As I work on my monthly challenge of getting more of my things out of boxes, I have had piles of boxes left all over the place. After I finally got all of my things out of my old place, I started to get smarter about the empty boxes in the new place. I kept one of the biggest boxes together, and for the rest of the boxes, I removed the tape and flattened them. And then I put them into the one big box I had left. I did it so the boxes were like file folders since that was the easiest way to organize them. But they were still taking up space even just being together in a single box.
I could have put them into the recycling for my new place, but there is limited space for recycling and I didn’t want to take up the entire bin. Plus, these were good moving boxes and I thought someone might be able to use them. So I posted something online asking if anyone needed moving boxes because I was happy to give them away for free. I found someone through a Facebook group who needed them and was close by so she could come over without having to take too long of a drive.
She picked up the boxes at the end of last week, and I really feel better having them cleared out of my living room. I still have plenty in boxes to work through, but the more I can make my place look less like I’m moving, the better. And I’m glad I decided to give the boxes away instead of just recycling them because I could tell she was grateful I had so many for her.
We were chatting a bit when she picked them up and it turns out that she also hadn’t moved in over a decade as well so she wasn’t sure if she was doing all the things around moving the right way. That’s exactly how I felt so I was giving her some of the tips that I learned from my move. For example, I wish I had put more into boxes and had the movers take for me. It wasn’t bad since it was such a short drive between the places, but it was annoying going up and down the elevator so many times. And it was tiring moving the boxes in and out of my car. I’m lucky that my parents loaned me a little dolly so I didn’t have to always carry the boxes, but it was a lot harder moving than I expected. So I told her to take advantage of the time she books with movers. We also talked about moving clothes and I told her about the moving bags I used for all my clothes. I found them so much easier to deal with than wardrobe boxes. And while we were discussing that, I realized that I could give her the 3 bags that I had emptied so far.
She asked if I wanted to charge her for them or if I wanted them back when she was done moving, but I told her just to pass it forward and try to find someone else who can use them after she was done. Yes, I did spend money on them, but I really don’t need all 4 bags taking up space. I still have one since it’s not unpacked yet, and I’ll save that one in case I need it for any reason. Maybe I’ll need it and maybe I won’t. But it folds up pretty small so keeping one isn’t that big of a deal.
I know it’s not a big deal to give away boxes and moving bags, but it did feel like something nice to do. I would have totally taken boxes from someone else if they were offering and I needed them. But I was lucky with having saved boxes from deliveries for a little while plus finding a good deal on banker boxes. So my costs for supplies were pretty low considering how many boxes I had and how much stuff I had to move. Using movers wasn’t cheap, but I knew I would have that cost and it would be a lot. But I was able to save a lot with so much else, and I was happy to put some good and positive energy out into the world by sharing that with someone else so they can save some money too!
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