Anyone know the best place to buy cheap boxes to start packing up house contents?

[Thomcat]

We're putting house on the market, want to start packing up a few things, things we can live without until we've moved.

Can anyone recommend one of the many online sites where I can buy a variety of different odds and sods boxes?

Hi, TC

Dunno how big your few things are, but if you have a local supermarket that dishes out its produce boxes, they are fantastic for storing random things and they stack beautifully (they have reinforced stacking corners) (my house has piles of them all over the place and we're not even moving )

Cartons direct were good for us, great service. Having decent boxes transformed the moving experience!

Don't know about the best place to buy them, but on my local freecycle people often give away house moving boxes.

just ask your local shop. they will prob be glad to get rid of them. Just get a4 bits of papr and list exactly whats inside, then slip in a poly pocket and tape onto the side. (poly pocket helps to protect paper from getting damaged, and list will be handy for when you realise you cant really live without an item, and not sure which of the 10 kitchen boxes you put it in)

Hiya I'll ask around the supermarkets this week but also want some I can seal and put into storage in my mum's basement till we find somewhere.

Do you know who you'll use for the removal? We've only ever used a local guy with very small business but he's provided all teh boxes.

took so long to post had other replies in meantime, sorry!

Will check freecycle as well as cartons direct, thanks. Loving the list in a clear pocket idea.

How dry is your mum's basement? You might be better off with plastic stacking boxes for things like paperwork or soft furnishing. IKEA are usually good (for solid cardboard boxes too). Someone recommended a fab site for plastic storage boxes on here, I'll have a look and see if I can find it again.

Hi Pointy, not fixed a move yet, not even found anywhere, just want to start packing up in the meantime to help us be more organised and enable us to keep house tidy for when we have viewings.

This is website for plastic boxes.

Thanks bran. It's pretty dry in basement, they store things themselves down there, it's a working basement as opposed to a damp cellar iykwim. Some stuff will be stored in basement and other things we'll worry about in my dad's spare rooms etc.

Are you going to use a removal company? If so, they will be more than happy to give you free boxes and tape. This is what we did, and were really impressed with it!

I'm moving on Tuesday (yipee). I phoned the local removal company who sell second hand boxes for £1 each. I bought 20 which is woefully inadequate, and will be back for more tomorrow. The benefit is that they are proper sturdy boxes, and it's the same price whatever size. They are 2nd hand which means someone else has written on them. Oh well!

Oh yes - plastic lidded boxes is a fab idea (we had some stuff in cardboard at Safestore, and the roof leaked and ruined loads of things, including photographs )

Matalan had some lidded plastic boxes recently at 3 for 2 - flat underbed ones (32 litre) and taller squarish ones (35 litre) - £4 each, £8 for 3.

They are the same sizes and shapes as Crystal boxes which are v cheap at The Range if you have one of those near you.