For the past month or so we’ve stuffed all our moving boxes into our tiny attached garage and lived in denial. Honestly, we’ve just been spent by the whole process. But somehow we found motivation when my parents called to say they were driving nearly two thousand miles to visit. Ekks!

So we posted all the boxes on this great site called freecycle.org. It’s a giant network made up of 4,566 groups across the globe - so there’s bound to be one in your area. People post items available for free to keep good stuff out of landfills. Each local group is moderated by a local volunteer and membership is free.

We had responses quickly and I’d say we got rid of 90% of our cardboard. It’s nice to think that someone will get some use of it and we now have a garage for fall.

Of course, it’s also a great place to FIND your boxes. We scavenged a lot of our moving boxes from our local liquor store, but at the frantic end we did end up buying some from the local UPS store - it cost a small bundle. So with a little pre-planning, you can save some green and be green, too.

If keeping it earth-friendly during your move is important to you, consider going with a mover that uses clean energy and fuel efficient trucks like at gogreen movers. They can even hook you up with moving pads that are made from 100% recycled cotton.

So I’m moving and packing. I’ve got the liquor store boxes, I have a neighbor saving the tomato boxes from the kitchen at this work and I did break down and actually buy boxes for my framed art. But the best packing product I’ve run into is the Ziploc Big Bags XXL.

They’re not cheap at about $6 something for three, but they rock. The big bags are 2ft x 2.7ft and I fit the contents of my linen closet into one - ONE!  They’re clear so I know what the heck it is without delving in. And I’m thinking that when the big truck comes next Wednesday, I’ll be able to tuck a few in nooks between boxes.

So thus far the bags have been my favorite moving comfort - that and my ankle flask.