Keep eco-sound principles in mind when moving
Moving into a new house or apartment is exciting. The actual part of packing up and hauling your belongings across the city, however, isn’t. Not only are there a bunch of hidden expenses when it comes to moving, but it’s also not the most environmentally-friendly thing to do. Here are a few ways that you can make your Moving Day a bit ‘greener’:
Get sustainable moving boxes: Invest in eco-friendly reusable plastic moving boxes instead of picking up cardboard boxes at the grocery store. The utility crates and boxes come in different sizes and you can always use them for storage in the garage or sell them after the move.
Donate to charity: It’s easy to procrastinate when it comes to cleaning out your closets, drawers, garage and cupboards. When you’re moving, this spring-cleaning process is inevitable. Instead of moving all your unused clothes, utensils and other belongings from A to B, keep a box aside that you can donate to charity.
Don’t reinvent the wheel: One of the great things about moving into a new house is letting your imagination run wild. Even people who aren’t decorating fundis start thinking about new colour schemes, curtains and furniture. If you need to buy new things for your home, go the sustainable route by either buying organic cotton furniture or throws, towels and mats, or check out second hand stores so that you’re buying used products.
Consider up-cycling: There are also many things you can do to up-cycle your old stuff. Just because you’re a bit tired of your couches, ottomans and curtains, doesn’t mean you necessarily need new stuff. Use sustainable dyes to change or enhance the colour of your furniture and pillows; try whitewashing to give old wooden cupboards and drawers a new look and get creative to give older items a funky makeover.
Buy local: A lot of our retail stores import products from China. Instead of contributing to the pollution that goes along with shipping products from overseas, buy from local artisans. Check out classified sites like Gumtree and take a weekend to browse through antique stores, craft markets and second hand furniture stores in your city.
This week’s eco blog is courtesy of Live Eco.
If you’ve got a lot of blankets and linen, you can wrap them to protect the cloth and use them as protective padding for your fragile items and furniture. You can save a lot on bubble wrap in this way, and probably sae a pretty penny from renting padding from the moving and removals company too!
Thank you Edward. Excellent idea when moving house!
Very useful tips. Marking your boxes up with the contents and room destination can save a lot of time and effort when unpacking. Having to search through all your boxes to find that one essential item will be the last thing you need.