I moved my mom last year. She’d lived in the same house for 32 years. You can imagine the basement.
She wanted to do the eco-friendly thing. I wanted to not throw my back out. We compromised by fighting about it for three weeks.
Anyway. I learned some stuff. Not from articles. From doing it wrong first.
The Box That Almost Killed My Marriage
So my wife saved boxes for months. Months. Every Amazon delivery, every grocery run, every time someone got a package, the box went in the garage.
I thought she was crazy. Our garage looked like a cardboard recycling plant exploded.
Then moving day came. We didn’t buy one box. Not one. And you know what? They worked fine.
Some were beat up. A few had holes. But here’s the thing about boxes with holes – you just don’t put small stuff in those ones. Use the holey boxes for towels or blankets. Use the good ones for dishes and heavy stuff.
We saved probably eighty bucks. And the garage felt amazing after we hauled them all out.
The Blanket Trick
My mom has these blankets. Ugliest things you’ve ever seen. Crocheted by some aunt in the 70s. Brown and orange. Hideous.
She almost threw them out. I said wait.
We wrapped every single fragile thing in those ugly blankets. Vases. Picture frames. A lamp she’s had since before I was born.
Nothing broke. And the blankets? They moved right along with everything else. Didn’t cost a dime. Didn’t create any waste. Just ugly blankets finally useful for something.
The Newspaper Lie
Everyone says use newspaper. Old newspaper works great.
Except for the ink. Have you ever wrapped white plates in newspaper? You’ll be washing newsprint off plates for weeks. Your fingers turn black. It’s awful.
Use the white packing paper if you must wrap stuff that touches food stuff. But for everything else? Use the free ads that come in the mail. Use old school flyers your kid brought home. Use the phone book if you still have one from 2019 like my mom does.
Just test a corner first. If the ink smudges, don’t use it on stuff that stains.
The Thing About Peanuts
I hate packing peanuts. Everyone hates packing peanuts.
But I needed some for a weird shaped lamp my mom refused to get rid of. The store sold biodegradable ones. Cornstarch or something. They looked like Cheetos without the orange dust.
Worked fine. Lamp survived. Then my dog ate one.
Called the vet freaking out. She laughed. Said they dissolve. Dog was fine. Just really confused about why the snack didn’t taste like anything.
So I guess that’s a bonus? If your pet eats them, they won’t die? Don’t test that. But still.
The Tape Revelation
This one got me.
I packed all these boxes with reused cardboard and newspaper and towels. Felt great about myself. Then I sealed them with regular plastic tape.
Later I learned that tape means the box can’t be recycled easily. All that effort. Ruined by tape.
Now I use the brown paper tape. You wet it like an old stamp. Sticks fine. Holds fine. And the whole box can just go in recycling when someone’s done with it.
Took me forty-two years to learn that. Hope you learn it faster than I did.
The Storage Part
We ended up putting some of her stuff in storage. Not everything fit in the new apartment. Shocking, right? Thirty-two years of basement stuff doesn’t fit in a two-bedroom.
We used a unit at New Burton Storage. Clean. Dry. Easy to get to when she inevitably needs that one thing she forgot she had.
The point is – however you pack, wherever you put it, the packing matters more than the storing. Good packing means your stuff arrives fine. Bad packing means your stuff breaks and you cry.
I’ve cried over broken stuff before. Not doing it again.
Stuff I Learned The Hard Way
So you don’t have to learn the hard way:
- Liquor store boxes are built different. They hold heavy stuff. Use them for books and canned goods.
- Produce boxes from grocery stores usually have lids. Great for random junk.
- Towels and blankets are free bubble wrap. Use them first.
- Test your newspaper before you wrap your grandma’s china in it.
- Biodegradable peanuts are real. They work. Dogs think they’re food. Keep the dogs away.
- Paper tape or nothing. Plastic tape ruins the recycling dream.
One Last Thing
You’re gonna pack however you pack. Maybe you’re the type who buys all new boxes and wrap and does it perfect. Maybe you’re like my wife and save boxes for months and drive your husband crazy.
Either way, your stuff needs to survive. And the planet’s already got enough problems without us adding a ton of plastic to it.
The stuff I mentioned? It’s not fancy. It’s not complicated. It’s just what worked for us when we were in the middle of it, tired and cranky and surrounded by my mom’s weird collection of ceramic frogs.
Yeah. The frogs survived too. Wrapped in ugly blankets. Safe and sound.
If you end up needing a spot to stash your stuff, whether it’s ceramic frogs or actual valuables, come see us. We’ll get you set up. Bring your own boxes or use ours. We don’t care. Just want your stuff safe.
Good luck with the move. Hope you don’t fight with your spouse too much.
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