Where to Get Free Boxes for Moving

moving home

Are you moving home any time soon? If the answer is yes, you’ll certainly need plenty of cardboard boxes. Take all of your stuff from your house-sized box, put them in small boxes, load them onto a mobile box, often referred to as a van, and unload them into your new house-sized box. See what we did there?

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Places Where You Can Get Free Boxes for Moving House

So, where can you get free moving boxes? It turns out, there are plenty of stores and supermarkets ready to spare a free cardboard box or two. You just need to ask! The next two questions on your mind are most probably what stores will give you boxes and what to look for in a second-hand cardboard box? Most establishments that sell goods have scheduled deliveries throughout the week. This means that they either have an abundance of free cardboard boxes or recycle them because they have no further use for them. Here are some of the places you can check:

Major Supermarket Chains

Your first go-to places should be any of the major supermarket chains, such as – ASDA, Lidl, Iceland, Co-op, etc. Since these stores often have discounts and sell items in bulk, more often than not they receive daily deliveries. You can get moving boxes from ASDA early in the morning or late in the evening when the shelves are being restocked. If you want to try your luck with Tesco, you need to go there between 6 and 7 o’clock in the morning before they take away the empty boxes for recycling. Keep in mind that the availability of the boxes depends on the company’s individual policy. The best boxes to look for are fruit and alcohol boxes. They are made to carry heavier and fragile items, which makes them perfect for moving house. See some tips on packing fragile items because they need to be taken better care of than the rest of your belongings. Be sure to check for any tears or bugs, and you’re good to go! You can also consider looking for cleaning detergent boxes. They are sturdy and also made to withstand moving heavy items.

Discount Stores

The next place you should check are pound shops such as Poundland. Needless to say, discount shops also have daily deliveries as they also sell items in bulk. Don’t be afraid to go to your local pound store and inquire about any free cardboard boxes. Even if there aren’t any available at the moment, you can ask for the time of the next delivery and go then.

Grocery Stores and Off License Shops

The next places on your list when searching for free boxes for moving house should be local groceries and off-license shops. The store owners would be glad to get rid of a few liquor boxes. These stores are smaller, hence, there’s no place for stacking unneeded boxes.

Bars and Restaurants

Spare alcohol boxes can also be found in bars and restaurants. However, although liquor is regularly consumed in such places, keep in mind that the amount of boxes you can get is limited.

Coffee Shops

According to the Starbucks and Costa Coffee websites, both companies are working hard towards reducing their carbon footprint by recycling and providing environmentally-friendly service. Ask any staff member for coffee supplies boxes. They may be smaller than the regular moving boxes, but they are ideal for odd items and house decorations. The good news is once you’re done with the house removals process, you can return the used boxes to Costa Coffee. They accept non-branded items for recycling.

Bookstores

If you need packing boxes for books, look no further than bookstores, such as WHSmith and Waterstones. Apart from any household appliances, the heaviest items you’ll probably need to pack are books, folders and paper documents. Of course, there are some tricks in order to do that properly. Read our article on how to pack books to get a better idea of how to do it.

Print Stores and Copy Centres

Likewise, print stores and copy centres have an abundance of copier paper boxes. Not only are these boxes perfect to store heavy items in, but they are uniform and easy to handle too. You’ll have one less thing to worry about when loading the boxes onto the moving van.

Local Schools, Colleges and Universities

Are you living in an area with many educational establishments and student halls? If you have scheduled your home removals for the spring or fall season, chances are there are many students moving at the same time. Ask around the schools or hall staff members for any discarded moving boxes or school supplies boxes.

Fast Food Chains

Most people don’t usually associate fast-food chains with anything other than fast food. But did you know that you can ask for the fry boxes? Those are the boxes in which frozen chips are delivered to the local fast food branches. Frozen food is usually very heavy, hence the boxes it comes in are sturdy enough for removals purposes.

Pharmacies

If your main concern is obtaining small boxes for free, then going to the pharmacy might be your best choice. Although medicine comes in bulk, the delivery boxes are smaller than the usual storage box. You can use these cardboard boxes to store medicine, utensils and jewellery.