Ok, so we’re a few weeks away from moving to our new home and we’ve been collecting boxes, organizing, and packing non-stop! In this video, I show you the 7 best boxes to use for moving ranging from free to just around $10. I’ll also show you what types of items to store in each type of box. Do you have any super secret moving tips? If so, leave a comment or create a video response and let me know!
Best Types of Moving Boxes
The Best Boxes for Moving
Hi guys. It’s Alejandra. And in this video, I’m going to show you guys seven different types of boxes that you can use if you are preparing for a move. So seven different types of boxes that you can pack your stuff into and move with that range from free to actually paying for the boxes, and I’m going to tell you the best places to get boxes at the best price if you are in the United States.
The 7 Best Types of Moving Boxes #1 – The Beer Box
So let me grab the first box. So the first box is a free box from Costco and you can probably get it BJ’s and Sam’s Club also, like any wholesale place or store probably has similar boxes. But it’s a beer box from Costco. It comes with 24 beers inside and the best thing about it is besides being a sturdy box, it also has dividers inside so you guys can see that it has 24 sections.
And what I did is I went ahead and stored all my spices inside. I’m not done packing the box but I just want to show you guys what you can do. I stored spices so they’re not going to tip over. They’re not going to tip over or bumped into each other if they’re made of glass so you don’t have to really wrap them. And then once I’m done putting all the spices inside, I can then put something on top of here that’s light. You don’t want to put something too heavy because if you put something that’s heavy, it might crash the cardboard divider. So put something light on top. So a beer box with dividers is the first box that you can use when you are packing for a move.
Best Boxes for Moving #2 – Liquor & Wine Box
So the next type of box that you can use when you’re preparing for a move is a liquor box from the liquor store. A liquor box or a wine box, both types of boxes are pretty sturdy because they kind of have to be because wine bottles are heavy and so are liquor bottles. And that’s why I like these boxes, one, because they’re free and you can get them at any liquor store, two, they’re sturdy, and then three, they have the sections inside pre-built into the box.
And so what I’m going to use this box for is to pack and store all of my vases. So I kind of put one in there already and it’s a smaller vase. I’m going to put some of my taller vases in here and I’m probably going to put something else on top of up here. I’ll probably put more packing paper and then put something else on top. But you can use this to pack some glassware, anything fragile in the kitchen or fragile decorations you have around your house will work well in this box.
Best Boxes for Moving #3 – Apple Box
So the next type of box that you can get when you’re preparing for your move are apple boxes from the grocery store. I love apple boxes because one, they’re free, two, they’re sturdy, three, they’re clean, and four, they already have a top that comes with it that’s already taped shut making it really easy to close the box and just pack it.
So let me just show this. So this has a top that comes right off. There’s no flaps that you need to tape down so you’re going to save on tape, you’re going to save on time because you’re not going to have to take time to roll up the tape and seal it. I mean you can tape it close if you’re concern with the lid coming off. But it’s a pretty tight fit on like all of the apple boxes not like this New York Apple Sales Inc. box. All the apple boxes have really tight lids.
So again, you could tape the lid shut to the bottom if you wanted. I’m probably not going to do that because we’re moving ourselves and I know we’re going to be gentle with our boxes. So yes, so apple boxes are great. And I think I mentioned that they’re clean like you don’t want to use a dirty box from the grocery store. These boxes are clean because the apples come inside of not like a secure – not like a wrapped packaging but they come in something that doesn’t cause a mess and apples aren’t messy anyways.
Best Boxes for Moving #4- Banana Box
The next type of box that I like to use are banana boxes from the grocery store. Again, they’re free, they’re sturdy, they’re clean, and they are just easy to use. There’s one downfall to banana boxes. They have a big hole at the bottom. So if you don’t like put something on top of the hole then obviously, something is going to fall out but it’s not really a big deal if you’re going to be packing like books, binders, anything big or bulky. These things are perfect for. They have a built-in handle right here which is great.
