Green Living: 5 Tips to Make Your Move Less Destructive

 

 

 

Is destructive a little harsh?

 

I mean, your life is turning upside down as “your four walls” get left behind for a new set of four walls.

 

Your belongings get (best case scenario) crammed into various laundry baskets and hauled in your car across town or (worse case scenario) stuffed into a box and put on a ship and sent across the ocean.

 

I’m an Army wife so we are working with moving extremes here.

 

A little backstory on me: I’m an Army brat and now an Army wife. I’m currently preparing to make my 15th move in a lifetime. I am not an expert on many things, but at this point and am a *bit* of an expert on leaving behind my four walls.  If you want to read more about my PCS adventures, I made a post about my first move as an Army wife, and a more *colorful* post about my worst move as an Army wife (our third move) which you can read about here.

 

In 2020, I started a journey towards sustainability, which is where the rubber meets the road in this post. How in the WORLD can you greenify your move? Is it even possible?

 

Or is this clickbait?

 

Spoiler: it’s not clickbait. I mean, no, it’s not possible to have a totally green move. But there are ways to make your move less destructive.

 

Today, I’m rounding up all the green tips I have used, heard of (or am currently embarking upon with this next move) to make your move less destructive. Let’s learn together! (Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links which means that, at no additional cost to you, I will receive a commission if you click through my links and make a purchase).

 

 

 

 

1. Make the Moving Purge a Constructive Action

 

 

It’s one of the biggest pieces in the “green” scheme of things: the moving purge. I’ll leave this right here:

 

 

But yes, even the most sentimental packrat (hi *waves amid a pile of junk*) gets a brutal streak of minimalism the night before the four walls are left behind forever. Fun fact: the magic number to reach the point where you consider throwing away the napkins from your first baby shower is move #14.

 

The key thing is this: do NOT throw your things from the moving purge in the trash.

 

It stinks to have to stockpile all the things you don’t even WANT in your house. You just want to throw them out. But look at this part as the “price” of the carbon footprint of those items. It’s a hassle to rehome them. Totally. But its also a teachable moment as to just how permanent each footprint really is. Forcing myself to rehome items instead of trashing them has also taught me to be way, way, WAY more selective with what I allow into my home. Sometimes the hassle of rehoming an item is enough to get me to not buy it in the first place. Seriously.

 

1. Best case scenario: take pictures and list your items on an online marketplace. (preferably local pick up, but I’ve mailed items too). This can’t be done last minute, but it can be done the second you know you’re moving.
2. Similarly good scenario: have a yard sale (garage sale, rummage sale…whatever your part of the US calls it). Yes, this requires holding onto all your items in a big pile when really all you want to do is throw them out. But a little patience will yield guilt-free minimizing and a bit of money.
3. Put your items on your curb with a “free” sign for 2-3 days. Things will go faster than you think. Just make sure there isn’t a horrible wind storm (Colorado) or a trash truck that comes by and takes them (crap).
4. If your items didn’t sell online, or in a garage sale, and they weren’t taken off your curb, collect them yourself and bring them to a second-hand shop. Unfortunately a ton of donated goods are thrown away, so donating goods shouldn’t always be your FIRST action (though donating is still a great thing!)
5. Recycle anything that is recyclable (same would go for compost…if you had a community compost and you had some 100% cotton tees to trash or something).
6. Finally, FINALLY, throw away what you can’t sell, donate, or recycle.

 

Random note on donating:

 

If you have a particular shelter in mind that takes particularly nice goods, of course donating to them would technically be nicer to do than selling online. That’s your own humanitarian/moral choice. Often shelters are in need of items, and calling ahead and finding out specific guidelines will ensure that you don’t saddle them with something they simply can’t take.

 

Along that note, you may have ratty towels, sheets, and washcloths that you can’t sell or donate but that you still feel bad trashing. Call local animal shelters. Many of them take rags!

 

Oh, also, random note on duplicates:

 

Don’t throw away disposables you actually use/like. If you REALLY don’t want to move your extra toilet paper or christmas paper stash, that’s okay. Find someone who wants it. But otherwise, you save a lot of money and waste simply by holding onto things that you can use on the other side. I’m pretty sure I have at least 4 boxes of kleenex in storage. This goes for canned food, powdered laundry detergent, soap bars, etc. Just because something is “disposable” does not mean it can’t be moved. (I have saved hundreds of dollars doing this).

 

2. Avoid Food Waste

 

This needed a category of its own. Because even the best and most season minimalist, who miraculously doesn’t have to do a moving purge (teach me your ways) eats food. And any food-eating person is bound to have perishable items they can’t move with.

 

As mentioned in the previous section, if you have dry goods (particularly canned) consider bringing them. Of course you will have to weigh the risk yourself. (If a glass jar of Alfredo sauce gets cracked and your goods go into storage for 4 months…expect a nasty surprise). However, many moves occur door-to-door and it’s MORE than reasonable to bring food with you.

 

In terms of perishable foods, especially open foods, you have a few options:

 

1. The easiest way is to give it to friends and family. It’s the best chance you have at someone accepting perishables and possibly open food (dry goods like baking ingredients, etc).
2. Separate items that are opened from sealed, and put both lists (with a group photo) on a buy-nothing group on facebook marketplace. Even if it sounds gross to you, it might not to someone else. It’s not like you’re selling homemade leftovers. Someone might be totally fine with a partially used box of cornmeal.
3. Call a local charity (especially religious-run shelters and food pantries) and ask if they will take your sealed or natural perishables (everything from yogurt to fruit). Because you are making a one-t0-one contact, they may very easily be able to accept the donation, even though they normally don’t collect perishable goods.
4. Use up anything you can on “goodbye” goodies to give away to friends and neighbors.
5. Take what perishables you can with you to your hotel and on the road. We have cut out tons of takeout meals this way, as well as prevented perfect perishables from getting thrown away.

