Tag: moving tips

I read all the advice online about long distance moves where they say throw out and give away all the stuff the movers won’t take. Forget that. I had no interest in starting out with a blank refrigerator, no cleaning supplies, no automobile fluids on arrival at my new home. Oh please, who wants to take all your partially used crap? I am totally against waste and throwing things in landfill, so I needed to figure out how to take the stuff with me.

Packing the “not allowed items”

I had a friend with a pickup truck and trailer who was willing to help me move. If that opportunity had not existed I would have rented a truck to move all the things the moving company would not take or I didn’t trust them to take.

I packed all the fluids, aerosols, matches, whatever that the movers wouldn’t take in plastic containers. I put everything in trash bags inside the containers and sealed them. Good thing since we drove through monsoons getting from Texas to Tennessee.

So I am now here with all my cleaning supplies, automotive supplies like oil, brake cleaner, etc, and a lot of food.

Packing food

The food was the somewhat tricky part. I had two coolers. One for the refrigerator items packed in ice and one for freezer items packed in dry ice. I bought the ice and dry ice Monday night. Packed both coolers on Tuesday before the movers arrived. I drove to Tennessee on Wednesday and Thursday. This was in January — on arrival all the refrigerator items were still very cold and there was lots of ice. The freezer items were so incredibly frozen I had to let the cooler sit open for a little while before I could pry the items out of there.

I did NOT move meats. I had been careful to consume all meat before moving. But I had a lot of frozen veggies, fruit, dried food for camping, and incredibly expensive homemade basil pesto that I wasn’t about to throw away. It all arrived perfectly. As far as the refrigerator, I didn’t move milk, eggs, or mayo. But all the less perishable things like catsup, mustards, marinades, sauces, salad dressings made it fine.

It was nice to be able to partially load the refrigerator upon arrival.

So while the movers have limitations that ensure the safety of your belongings — would you really want a bottle of bleach to leak all over your couch? There’s no reason the stuff can’t come with you if you’re willing to do a little extra work. I’m frugal so this kind of stuff really matters to me.

What I didn’t trust them to move

My computer is my life (since I design web sites) so that baby was carefully packed in the back of my SUV and made the trip with me. The movers could take the monitors, the printer — those are easily replaceable — but the hard drives with all the information all went with me.

I also love my motorcycle, so my BMW F650GS was loaded on the trailer and moved with me.

Important papers, family photos weren’t leaving my sight and also came in the truck.

And most importantly — my dogs. Nikki and Ellie, my yellow labs, rode with me on the way here. They’re a little stressed by all the changes, but I also packed their beds. Those beds have been a constant in their lives and they know all is okay if the beds are there. We got here before the movers and I was sleeping in a sleeping bag. The dogs were in their usual beds. Yes — they’re spoiled and pampered in some ways, but I didn’t want this to be any more traumatic than it had to be.

The plastic containers of all the things the movers couldn’t take rode on the trailer with the motorcycle.

I brought a big tool box so I could start working on my new “fixer upper” that was wrapped in a trash bag and sealed with duct tape, I wrapped my huge potted rosemary bush and it survived!

Prior proper packing…

FYI — I believe in using a ton of tie-downs to make sure there are no problems in transit. I had everything so strapped down not one thing budged on the 900 mile trip and everything was in good shape on arrival. As I mentioned, all the stuff in the plastic containers was already sealed in trash bags. I used duct tape to secure the lids on the containers and then lots of tie-downs to make sure no lids would blow off or containers move.

The computer and important papers were in the very back of my SUV and the dogs rode behind the front seats. I used tie downs to make sure the boxes wouldn’t shift and scare the crap out of the dogs while I was driving. I also had a full bag of food to give me a little time to locate their food before it ran out.

In the end…

A lot of care on the front end prevents a lot of problems or heartache along the away or on the back-end. Proper packing takes a lot of time and is a total pain, but in the end it’s worth every second. And bear in mind this packing was done in torrential rain. If I can say take the time after that experience, it’s even more worthwhile in decent weather.

The image to the left is what it feels like. Having recently completed an interstate move I have some thoughts on successfully packing. I need to mention that I tend to be anal retentive about organization and that I lucked out and had an absolutely awesome driver who knew how to pack a truck so everything arrived in good condition.

