Okay – I know a lot of LJers have moved lately. Care to share any lessons learned on packing and moving? I’m not moving far, less than 10 miles, but it will be intense. I have close to 300 figurines that have to do with writing and reading that have to be handwrapped, to say nothing of the books (over 6,000 now) and my cobalt blue glass collection.
I’ll be numbering boxes so we can concentrate on unpacking the most important stuff first. What else should or shouldn’t I do?
Thanks!
Bubblewrap is your friend.
Indeed!
Label your boxes on all four sides. Or they WILL be hauled into the biggest rooms (the biggest and heaviest to the wrong rooms, because those are the ones the moving guys don’t want to switch around to see if there is a label.)
Move as much kitchen and bathroom stuff as you can ahead of time, if it’s a short journey, because if you can get it set up while the big stuff is being brought over, it’s amazing how much easier it is that first couple of days, when everything is chaos and you have the stress of unpacking.
Really important stuff? Move yourself. You’ll always know where it is.
Sort BEFORE you put stuff in boxes, because you probably won’t want to sort after, which means you end up moving piles of junk you don’t want, out of sheer exhaustion. It feels GOOD to be able to get rid of a ton of kipple before the move.
If you have to mix crucial things in boxes, label everything on at least one side, or Murphy will absolutely guarantee that you have to find the kids’ shot papers, or the dog’s license paper, or the old checkbook, or some odd thing like that, leaving you ripping furiously through 43 office boxes in search of it.
(We moved three blocks in 2002, and it was every bit as much of a hassle, and as stressful, as moving thirty miles. Yes, I could walk back and forth, but one morning I was so tired I walked straight into a sliding glass door, giving myself two black eyes and a bloody nose.)
And most of all, good luck!
Yep, we’re moving ourselves but ick to hear that moving close is just as much of a hassle. I mean I knew it, but still. We won’t even be able to keep the same phone number.
Good idea on labeling all four sides. I’ve been trying to figure out my system and have been probably making it way too complicated, different color labels which you know I’ll run out of or pack or lose.
First page in the moving notebook is stuff to buy and I need a bunch of those big black markers.
Those huge markers were great. I did a big K in a circle for kitchen, M for master bedroom, the kids’ initials for their stuff, and 1, 2, 3 for the bathrooms, G for garage, and on each door or outside of it I taped papers with the corresponding letter.
The content labels were for me, so they were scrawls. But the letter and number system did work–the guys even said they appreciated it. (The problem was not furniture or belongings, which we actually don’t have a lot of, it was the ten thousand books and which rooms those boxes were to go to.)
Label each box on multiple sides– top, short side, and long side. That should guarantee that when they’re all stacked like crazy, that at least ONE side should be pretty visible.
And by label, I mean *everything* like
KITCHEN
box #5
pots, pot lids
or
BEDROOM 4
Fantasy Box #7
Weis – Yolen
for blue bookcases
far wall
…and do it in nice BIG letters, too.
Thank you!
We moved 8/10ths of a mile and it was stressful. My only advice: move everything that you treasure most (and can lift yourself!) by yourself. I actually stored some special items at a friend’s house weeks before. Getting them out of the way was a relief.
Hey- I hope you are taking pics of those 300 items for your powerpoint! Showing collections is fun and I have a few I show…
Good luck!
Thanks. I didn’t have any pics of that in the pics I shared Thursday – darn. If I do more school visits (after the move) I’ll remember to add them. They were suitably impressed by the pictures of all the books in the house though.
As for taking care of special objects, that’s why I’m starting to wrap glass things myself now. I can leave things like books for my husband to do and then just label the boxes for us. But the glass stuff is all me.
The actual moving will be me, my husband and any friends and coworkers we can con, I mean bribe, I mean BEG to come help.
Theoretically, keep a list of what goes into each box, number each box, and keep a master binder full of the lists.
In actuality, I never managed to pull that one off.
When packing, if you have boxes that you haven’t unpacked since the last move or two, consider whether you want to pay to move them or whether it’s time for them (and their contents) to move on.
I hate moving.
You can use towels, linens, mattress pads to wrap breakable items.
Good point!
I have pulled that off before, in varying degrees. When I first moved from CA to VA I had stuff in storage for a few months and I did a great job of labeling boxes and keeping lists. I am hoping that I can do that this time, especially since I am starting now.I have pulled that off before, in varying degrees. When I first moved from CA to VA I had stuff in storage for a few months and I did a great job of labeling boxes and keeping lists. I am hoping that I can do that this time, especially since I am starting now.
Hmm..those boxes I didn’t unpack from the move two years ago ARE still sitting in the garage. Thanks for the reminder, I think.
Everyone’s already mentioned good advice. I move once every one to two years. The best thing I can suggest is get rid of stuff you really don’t need now. There’s no time like the present to donate clothes you’ll never wear, etc, then right now!
I love unpacking! It sounds crazy, I know, but it makes everything seem new and exciting. Which is probably why I move so often 😉
Good luck!
I don’t mind the unpacking as much as the packing part but I am always limited by how long I can work due to my shoulder problem and I always want to get settled again right away.
Get rid of as much stuff as you can. You’ll be glad you did. It’s a very liberating experience.
