Best Places to Find Packing Supplies in Brooklyn

Your moving process is well underway and now it’s time to start packing boxes. A lot of people make unintentional mistakes while moving, especially if it’s their first time relocating. There is a lot of information out there, everybody wants to give you advice and help out and it can get real chaotic real fast. Especially when you’re moving around NYC, so many choices can make you feel truly overwhelmed and confused. Have you hired professional movers to help you out? Then you’re probably all set. However, if you’re moving on your own, there are a lot of things you need to get. Whether you’re moving out or moving to Brooklyn, you should find a few good places in the area to find necessary packing supplies. In the following text, we’ll give you some ideas about where to get those packing supplies you need and some related handy tips.

What packing supplies do you need?

Before you can start researching places to find packing supplies, you need to put on paper what you actually need. The packing supplies you need depend on what you have to pack – moving huge appliances or bulky pieces of furniture requires completely different equipment than moving clothes and soft goods. So, something may come to mind immediately, such as moving boxes Brooklyn. On the other hand, many little details are often overlooked but are equally as important. Some of them are:

• Tape
• Markers
• Scissors
• Box cutters
• Sticker labels
• Gloves
• A moving dolly
• Felt pads.

Tape

It can include masking tape, duct tape, or shipping tape, as long as you have enough to seal and shut boxes so they would remain closed and keep the content from falling out during transit.

Markers and sticker labels

You’ll need basic black ones and markers in a few colors so you can color-code and label your moving boxes. You can also use sticker labels if you prefer labeling in that way. Labeling is extremely helpful because it will make the entire process more efficient and easier for everyone involved.

Scissors and Box cutters

This is a pretty straightforward part – you need tools to open boxes easily, keep your relocation safe, and speed up the unpacking process.

Gloves

Safety always comes first so you must take all the measures of precaution to keep yourself safe while moving. Naturally, you need to protect your hands while moving, so protective equipment such as gloves is a must.

Felt pads

Besides protecting your hands, you’ll also need to protect your property, and floors are the common part of your household that gets damaged during relocation. Therefore, use felt pads to protect your floors and use moving blankets to protect your furniture during the move.

A moving dolly

Arguably the most important piece of equipment for easy relocation is a furniture dolly. There are so many types of dollies that you’ll most certainly find one to suit your needs. You can rent a dolly from your local mover and save money instead of buying one.

What are the best places to find packing supplies?

So you have made a draft of all the supplies you need? Excellent! The next step that you need to tackle is to research places to find packing supplies that will give you the biggest bang for your buck. This can be a daunting task, however, there are some general guidelines you should follow in order to find the cheapest yet the highest quality packing supplies. Keep in mind that you do not want to over-purchase supplies as this would leave you in an unfavorable position. Since you would either have to resell the supplies at a lower price than you bought them, or eat the cost of holding on to the supplies and not selling them.

Word of mouth goes a long way

Do you have a member of your family or maybe a friend or acquaintance that recently relocated? If yes, perfect! Ask them about their experience and where they bought packing supplies. Maybe they made some mistakes in the process of buying packing supplies or maybe they found a really good store with greatly discounted prices. Great! Listen to their feedback and learn from it. They might just even have some of these packing supplies left and are willing to share them with you. This is an excellent way of obtaining packing supplies without even spending a penny.

Local shops are great places to find packing supplies

You can find packing supplies that store owners are willing to give away for free since they have no use for them after they receive their products.

Office supply store

Since office supplies are mostly shipped in cardboard boxes, kindly asking if you may use some is a great way of getting a free supply of boxes that can be used as packing supplies.

Bookstores

If you need a varying amount of box sizes that are still of durable quality, you might want to check on your local bookstore. They probably have some to spare since books come in all shapes and sizes, so a bookstore makes a perfect place to visit when searching for free boxes of varying sizes.

Bars and restaurants

If on the other hand, you are looking for a sturdy and bulky box, you might want to visit your local restaurants. Restaurants are getting deliveries of glass bottles and canned food in huge boxes on a daily basis, so those boxes need to be really sturdy to hold the weight. Of course, you’ll have to check if boxes are still in good shape after the shipment but it’s a good place to check out.

Liquor store

Suppose that you need a box without a lid. Your best bet would be to ask your liquor store dealer if he can spare you some boxes since most of them come with their lids cut off. Since liquor is heavy, these boxes are also likely to be sturdy enough to hold a lot of weight.

Dollar stores

If boxes are not what you require, rather some other types of packing materials you might want to test your luck in dollar stores. You just might find markers, scissors, tape, and other packing supplies for labeling your moving boxes.

Supplies you already have in your home

You might have not thought about this, but you don’t need to look that far in order to find packing supplies for your appliances. You can find everything you need in your household. Items such as buckets, suitcases, blankets, socks, and newspapers can all be used as packing materials. For example, you can use your suitcases and duffle bags instead of moving boxes. You can store smaller items inside bigger household items. You can also place a number of creased newspapers in a box, which can be used as an added layer of protection, instead of buying Styrofoam or bubble wrap. However, you want to be careful with improvising because the ink from newspapers can damage some of the items like artwork or electronic equipment.

You can also use garbage bags to carry lighter weight such as toys and clothing. Use soft fabrics such as towels, bedsheets, linen, and similar things to protect items that are fragile and are known to break. You can also use crayons instead of markers! Your imagination is the only thing that limits your possibilities. The best part is it is fun and free of charge!

Less stuff means less work

Finally, what it all comes down to is this: the more stuff you have to pack, the more supplies you need to get, the more money you need to spend. Moving companies usually charge based on the overall weight of your shipment or sometimes they may charge based on the size your shipment takes up in the moving truck. Whichever system they’re using, one thing is for sure – you’ll pay less if you have fewer things to move. Therefore, ideally, you want to de-clutter before moving day.

Go through your belongings and sort things that do not bring any value to you in one of the following categories:

• donate
• throw away
• recycle

A helpful method here can be the KonMari method of de-cluttering in which you gather all of the items you own and ask yourself whether they bring joy or not. If they don’t you discard them if they do you keep them. It’s that simple! You can also invite a close friend who can help you stay diligent through decluttering phase and let go of those unnecessary items in your household. However, you can also hire a professional moving company that will provide you not only with all the required packing supplies but also pack your appliances and transport them to the desired destination. One of those companies is Dorothy and Martha. Reach out to us anytime and receive a free moving quote.