Again, you don’t have to tape the box shut because it has a sturdy lid. Can you guys see this OK? That has a sturdy lid that’s already closed so you don’t have to tape it shut. So again, you’re going to save on time and you’re going to save on tape.
Best Boxes for Moving #5- Pizza Box
So the next type of box that you can use for your move is pizza box. And I’m not talking about a greasy pizza box from last Friday night, saving it and using it to pack. No, not at all. I’m talking about going to Papa Johns’ or Domino’s, this is from Papa Johns’, and asking for a brand new box. I did it and they didn’t question what I was using it for. They didn’t try and charge me. They just gave it to me and said, “Have a nice day.”
So try going to your local pizzeria and asking for a box and you’d be surprised. They’re probably going to give it to you.
But what you could use a pizza box for is to pack a lot of like last-minute things like let’s say, all the chargers from around your house. You want to immediately have access to those things inside of your new house. So putting all those things in a small box like a pizza box will work well. Or maybe you’re putting all of your remote controls from around the house because those things, not often get lost, but they could get lost when it’s like the one key thing that you always want to try and find that you can’t find. So remote controls maybe in this box.
You could do like fragile platter from the kitchen that you want to make sure doesn’t break because so and so gave it to you or you hand painted it or what else could you do? Basically, anything that’s fragile. You could do like a small box of small things that are fragile like maybe like little figurines from the living room or the dining room, wrapping them very carefully and nicely and then putting them all inside here.
So again, it’s a free box. It’s sturdy, it’s small, and yeah, I’m sure you could find a use for it when you’re packing.
Best Boxes for Moving #6- Home Depot Boxes
The next type of box you can use are boxes form Home Depot. And Home Depot has the best prices on moving boxes. I have done all the research already and I have not found anything cheaper or less expensive in the area. So Home Depot is for great boxes. They have small boxes, medium, large, wardrobe boxes. They have all the packing supplies you need, tape, they have packing paper, bubble wrap, everything. So it’s kind of like a one-stop shop.
And if you’re going to buy all your boxes from Home Depot instead of going to grocery store, to a pizza place, to liquor store to get free boxes, I would suggest going online and buying their moving kit or buying all your boxes and having them shipped to your house. I even think that if you buy the moving kit, it has free shipping which is an awesome deal because going to Home Depot and lugging all the boxes and stuff into your car and into your house is a big pain in the butt. If you have picked up boxes and you moved boxes then you know that moving boxes are super heavy. So if you’re going to buy boxes, have them shipped to you and look at Home Depot because I’m pretty sure that they have free shipping on their boxes.
So this is a medium box which is a standard size box. It is 18 x 18 x 16. OK. So besides using this medium size packing box for its intended purpose of taping the bottom and putting all your stuff inside and taping the top and just using it as a normal packing box, you can also use the same size box to safely pack like your pictures in the wall, your artwork, or anything bulky around the house like a lamp and a lampshade and like those things never packed very easily. All you have to do is cut the box open and kind of shape it around what you’re trying to pack.
I’m going to show you guys in just a minute how to do that. The best thing about it is yes, of course you can go out and buy boxes for pictures and mirrors and artwork and stuff but you’re going to pay an arm and a leg for those types of boxes because they are super expensive and you can do the same thing with a normal size box that costs like a $1.39 or however much this box costs. I’m going to show you guys in just a minute.
How to Make a Picture Box
So in order to create a picture box for pictures in the wall or artwork or anything else that’s like really bizarre to wrap, if you want to use a flat packing box like I’m going to show you, all you have to do is cut it along like edge of the box or the corner of the box like I started cutting it like you can kind of see here. And all you do now is you just tear it along the seam and it can easily open just like that.
So now that I’ve cut the box, you can just see it’s like a long flat box now. I’m just going to grab my picture. OK. So now, I have my picture and I’m going to place it in the middle of the cardboard. But let me just tell you quickly what I did. So I just took this picture. This is a picture my mom gave Ed and I. It’s a picture from Italy. She framed it and it’s just a very nice gift and I want to make sure that it makes to the move without cracking or getting damaged. So I wrapped it in paper and then I just took some shrink wrap and wrapped it all around.
