nativetexan

Oh shoot, i'm thinking of moving back to Texas and have fabric galore in tubs. the last two i got had the locking handles that clip over the lid. cost more though. Good luck. I will try grocery stores for boxes.

ctrysass2012

Locking lids are a must. The ones that have the clip on the bin & fold over the lid are the best. Just make sure they aren't the biggest if you are going to be lifting them. Better to get mid size & be able to lift them without straining your back & arms. Might drive guys nuts but if you are going to be shifting alone midsize works much better.

Sandygirl

The Container Store has wonderful plastic drawers. They really glide nicely. My "goal" was to ditch the Sterlites and buy the Container Store ones but I decided purging the plastic as best I could was a better option. I have donated a lot of fabric to the 4H sewists. I, frankly, dont want a huge stash staring back at me for years. Take a look at the Container Store. The casters are awesome too. Lots of size options.

sandy

Daisy Dew

Don't do it! I did and they all cracked. Even taping did not work. We moved 1200 miles perhaps if you are moving a short distance it would be okay. I moved from FL too so I know the plastic is preferred because of ALL the critters that you may come upon or should I say come upon you LOL. Also don't get your boxes from a box store they are too flimsy. The boxes we got from a moving/storage company were undamaged - the box store boxes twisted and had broken up. After all this believe it or not only 1 Isabelle Bloom statue had it's base cracked so we just glued the Huggers back together.

Onebyone

When our girls were young adults and moving all the time, we bought the big plastic trash cans on wheels. They were fantastic! Seems they had more books then anything and books are a nightmare to move. The wheels made the job so easy. The cans wheeled right onto the ramp to inside the truck and right back out again. No lifting required. After the first time using the trash bins, the girls could pack everything and move everything but big furniture.

Dodee

I love them as you can see what is in them. I've had no problem with them. Moving companies can't sell you boxes if you use only the plastic ones; then we use a lot of them after we move in and unpack only what we need.
Dodee

mhollifiel

My sister found nice plastic bins at Big Lots for much cheaper than elsewhere. Her daughter worked as a marketer for a disaster reclamation company and she swore by Rubbermaid. I have never put it to the test thankfully but she said that that brand was the only one to give any protection in the event of a fire. The Rubbermaid would no longer be usable but the contents would be protected. She won't use any other brand. This is hearsay, untested information but my niece is sharp as a tack otherwise, LOL!

Sewnoma

All our garage stuff is in plastic totes, and we've moved twice with those and never had any problems with movers not wanting to use them and very little damage to the totes themselves. We buy the kind that have the lid split in half that flip over - the sides are structured and they're more sturdy than the kind that have the purely straight sides. We stack those things as high as we can reach with no problems.

When I move, I buy boxes online from Uline. I get a ton of small boxes for my books (I have about 1500 books) and medium & large boxes for the rest of the household stuff. I like having just 3 sizes of boxes to deal with rather than tons of random boxes; it's easier to stack them and move them. I use small boxes for the books so I can still manage them myself after they're filled up.

I also buy a roll of red tape that I use to seal any boxes or mark any totes that I want to move myself - things that are extra fragile/valuable/sentimental. It's really easy for the movers that way - red tape means don't touch!

Carolina Sweetheart

When we moved I did place all my material in plastic totes but we were only moving 4 miles. For anyone moving and needing boxes you can go to your nearest Lowe's Building Supply and ask them to save their inventory boxes for you. They told me what day to come pick them up and it was amazing how many, not broken down, I could load into our Expedition. These are just the right size to pack with so that the weight (even with heavy things) doesn't get to be hard to handle. The boxes break down and go back together great and they have an over-fold flap top that tucks in and open handle grips on each end. We didn't have to tape a box since we were not going very far. They were free as they just break them down and recycle them. I guess they still have their inventory delivered that way. I could never understand why they didn't use plastic totes and reuse them instead of cardboard but it was a great deal for me and we still are using several of them for different reasons. And I recycled them by giving them to a friend that was moving also.

tessagin

I have had plastic totes for decades. People thought I was crazy for spending the money but I didn't have broken dishes and I sold Tupperware so I knew enough about plastic. I paid more for the clear containers but they were all worth it. At least I could see what was here and there. I have one set of totes that I know are 25 years old. DH and a few others have said to me "Do you know what that's going to do to the landfill?" Hello, they aren't going anywhere! They are full!