Moving home -where to get good quality boxes?

[Artygirlghost]

I have sold my flat and I am moving to a rental while I look for my next property.

I think I will leave a lot of my possessions packed in boxes for the next few months rather than unpacking and packing things twice so I am looking to order some nice, strong packing material.

Any advice on how to go about that?

I have lots of books and paintings for example so I really want something sturdy and of decent quality to keep everything safe for a while.

Best option is to get them from someone who has just moved and doesn't need them anymore. I got mine from Facebook Marketplace and the local tip.

Costco have good quality ones.

I got boxes from Amazon.
As we had the same sort of stuff you listed I purchased extra strong or strong boxes to cope with the weight.
Also I would suggest not getting boxes much larger than 24” x 24” x 24” cubed as a box stuffed full of books is hugely heavy.
We didn’t buy any packing materials but I know I saw bubble wrap on their site as well

good luck

A lot of shops will give them away if you ask. We found Home Bargains great as they had a variety of sizes and a lot of their boxes had had heavy stuff in them so we knew they were strong.

As a PP said, don't go big for boxes for books, they end up so heavy. Smaller boxes or even bags are good, and those flat open fruit boxes you can pick up in most supermarkets are good for them too. They also stack well and you can slide them under beds so they're out the way when you're unpacking other things.

We had the 'proper' removal boxes supplied by the removal company and then gave them away via Freecycle and Olio.

We'd initially (went into storage before move) used some boxes passed on by a friend who'd collected from shops etc but they were too big to be useful for books, kitchen equipment type stuff as they quickly became too heavy. The removers had a box sized 'small' which was perfect.

Storage companies (safe store etc) sell these plus packing materials.

You can source them from Facebook/shops but they may be battered and not as sturdy as new

IKEA do some good ones, think they are £1.50 each, pretty sturdy and fit together without using tape. They hold up to 30kg.

Removal companies may sell you boxes.
Our removers allowed us to put a deposit on their stout cardboard ones and just return them to get the deposit back when we had finished with them.
For really stout big plastic ones, we bought half a dozen of these second hand, it depends on where in the UK you are whether anyone near you sells them:
Boxes
3 years on, we're still using them to store things as we renovate various rooms, and to store decorating tools in. They're brilliant. But if you fill them with books, beware- they become a two-strong-person lift, and need a sacktruck to move any distance.

For paintings, if they are valuable, you could use these:
Bags
Pricey but very good.

Thank you so much everyone for all the useful advice!!

we bought a stack of those plastic boxes you get groceries delivered in, from Facebook market place, for all our breakable stuff. They're been in and out of storage twice, and moved 300 miles with nothing damaged

We got boxes from www.selway.co.uk/packaging but if you use a removal company they will be able to supply boxes and may well include this in a quoted price.

Even if you're moving yourself, it's well worth using boxes that are all the same size or at most a couple of different sizes. They'll stack much more securely in the van and be less likely to fall and slide about. As a result, you'll need fewer trips (or a smaller van) and you're much less likely to find your stuff broken on arrival!

You've asked the question I was about to ask! 😁 I have some old lidded archive boxes from 2005 that are still going strong, a bit sturdier than standard boxes. Not cheap but they really last, plus the lids mean you can get stuff out without faffing around with sellotape and whatnot. Something like this:

www.officepackaging.co.uk/archive-boxes-strong-office-filing-storage-cardboard-boxes-with-handles-15-x12-x9-395x310x255mm.html

Facebook marketplace xx