factory (plant) and they had boxes that we used to pack some of the outgoing parts in. Those boxes had to be made up or taped to form a box. We also received a lot of parts and material in large bulky boxes. The employees that worked there were allow to get some of the boxes with permission. I remember one employee that was new and wanted some boxes for moving and I helped her put these boxes in her vehicle. She was putting them in there whole and I had to tell her and show her that it would be much easier if she would break them down. Yes boxes now are hard to get I hope you have luck in finding you some more.

yes this is a real problem. so many people have to buy thier boxs these days .recycleing is the thing now so these kinds of things will only get harder.

yeah,we always throw them after we moved.When we move again we found we shall not throw them at that time.people alway throw thing when they think it is useless.not only the moving boxes.

I got most of my boxes from grocery stores. Most grocery stores stock their shelves only twice per week. Find out when they are and call the shift manager after 5pm the night before you want to pick up and let him know the situation. If you let the manager know you would be in to pick them up early, say before 10 in the morning, they usually will save, without tearing down, for you. Bananna boxes are my favorite because they are strong and have handles. Keep checking freecycle and craigslist as they update every day and you just never know. Good luck!

the supermarket leaves a ton off boxes in the front of the store where i live which was cool, plus my job gave me a bunch. This recycle thing is probably the reason there is not as many around. i remember at the holiday season I worked at kmart for extra cash they crushed all thier boxes and sent to a recycle. Good luck on your search for boxes and the move.

yeah but you could use boxes tht you already have or just put ths stuff in your vehicle and shift