If you’re going green, moving is a great place to practice what you’re learning about being more eco-friendly
Moving house doesn’t have to be wasteful or inherently bad for the environment. While moving can be a trying experience at best, there are a few things you can do to make it easier for you as well as easier on your carbon footprint.
• If you are moving a short distance, make as few trips between your old home and new home as possible. If you’ll be using a professional moving service, choose a moving vehicle that suits the size of your move. A van with more than enough room might seem useful ‘just in case’, but using a smaller vehicle cuts down on fuel consumption. Estimate how much room you’ll need in a moving van and choose one that will fit correctly.
When moving house there are lots of things you can do to stay green
• Hoard your own packing materials. Cardboard boxes, bubble wrap, and newspaper are useful. If you don’t know about your move far enough in advance to collect materials, call around to friends, family, and local supermarkets to see if they have anything available to donate. If you must buy materials, stay away from anything that isn’t biodegradable. Many retailers now carry packing boxes and padding made from recycled materials. You can also use your own pillows and blankets to pad breakable items when possible.
• Deal with your clutter. Don’t throw away belongings that you can’t or don’t want to take with you. Donate it to charity, homeless shelters, or friends. Have a garage sale, if you need the money, and donate anything that’s left. If you have broken electronics lying around, don’t toss them into the trash. Take them to an electronics recycling facility to be disposed of properly. You will be surprised at how many people take unwanted clutter to thier next home quite often to the tune of 20 or 30% of thier packaging.
• Cut down on mail waste. Make sure to notify any mail subscriptions well ahead of time to keep from having wasteful mail sent to your old address. Consider having hardcopy subscriptions transferred to e-mail or online subscriptions, when available.
• When cleaning your old home before leaving it, clean it yourself instead of hiring a cleaning company and use eco-friendly cleaning supplies. Many manufacturers now have non-toxic, environmentally-friendly formulations.
• Don’t just throw away uneaten food from your kitchen or pantry. Give food items that are still good to friends, family, or a soup kitchen. If you’re moving long-distance, pack an ice chest with food and drinks you already have and eat them instead of stopping for heavily-packaged fast food on the road.
All in all, stay green, have fun and enjoy your move and your new start in life!
This post was written on Behalf of UPack Professional Moving Services in the US
Great advice with some really helpful tips- thanks!
moving eco friendly is such a great idea, nature is very important to our lives so we must protect them in anyway we can.
I would also like to add to the list of things you can do to make your move more environmentally friendly. Finding used boxes is becoming harder now since most companies that get a lot of boxes are crushing them and getting paid for them. Using a Rentable Plastic Moving Box is a great option. Though there aren’t many of these companies up and running yet, it may be hard to find a company in your area. The recommended keyword search is, ” Rentable Moving Boxes “. Typically these boxes are stronger, have attached lids, don’t require tape, are more durable, come with a dolly and best are cheaper than new cardboard boxes. These companies usually sell eco-friendly packaging material too. Hope this helps out! –Shane
Hi Shane
Thanks for bobbing over here. That’s a really brilliant idea. When we moved house a couple of years ago we searched high and low for boxes and they were all different sizes so stacking them wasn’t an easy task believe me. And then was all the tons of tape to make them secure. I wish your company all the success in the world.. great initiative for veterans lol :-)
How about hiring a truck big enough to fit all of your contents in one hit? That way you minimize green house gas emissions because you don’t have to make multiple trips!
These are some really interesting tips, you actually don’t know how you can be “green” when moving but after reading this article i might have to try some of them for myself; Thanks!
If you have to buy more furniture for your new house, why not looking in hard rubbish? You can find some real gems in there. That way your not supporting companies which engage in UN-environmentally friendly practices when making furniture.
Fortunately Shiela there are lots of people who do check skips and tips regularly to find things to renovate and quite often this can turn into quite a lucrative business. I know of someone locally who renovates things and paints all sorts up with those lime chalk paints and creates what are known as shabby chic pieces of furniture. They are beautiful when she has finished them and command quite a high price too. All from things that someone was throwing into landfill.
I am one of those people! I cant stand seeing valuable items being thrown to waste when they can be utilized in someone else’s household. Karen you make a good point about making a business from it, does the person you know do that as a full time job or is it sort of just a hobby type thing? I can see myself doing that type of thing. Really love the website Karen, keep up the good work.
Hi J
She actually does it as a full time business now from home though still and I believe she has around 50 or so personal clients who come to her home to see the original product ( in all its non glory)and then KNOW that she will transform it.She doesnt even have a website because there is no need for one with her getting established in the neighbourhood and each piece sold before its even finished. I think they put deposits on each piece there and then and choose the shabby chic colour scheme ie blue limecahlk or green limechalk and so on. AND she has got quality clients who love shabby chic and absolutely respect the hours of work and the love that she puts into each piece. That makes a difference as you can appreciate as nobody wants clients that are looking for bargains and cheap stuff. Just because they come from the rubbish that others throw out doesnt mean that the finished piece wont be fabulous. Thats the key…if you want to do this kind of thing then you do it with all your heart and create a masterpiece and command a very good price which accounts for all the hours you have dedicated to it.
You should try and find some fab shabby chic books for ideas to get you going maybe. Start as a hobby and tell a few friends and then build up from there. Make sure you use eco paints like the limechalk washes and you will do just great!
Good post. I think people need to be brutal with their belongings when it comes to moving out and ask themselves – do I or will I actually need these things! If you’re unsure then the answer is most likely no! It feels great to have gotten rid of so much clutter, and it feel even better knowing that your something old is something new to another person.
Its the best thing anyone can do before making that house move Joan. Dont just pack up your moving boxes, fill boxes with the things you no longer need and take them to a charity shop or post things on FreeCycle so others can benefit from them. You are making a fresh start in your new home so why clutter it all up with things you no use for anymore?
On the surface those tips sounds simplistic yet profoundly useful as we are creatures of habits and fall victims to routine. I especially like your tip about packing food to eat which promote good habits
Hi Karen, great info on moving and packing.
I was one of those guys who made 4 trips back and forth with a small moving van instead of getting one that did the move in one trip.
My wife is good at giving clothing and items to charity so that we don’t have hoards of unused items stored around the house.
Hi Glen
yeah when we moved house a few years ago we did the BIG DECLUTTER in plenty of time before our final packing. It was like a weight off our shoulders and felt good to give so much to charity too. Makes sense to get the right size van usually the larger and to make only one journey.Hi Glen
It is indeed a very nice feeling if in our own ways we can be able to become eco-friendly when moving for we can reduce the amount on trash in our surroundings and at the same time lots of people will benefit from it for they can be able to use those items that are no longer important to us.
It feels great to see people putting efforts to create sustainable environment. I would also like to add that use of clothes and other fabrics instead of bubble wrap for packing your stuff can also contribute towards environment. Bubble wrap is quite difficult to recycle and it take years to decompose, so avoid using bubble wrap.
That’s a great idea James. Why pack all your bedding and towels separately when you can wrap things up with them and protect them?