So I’m just going to put it on the center of my cardboard just like that. OK. So I have my picture in the center of the box. And the next thing I want to do is I’m going to flip this over to that, that over to that, and then flip the whole thing over here and then flip these flaps, that one and that one over. You guys can kind of watch and I’ll show you exactly what I mean.
So flip this over here, flip this over here, flip this one here make sure not to press too hard because you don’t want to damage the picture, flip this one here, and then take this and flip this one over and it’s going to create a very secure box for my picture. Then I’m going to do the same thing on the other side. So flip this over here, flip this here, flip that one like that, make sure you don’t press too hard because remember this is glass, and then flip this one here, this one here, and then that one there.
And then I’m going to grab my tape and I’m going to just tape it in the middle. I’m just going to tape it like that to start and then I’m going to wrap tape all around the edges. OK. So I’ve taped my box together. And now, I have a completed picture box that I made out of an affordable box. And you could do the same thing with the free boxes like if you want to use your free apple box or banana box or a liquor store box or even pizza box.
Pizza box will work just as well. Just cut it open, lay it flat, and wrap whatever you’re wrapping, if it’s a picture or if it’s something special to you or something awkward to wrap, put it in the center of a box and wrap it like a present. And you can see that this is not going to – nothing is going to happen to it.
If you feel like the picture inside like if you want to use bubble wraps for an extra layer of protection, feel free to do so. I just used paper because I knew that it was going to be secured in this. But if you want and extra level of protection, then use bubble wrap.
So anyways, this is how you can creatively turn a regular box into a picture box or any other type of box. The same concept is going to work for big pictures on the wall, big mirrors, it’s going to work for lamps, it’s going to work for any other bulky thing. You can do this with.
Best Boxes for Moving #7 – Wardrobe Boxes
And so the last type of box that you can use when you move is a wardrobe box. And I like wardrobe boxes. They’re a little bit expensive like this box is from Home Depot and it was $10. It was like $9.98 or something, which is expensive for one box that you’re going to end up just recycling when you’re done with it. But they are great because all you do is you just take all your hangers from your closet with your clothes still on them and you put them on the rod and supposedly, they are going to stay there.
Here is what a lot of people don’t know or maybe you learned the hard way. A lot of times, these things don’t stay up. So what you have to do is you have to take the rod down to the box like just put a piece of tape there but put a few pieces of tape so it actually stays. Something else you want to do is you want to tape the hangers to the rod once you’re done packing the box. So not only tape the rod down to the box but tape the hangers down to the rod so they don’t shift when you’re moving because when it shifts, clothes are going to fall off the hanger and it’s going to defeat the purpose of buying a really expensive box to easily move your clothes.
So tape the rod down to the box and tape the hangers to the rod. You could also store stuff at the very bottom of the box. Of course, I would have put some paper liner at the bottom before I start packing the box but you could store pillows down there or you could store sheets down there or anything else light if there is room down there. So if you’re hanging shirts that are kind of short, you don’t want to leave dead space at the bottom of the box because it’s kind of a waste so put something down there like a pillow or sheets or anything else that you want to put. I would probably put something light since your hangers are going to be pretty heavy. But yeah, the wardrobe boxes are great. They’re just a little bit expensive.
OK. So I shared with you guys seven different types of boxes to use if you are planning a move, apple boxes, banana boxes, pizza boxes, liquor store boxes, beer boxes. Everything is like food and drink-related. I’m just realizing now. And then there are Home Depot boxes.
If you have a different type of box that you are using in your move like you found maybe, I don’t know, similar type of box, I would love to know. Let me know in the comments or if there is a super secret moving trick that you have that you’ve used in the past or you’re using right now during your move, let me know in the comments and I would love to hear. I will see you guys soon. Bye!
