Find Free Moving Boxes: Tips and Tricks

Moving can be a very expensive ordeal, even the physical act of moving can cost you lots of money.

One way you can save money while moving is to find free moving boxes.

Before shelling out money for small, medium, large and specialty boxes, consider the following (free) options:

• Your office. Offices can receive many boxes throughout the day that can fit a variety of needs. The best office-found boxes are computer boxes and office supply boxes. These two sizes can accommodate heavier items, not to mention you might be able to score the packing materials for your own computer.
• Grocery and general stores. Think of your local Target or Wal-mart for these. Either go first-thing in the morning or late at night when the shelves are being stocked. Better yet, befriend a worker and they'll set these aside for you.
• Behind retail establishments (a.k.a. "dumpster diving"). Drive behind any strip mall and you will find rows of dumpsters that can contain a plethora of boxes in various sizes. One of the best scores I found was a tall box for things like strollers, lawn equipment, etc. that was previously used to ship a promotional display. Word to the wise though, if the dumpster smells like trash from a distance, more than likely anything from the dumpster will too, even if it was just placed in the dumpster. (Electronic stores such as cell phone stores are great for finding smaller boxes, nail salons have fantastic medium-sized boxes.) The best days to dumpster dive for boxes are Monday-Friday at the end of the day when FedEx, UPS and the other delivery folks have made their regular runs.
  
• Craigslist and Freecycle. Freecycle is all about recycling things that would normally wind up in the dump, and as the name implies it's all free. Craigslist has an entire "free" section you can browse. Both sites are location-specific when searching. Sign up for Freecycle or select your city/state from Craigslist.

I've read warnings to avoid getting boxes from grocery stores that once contained produce because allegedly these boxes can carry cockroach and other nasty parasite eggs. Think about this, if the produce in your kitchen now was shipped in boxes covered in cockroach eggs, don't you think those same little nasties would hatch in your house from the actual produce itself? Just a thought.

If you must bite the bullet and spend money on moving boxes, Home Depot sells the most inexpensive individual moving boxes at their local stores.

Avoid buying the "box kits" since most of the time you won't need everything listed in the kits.

Utilizing the resources around you can save you about $500 or more during your move, and is a green alternative to buying brand new boxes.