Looking to use self-storage in the near future? This article covers some simple but effective ways to save money on packing materials when putting your belongings into storage – whether you’re moving house or storing your items long-term, every saving you can make helps!
Moving your belongings into storage can be a stressful enough experience without worrying about spending a fortune on packing materials as well.
Packing your items correctly is a must to ensure they stay safe and in one piece, but that doesn’t mean you can’t save money on your packing materials before moving your belongings into your new unit.
Below, we’ve outlined our favourite top tips to help you save money on packing materials.
Contents:
- Rent Instead Of Buying Boxes
- Use Used Boxes
- Use Bags You Already Own
- Declutter Before Packing
- Recycle Bubble Wrap and Paper
- Shred Paper
1. Rent Instead Of Buying Boxes
Investing in plastic boxes can be expensive, especially when they’re only going to end up sitting in your storage unit gathering dust!
Why not rent boxes instead of buying them to pack and transport your belongings – you can then unpack them in your storage unit which should be clean and dry to keep your items safe once delivered.
2. Use Used Boxes
Save money by recycling cardboard boxes that you have around the home rather than investing in new storage boxes.
If you don’t have any cardboard boxes to hand, it’s always worth asking your local shops if they have any they could donate for free. Shops often receive larger quantities of stock in cardboard boxes and will simply recycle these, so should be happy to give you the boxes for free instead.
3. Use Bags You Already Own
There’s no need to just stick to plastic or cardboard boxes to pack your belongings into. Get creative with your packing materials and use any duffel bags, suitcases, and other containers you have around the house to pack your items in.
This has the added bonus of clearing out the clutter of those storage containers and extra suitcases as well as saving you money on packing materials!
4. Declutter Before Packing
Save money on your packing materials by reducing the number of things you need to store in the first place.
Putting things into storage provides the perfect opportunity to declutter your home and decide exactly what items you want to put into storage, and what items you don’t use often enough and want to either:
- Donate
- Sell
- Throw away
Set aside a day or a weekend before you start packing up your items to go through your belongings and sort them into storage, donate, throw, or sell piles. Then, you can assess exactly the number of packing materials you need before spending any money.
5. Recycle Bubble Wrap and Paper
Another way to save money on your packing materials is to recycle bubble wrap and paper to wrap more fragile items.
This is an effective method if you know you will be putting your belongings into storage sometime in advance, allowing to save any bubble wrap you come across when having parcels delivered. Likewise, you can ask friends or even local shops if they would be willing to donate you some bubble wrap rather than having to buy it new.
6. Shred Paper
Shredded paper can be used as a cheaper alternative to bubble wrap to keep items in place when packed into boxes.
If you have a lot of junk mail and old magazines, these can also be great to stuff boxes and protect your more fragile items.
Make Sure You’re Covered…
Putting a few boxes into storage soon? We provide storage insurance tailored to suit the value of your property, so you can have the peace of mind that your things are covered even when they’re out of sight.
We conducted an independent market research survey in 2023 and found that 9 in 10 self-storage customers are overpaying for their self-storage insurance. Make sure you’re the one that isn’t overpaying.
Find out more about our storage insurance and get a quote here.