Packing supplies can really make or break the whole moving experience. I have moved numerous times. Like, a lot. Sometimes it was just a dorm room, and then sometimes it was just a one-bedroom apartment, and then a two-bedroom apartment, and then a house, and most of them was more than once at each kind of place. Thankfully, I have not yet had to move now that I have children, but I know that it’s coming. And, thankfully, I have had plenty of experience so that I will know how to make the best of it when that time comes.

It goes without saying that the best moving experiences I have had were invariably linked to the best packing supplies. Granted, the one at the top of the list also came with an entire crew. They wrapped big things up in heavy duty brown paper. They wrapped everything else up in brown paper too, and put them in boxes. They came with the boxes that have the sections for kitchen materials. They came with the boxes that have the hanging metal rod so you can just transfer your clothes right from the closet to the box. Not only did they come with the packing supplies but they did all the packing and moving and transporting, too. And the unloading.

So, yeah, that is not the type of experience most people will have, and it was a one-time thing for me too. But the thing I learned from that time is that the materials are a must. This is because I have tried to be super cheap and I wound up on the verge of a breakdown. So not worth it.

When I say that I was trying to be cheap I mean that I was using hand-me-down packing supplies, all of which were some sort of awkward shape or size and I found myself playing a virtual Tetris game in the back of the moving van. The last thing you want to do after packing boxes and carrying them down three flights of stairs is move them all around trying to figure out how to make them fit and also best utilize the space of the moving van since you were too cheap and got the smaller one (another way that I was trying to be cheap and just wound up shooting myself in the foot).

I’m not suggesting you go in debt buying the highest quality products, especially since you are more or less just going to be getting a one time use out of them. I am suggesting you take the time to figure out what type of packing supplies are the best for the job at hand.