I like to use clean newspaper to cushion items I place in boxes and fill the box if there is an empty space after placing my items. Cardboard, whether I'm packing for storage or shipping. Pay attention to the sizes if you need a specific size for the items to be packed as more than one size is available. I already had a larger size on hand to pack my larger items, but I needed padding between fragile items and void fill to prevent packed items from sliding in when the boxes are being handled, so I'm happy with this size .