 

In this category, prevention is really the best medicine. In the month leading up to your move, stop buying canned/sealed food and only buy perishables that you need to make your meals work. (Military families all around are reminiscing right now). Instead of meal-planning with store-bought ingredients up to the day you move, start shopping your pantry and cook creative pairings to use up what you’ve got.

 

Note: This can get adventurous and borderline dangerous. I once had a friend pair some kind of Italian homemade dinner with Taco Bell leftovers. There is also infamous Ranger chili…an alarming amalgamation of everything you’ve got left in your fridge (the chili is eaten cold, on the road…I do not recommend). No one is asking for you to do the Taco Bell thing or make Ranger chili. But cook up some pairings, or skip an ingredient you normally would, and you can really cut out food waste in the end.

 

 

3. Limit Moving Supplies or Use Green Ones

 

This is the second-biggest moving thing you can do to help, since it’s not really in your power what happens with emissions and shipping your goods. (yikes)

 

THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX. (pun intended)

 

If you have a moving company packing your goods, unfortunately you can kind of skip this one because contractually there isn’t a lot you can do.

 

But for all you DIY-ers, (or ditty-ers for military families) there are actually a couple things you can do to cut down on waste.

 

1. The biggest thing is to use boxes someone else has used. Ask online, check in a no-buy group, and consider visiting a recycling center (the kind that allows people to go into to drop their items off). If you’re military, or near a military base, chances are you can get enough boxes and paper to supply your entire move off Facebook marketplace.
2. Try using alternate shipping containers: plastic tubs from thrift stores, duffle bags you already own, pillow cases, stuffing your dressers full of clothes and wrapping them shut, vacuum sealing your wardrobe to condense space, using grocery bags as stuffing or unused christmas wrapping paper (that you were going to donate) as packing paper etc. There are a lot of “hacks” that don’t involve a brand-new cardboard box and a roll of bubble wrap.
3. Stretch materials when possible. You’ll need tape…you’ll probably need some kind of bubble wrap or packing paper. But stretch them if possible. If you’re using bubble wrap for a box of photo frames, consider wrapping two frames individually, and then sandwiching an unwrapped one between them. Same thing with getting a box “stuffed” full…using a towel or bedsheet to add cushion volume to the box, rather than a fresh piece of packing paper.
4. Before you donate or recycle anything, ask yourself if you can use it as packing materials. Bubble mailer envelopes make great cushions for dishes (when plates fit in perfectly you’ll get a rush of OCD joy).
5. Look into “green” packing supplies: cardboard boxes made of recycled material, mailing paper made of recycled material (over plastic wrap), paper tape (I love that one), skip the “label stickers”, etc. You don’t have to perfectly outfit your entire move with green supplies. But even a handful of recycled boxes, or using a marker instead of label stickers makes a difference.
6. Skip “gadgets” whenever possible. If you already have a pair of kitchen scissors you can use, don’t bother with buying special “moving-shears” for snipping tape. Don’t purchase a fresh pack of sharpies if you have crayons lying around that you can use. Being resourceful and erring on the side of “going without” can help too.

 

 

 

 

 

4. Commit to Green Cleaning

 

It’s pretty hard to separate the concept of moving from the concept of cleaning your old house.

 

Make a commitment to clean your house as “green” as possible before moving.

 

Skip paper towels! Repurpose two or three of the washcloths you were planning to throw away as house cleaning rags instead. (You can throw them out when you’re driving off!)

 

Buy a bottle of white vinegar and a dish brush (or pack of sponges). You can clean your ENTIRE house with those two items. (though I do not recommend eating salt and vinegar flavored chips while you do this…It’s hard to draw the line between what you’re cleaning with and eating when they smell the exact same). I’ll link some favorite cleaning recipes when that blog post is live.

 

If you’re not a DIY-er (or you hate the smell of vinegar) use green cleaning products from the store.  Bonus points if they are already under your sink!  Plan to give the bottle remainders to a friend or neighbor.

 

Make a commitment to continue recycling even in the “crunch days” of cleaning and packing. It takes a teeny bit extra effort but is still worth it (especially since composting is probably not an option).

 

House cleaning is, normally, not the most fun part of moving. Do your best and realize that cleaning before a move is never going to be as perfectly green as your regular cleaning routine is. Using green cleaning products, cutting down on single-use items (like wipes), and recycling when possible are your best tools!

 

 

5. Let Go of Guilt

 

Let go of it.

 

Guilt isn’t green.

 

Or at least, it’s not a prerequisite for living sustainably. (eco-anxiety is a real thing).

 

Moving is going to have a big fat carbon footprint, no matter what. Do the best you can do with what you have, and don’t sweat the things you can’t change. It’s not like you’re moving just because you are bored.

 

Try to focus on the positive impact you are making (what this move will mean for your life), as well as the steps you have taken to greenify your move (items you rehomed, plastic options you skipped, etc).

 

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Is any of this going to help you make your move less destructive? I hope so!

 

Thanks for stopping by today!

 

If I missed some green moving tips, please share them below. I love hearing from you, and learning from all your experiences!