When moving to a new home or apartment, it's sometimes stressful enough with the planning stages that sometimes we may overlook how we move, and more importantly, the number of supplies used throughout the process. Sometimes it's buying up an excess of supplies, packing materials and means of transport that can more or less cut into the green initiative.
There are a number of ways to conserve when moving, whether it's reusing boxes, being efficient with how you store your belongings on the truck, reducing the amount of trips back and forth, etc. That said, let's elaborate a little more on some important areas and ultimately strive to be as green as possible with the moving process as a whole.
Reuse Boxes and Packing Materials
One of the easiest and most effective strategy for making a green move is to start with boxes and packaging materials. Look around your home for boxes you may have in storage, and if they're sturdy enough for your belongings, use as many as possible. And if you don't have enough boxes, reach out to friends, neighbors or family and see what extra boxes they have lying around their home and ask if you could borrow them.
Even better, reach out to local grocery stores or other establishments that have an influx of boxes going in and out on a daily basis. Most of the time, they should be happy to part with bulky produce boxes, that are not only extremely sturdy and spacious, they are very adaptable for all of the smaller to medium-sized miscellaneous items.
Conserve With How You Wrap Belongings
Protecting your belongings is crucial with any move. Whether it's fine china or other precious belongings, the key is to be careful with how they are packaged, and what materials are wrapped around each one. Bubble wrap is always an effective solution, but as I mentioned above with searching out for boxes, you should take the same approach with wrapping materials. You'd be surprised to find there are friends or businesses that have a good amount of bubble wrap leftover from simple shipments delivered. Ask if they'd be willing to offer the excess bubble wrap to you.
And if you're unable to find bubble wrap, you can always save up a good amount of newspaper that, even though it's probably going to be recycled anyways, would be a sufficient substitute for wrapping up your possessions.
Be Savvy With How You Store Items on The Van/Truck
Whether you're hiring a moving company to haul away the items for you or you plan to do it yourself, making sure you take advantage of all the available space when storing your belongings is key. Take a few more minutes to plan out exactly which items should be positioned on the truck or van and see exactly how much you can store without going to the extremes of overly stuffing boxes to the point you're putting fragile items at risk of damage.
Essentially, if you can spare the space, you'll save on extra return trips back and forth from your old home to your new one, saving on gas and improving your carbon footprint all the same.
And that's the most important thing with being green while moving: it's reducing and reusing as many available items around you and strategizing exactly how efficient your storage and transportation can be. In the end, you're taking a few more steps towards improving you eco-friendly initiative.
For more tips, visit our blog and learn how we help suggest green moving strategies, whether it's from our Topeka moving offices or the greater KC areas as well, it's about making moving day as stress-free and eco-friendly at the same time.
