Morning EF folks

I just moved in my new apartment with a few moving boxes, plus a few new furniture from IKEA. I wonder what do do with the boxes.

what is a reasonable solution: I am thinking about putting it down the cellar, but not sure if it is necessary/wise.

BTW if you throw away your IKEA boxes, what do you do when you move away from the apartment with the furniture?

Thanks

Advertise them in the Marketplace section under Free Stuff. People are always looking for moving boxes.

First check if your cellar is dry, or not. If it is not, just get rid of the boxes right away, as they will go mouldy and soggy in a damp cellar. If the cellar is nice and dry, then yes, boxes can come in handy when you move again, in particular original packaging, especially of electrical appliances, where the protective polystyrene structure is in place. Regular "moving boxes", on the other hand, are easy to obtain, again, later.

When you move to the next appartment, you will not completey disassemble
your furniture, only in parts that are portable and easy to reassemble.
So the Boxes from Ikea can go.

If the moving boxes are standard sized ones and still in good condition and you are not anticipating using them yourself, you can probably pass them on . Boxes are quite costly to buy and people are always on the lookout for pre owned ones . Maybe put a notice on the notice board at work, in the Migros etc. There is always somebody who is moving soon and is happy to take them or even pay a moderate sum for them

I get rid of mine, except for the one that I never get round to unpacking and that follows me around Switzerland ;-)

How do you unpack IKEA furniture without damaging the boxes?

As mentioned above, you will not flat-pack ikea furniture again, just partially disassemble, so given the awkward shapes of boxes as well as being originally glued shut, IKEA boxes are useless.


I keep the ones from larger appliances which are either making transport of original appliances easier (e.g. 65" TV) or are strong and conveniently shaped (e.g. from a safe, microwave).


If you need boxes for a move they can be easily bought at DYI shops (OBI, etc.) or IKEA so generally it does not make sense to keep them in a cellar. Even in a dry cellar the unprotected cardboard gets softer and next time you move the boxes are easier to get damaged or fail.

Just to mention I bought boxes at OBI in the EU and they cost me peanuts (I am talking cardboard) so really not worth getting the to take up space and rotting in the cellar

With a cutter, along the edges.
Their cardboard glue is pretty nasty, definitely stronger than the cardboard itself, but it's possible to cut along it. When the boxes are properly cut it's easier to pack the leftovers for disposal.

Of course there is no chance to re-pack an IKEA item in case of moving, so I never kept any of their boxes.

As mentioned by some other members, you can simply put them up for sale or give them away for free. This is what I did (put them up for sale online for a token 1.-)

In my case I wasn't planning to move again any time soon, and I didn't want to use up unnecessary space storing the boxes. If you think you will need them in the near future then maybe you can fold them and store them, but I do question if it's worth the effort and the storage space (even folded) for something which can be quite easily found/purchased when needed.

I've slowly gone through ours over the years - as kids play things, misc storage boxes, and they finally end up as cardboard recycling storage when I haven't bought anything big recently.

I kept them and moved 6 times, so they got a lot of use. I thought of getting rid of them since I bought a house now and don't intend to move, but I don't want to jinx it. I'm slowly running them down by using them as disposible containers for cardboard recycling.

I figure if I need to move, I'll just buy new boxes, even with Swiss prices it's just a fraction of the total cost of moving.