I have felt a big move coming on for a couple of years so I spent considerable time going through the house I had resided in for 17 years and deciding what needed to go with me and what needed to be moved on to someplace else. I sold things on Ebay, the local Craigslist, I seriously used freecycle.org with great results and lastly donated to Denton County Friends of the Family who were so appreciative of everything I gave them. Oh, and I had a garage sale. It was my first and quite a learning experience.

So when it came time to pack up I had seriously pared down, not knowing how seriously I would downsize. The move was further complicated by purchasing a fixer upper so the smart thing was to pack in a way that a lot would stay boxed while I worked on the house. Jeez — it got complicated.

Tip #1: Start asking you newspaper subscribing friends to start saving newsprint for you. Tell them to recycle all the ads and coupons since they aren’t good for packing, but keep newsprint only. I could not believe how much paper I went through to protect my belongings. Yes, you’ll get black newsprint on your hands. Go wash them.

Tip #2: See if your selected moving company has used boxes at no charge. Boxes for an entire household are several hundred dollars. If you can get them for free it’s a bonus. My mover also kicked in packing tape and 2 bundles on newsprint. Everything you move will have to be in a box so the number of boxes required is astronomical.

Tip #3: Shop for movers. I got a great quote at a weight that turned out to not be correct. Getting multiple quotes helped me figure out what my stuff really weighed so I could accurately compare the quotes. They’re sneaky and the more information you have the easier it will be for you to figure out the tricks.

Tip #4: Since I’m an organizational freak I would have liked to close a box when I was done with a particular type of stuff instead of mixing contents. Forget it. Fill every box completely. If necessary use towels, decorative pillows, dust rags, sheets to pad the top of boxes before you close them. Full boxes don’t crush when then have other boxes stacked on top of them. Half full boxes will crush and things will get broken. It will be more confusing when you’re unpacking, but your stuff won’t be broken.

Tip #5: Utilize wardrobe boxes. Put lamp bases in corners (pack the lampshades in another box). Wrap pictures that will slide down the sides of the wardrobe  box in paper/bubble wrap and then wrap again in cardboard and then slide them down the sides of the wardrobe box. I even slipped a table leaf down the side of one wardrobe box. Use a corner of one box for long things. I slid curtain rods, yardsticks, anything under the 46″ box height. Use wardrobe boxes for garden tools that are under 46″ — I put a trash can in one wardrobe box and then filled it with hedger, weed trimmer, leaf blower, etc. I kept one wardrobe box for moving day and put all the linens from my bed in it. Mattress pad, comforter, pillows, blankets, sheets were all packed in Space Bags first and then put in the box. My bedding and the table leaf filled an entire box.

Tip #6: Cushion the bottom of dish packs with a generous layer of wadded up paper before packing the dishes with plates on their edge. Add glassware at the top and then fill with more wadded paper. Like I said — I could not believe how much paper I went through.

Tip #7: I found big pictures to be one of the biggest pains to pack. I generously wrapped each in a lot of layers of paper and then broke down an appropriately sized box and wrapped it around the picture and then taped the ever-loving crap out of it. The mover didn’t provide mirror boxes, but this method worked well.

Tip #8: Label the boxes CLEARLY as to what room they go to. The movers will love you. Labeled boxes and full boxes and they will know you have more than done your part and will show their appreciation by handling your stuff with care.

Tip #9: Okay — this one in uber anal. Make a list of your boxes and a general description of what’s in the box. I had a spreadsheet with the box number, the general contents, and where it was to go at the new house. That spreadsheet has saved my butt. I wonder where the hell something is, pull up the spreadsheet, do a “find” for the word, and locate the box number. It was a total and complete pain to do, but all the pain has paid off since my arrival.

I used Allied Van Lines for my move. I was not impressed with the sales person or customer service person on the Dallas end of the move, but lucked out and got George out of Charlotte, NC who was an artist at packing a truck. It was luck of the draw. I could have just as easily gotten some bozo who didn’t know how to load a truck. On a scale of 1 to 10 I would rate the pre-move people a 2 at best. George was a definite 12. At the end of the day, the person caring for your belongings is the most important element of a move. If there’s any way you can find out about the experience of the driver and the percentage of damage claims, that would be the most important information to have next to pricing.

There’s no way around how painful moving is. Avoiding the heartache of damage will lessen that pain.