What Should I Do with My Boxes After I Unpack?

Congratulations! After months of planning, preparing, and packing, you, your family, and your stuff have finally arrived at your new home. Even better, you’ve emptied every possible packing box and set up everything in a pleasant and eye-catching fashion. You have completed a successful move, and you’re ready to make new memories in your new home.

So, what exactly are you supposed to do with all the stuff you used to move your stuff safely? You don’t exactly need to keep around a veritable flotilla of boxes, much less all the materials you used in those boxes to cushion your possessions during the moving process. But there it sits, taking up a much larger portion of your living space than you’d ever intended.

Luckily, you can remove those boxes and packing supplies from your life if you know what to do and where to go – and it shouldn’t require too much effort on your part.

There’s a pretty good chance you know someone who will be moving in the near future. And if you can’t actually help with the packing or moving process, you can definitely help by donating any and all extra boxes and packing supplies. The less your friends have to locate and/or purchase, the less stress they will feel during their move.

Thanks to easy-to-use sites like Craigslist, Freecycle, and Boxcycle, it’s easier than ever to find people online who will happily take boxes and packing supplies off your hands for their moves. Most of those sites offer safe and secure ways to communicate with people so they don’t learn your personal contact information. And when it comes to finally hand over your boxes, we do recommend that you do so in a public place, instead of inviting people over to your home.

Depending upon the level of moving company you used, they might be interested in your boxes, tape, and other packing materials. Since they’re in the business of moving people, they will know of clients in the process of moving, and they might be able to direct you to who could best use your extra packing supplies.

This one should only apply if your boxes are in poor condition. As in, we encourage you to find other people who need moving supplies before you choose to recycle. We are big believers in recycling, but we also believe in reusing. That being said, if you feel that your boxes can’t help someone else move because they’re falling apart, be sure they are clearly part of your recycling before you place them on the curb. You don’t want your waste disposal company sending them to the landfill when you wanted to recycle them.

This most definitely applies to packing supplies like paper, newsprint, and bubble wrap. After a while, that stuff simply cannot be reused effectively, so ensure it gets to the recycling plant and not the garbage dump.

Yes, we know. You wanted to get rid of the boxes. But unless you don’t have any plans to move again the next several years, you might want to keep some of those boxes for “just in case” type reasons. So, while we’re not suggesting that you keep all of your boxes, we do recommend retaining a few of each size. Simply flatten the boxes properly and place them in a dry, out-of-the-way location like your garage, closet, or storage facility.

Because …

You never know when you might need a good cardboard box. We’ve used them for a variety of reasons:

• Your kid has a project for school.

• Your kid needs a distraction from bad weather.

• Your spouse needs to store some miscellaneous items.

• You need to store the items in a room while you remodel or paint.

• You want to reorganize in general.

The possibilities are endless!

We are big believers in feeling a sense of closure when it comes to moving into a new home, and nothing helps create that feeling like getting rid of your boxes and assorted extra moving supplies as quickly as possible. Hopefully, you can use some of these tips to help your family finish off this last big part of your move, because we don’t just want to see a big pile of empty boxes on your curb waiting for trash day