If it needs it — clean the place you’re moving into before your stuff gets there.
This is a good time to fumigate, for instance.
And the window treatments have to go up, or you’ll have no privacy.
You need your lamps set up before the first night, too, or you’ll be in the dark some places.
Arrange to get your locks changed early on.
And keep an eye on your valuables.
Whether it’s your silver spoons, your cat, your stereo or your purse … stuff walks away during the move.
Toss all the stuff you need for the first couple days
not into the room it’s going to wind up in,
but into one box — toothpaste, hairbrush, cat food, bedclothes, blankets, allergy medicine, contact lense wetting solution, work clothes, spare pair of stockings, pillows, dog bed,
Be gentle with yourself. Eat out a lot. Don’t try to unpack everything the first day … or the first week.
Buy icecream. Buy paper plates and plastic cups. Sleep a lot.
Lamps! Yes.
Ice cream and naps, I knew I liked you, Jo! Thanks.
Honestly, you’re already doing a big favor by packing it yourself! We had movers provided by my husband’s company, so we didn’t pack our own stuff. Which on one hand was easier, but now I can’t find ANYTHING! We’ve been here 3 weeks now & have hardly unpacked a thing. I went to a conference today, & beforehand I spent about an hour looking for a notebook to write notes in, and finally could only find one I didn’t like that I had taken on the plane with me. Sigh. I know I should have 2 boxes of them somewhere! Not only do I not know what’s in the boxes, but it’s clear from the ones I’ve opened that they weren’t all put into the relevant rooms! As much hassle as it would have been to pack it ourselves, I never had these kinds of problems with our previous moves when we did pack it ourselves. (BTW, the movers pack everything in tons & tons & tons & tons of paper, like blank newsprint, but I don’t know how much it costs to buy that yourself!)
Since you’re not moving that far, you should at least be able to take the most crucial items over without packing them up. We could only avoid packing what we could carry on the plane or in my DH’s tiny car, and it wasn’t enough! We’re still missing my alarm clock, my bedside lamp (?!), and the turntable for the microwave…as well as most of my envelopes & stamps, which I thought I’d set aside but apparently didn’t! I already had to buy new envelopes. On the other hand, I’ve found some other random things I hadn’t seen in over a year. 😉
Oh that sounds so painful. I think my cross country move, the first one, was the most difficult.
If, and this is a big IF, we can pull this off the way we want to, we should be able to do it in stages, moving a bunch of stuff that we can just let sit in boxes at the new place for a while.
I hope.
Everyone else has given you good advice; the one thing I would add is to pack heavy things, especially books and dishes, in small boxes. Smaller than you think you need. Even if your brother-in-law makes fun of you when he sees “Books: 1 of [insert embarrassing number here]”, he’ll shut up when he realizes that you could have packed them all in 10 boxes and expected him to move those! 😉
Don’t try to unpack all at once; give yourself time to live in the space a bit if at all possible. Your things will then be able to tell you where they want to go.
You know my brother-in-law, eh? 🙂
Books, 1 of oh my God you’ve got to be kidding, right?
Your things will then be able to tell you where they want to go.
I like this idea a lot.
urghhhh.
I have not moved in longer that I can remember, and If I did, it would doubtless require a bulldozer and purchasing all new belongings. Good luck. Hope it goes smoothly…
Been there, done that. A few moves ago. But I’ve added a ton of books since then.
LOL!!
You know what MY biggest moving tip is (since I’ve moved 12 times in the last 7 years)? DON’T BUY ANYTHING VALUABLE!!!! 😉
Hope your move goes well. 🙂
Re: Off topic, but doubt you’ll mind
Well how cool is that? Thanks so much. I hope you enjoy the book.
My tip is:
On moving day, When you get to the new house, set up your bed with mattress and linens first thing. Then start unpacking the rest. That way when you realize that you are totally exhausted, you can collapse without having to worry about getting the bed ready.
Also, plastic grocery bags can be used in place of packing peanuts in some boxes. How about cardboard Christmas ornament boxes for your smaller figurines and breakables?
Thank you! Yes, the bed first is a must. And I have warned my husband not to throw anything away that could be used for packing.
Packing and moving tips
You’ve received some great advice here! Since I was once a mover (one of many part time jobs in my past) perhaps I can give some helpful, if somewhat unorthodox ideas. If you have enough people available to help, leave one person at each house. Doing so saves the time and hassle of locking up and also provides a bit of security. This is a real time saver for short moves. Since you are doing the move yourself, instead of packing items that are in dresser or desk drawers, simply remove the drawers and move them by placing in your vehicle or putting them back in the dresser when it is loaded and use the same process when unloading. This also has the added advantage of lightening the dresser for loading!
When we built our new house we had to move to a rental when our old house sold and then to the new house when it was done. Moving twice in 8 months was way too much!
I hate moving and my wife hates it even more! But it is a fantastic way to purge unneeded stuff!
Good Luck!
Fred (Higgins)
Re: Packing and moving tips
Thanks, Fred. Some good ideas. Twice in 8 months – ouch!
Could you advertise your moving as a “writer’s conference” and surprise everyone when they get there?
They could all help pack and move you!
hahaha. Love it!