If there is something to be grateful about our situation is that we had a lot of advance and we could start planning on how to tackle the moving your belongings or what George Carlin defined as ” your pile of stuff.”
Warning, whatever you plan and think you have set with the precision of a swiss watch, will not stand but a week. Just deciding the pros and cons of which way we were going to move our stuff took us 2 weeks to decide, about a dozen Youtube videos and finally a talk with a customer rep who settle my fears about taking the pile of stuff I wanted to take with less restrictions than anybody else (They did frown on cars and corpses for some reason). Deciding what goes, what gets donated and what goes to the dump? Hell, we have been fighting that one since day one and still are making last minute changes. More on that on a future post.
One of the things we were going to do this year was some serious internal renovations. One room was all done and was to be my wife’s “she-shed” with minefield included so I wouldn’t go in, but instead it has become the mock up container: If the pile stuff we want fits in there, it will fit in the happy travel box which has its dimensions properly explained in the company’s website. The Customer service Rep was surprised when I gave him dimensions and volume of objects we have so far and helped him help us with the selection of happy travel box.
Your millage will vary, but the best pricing on moving supplies was amazingly from Home Depot. And here comes another admonition: Stick to the boxes they sell and do not go hunting for thrown shit in the back of supermarkets. Standardized sizes will fit in the happy travel box much easier and without a waste of space. If you have experience playing Tetris, it will be even better for packing stuff in the boxes and then placing the boxes in and orderly fashion. My wife is in awe at how I can pack 75 odd shaped objects in Home Depot Medium box, stuffing included.
IMPORTANT TIP: Keep a log of every single item in every single box. The moment you say “We won’t need this before we go” you can rest assured you will 5 days later, and you better remember which box has it or have it logged to avoid the missus hating you even more.
There is always a magic object that will save your day and in my case it has been the plastic shrink wrap. Enough of that crap will keep a box from bursting out when you have already stuffed it with vacuum-packed garments and find too late a couple of bags had leaks. And be generous with is usage.
Back to planning: we initially thought about leaving and begin our travel north when the house was sold and the company came to pick up the happy travel box, but that also died. We were going to have the inside of the house fully painted but the Real State Agent strongly suggested to have all floors (all tile) and bathrooms professionally steamed clean after that. That means an empty house will be the cheapest and fastest way to get both done and also means we will have to leave the house but not leaving just yet. And I am sure you understand what that means for my sleeping cycle.
The only piece of good news is that thanks to the pandemic, all the real state signings can be done remotely which means we can begin travels as soon as the house is ready for viewing and finalize the transactions via Zoom and other electronic ways.
Does it feel I am kinda all over the place? You betcha! But if you have moved before, you understand.
I grew up a navy brat. This meant we moved at least once every three years. Once I left home, I moved every year I was at University. Leaving University I still moved way to often.
Three one thing that I found that had made a huge difference is rubbermaid totes. These are the big 20 gal size.
They stack well. The have good handles for moving then around. They seal water tight. And when you look at inventory and it says the cork screw is in that box, you can get it for your lady right now and reseal the box.
If you are doing a hand off to the movers,. Day of the move, you can attach the lids with zip ties or even tape.
For security, don’t mark the outside of boxes with anything other than a number.
“For security, don’t mark the outside of boxes with anything other than a number.”
Letters and numbers to indicate who is the person the things belong to.
For some reason the missus does not trust me with the packing of her fine items 😀
Be very careful with any marks on your boxes outside of those inventory numbers. Also, make sure that the moviers, if you use them, don’t add any marks to the boxes.
In our movies, I only remember one time we lost big time. The moviers wanted us to put the valuables in a “bonded” box. This box then had steel strapping placed around the outside. I think two in each axis. This was to “protect” our goods.
Somewhere along the line somebody just cut a hole in the side and took some small but valuable stuff out. After that, mom wouldn’t allow anything to distinguish valuable boxes from normal boxes.
The other thing, for us, as it was a paid move, was that the packers came a few days earlier and packed everything. The moviers were a different crew so that the moviers didn’t know what was in the boxes.
If you mark boxes with a code saying “her’s” then you’ve helped them figure out where that box came from and if it is worth going into. Just stick to simple inventory numbers. If you want to know what’s in the box, look it up in your inventory sheet.
Go the other way and mark it in ways that people don’t want to steal it.
“Dildos”
“Bondage gear”
“Troll Dolls”
“Dirty underwear”
I loaded up on the Rubbermade totes as well. We used PODS and they stacked well inside. Good luck. Never moving again, unless I win big in the lottery and then everything here stays except my guns.
Also, don’t use cheap plastic containers. I’m looking at you Starilite(sp?). These harder plastic will crack and get holes in them. They are not as resilient. The Rubbermaid stuff will deform, but it won’t get holes in it, it won’t crack. Just a much better choice.
We used PODS – three of them! – for such Stuff as we hadn’t gotten rid of, then made the final move in a rented RV (three people, three cats, luggage, and some critical cargo that we weren’t about to entrust to PODS). Oh, and my wife took some other critical stuff ahead in one of the cars, before flying back for the RV trip.
Preparations for the move took… let’s see… I guess we started organizing and weeding out around mid-2017, and actually moved at the end of 2019. But we were moving two households; I’d been in my house for 30 years, and my father had been in his house for 60 years, so there was much accumulation.
The RV idea was exceptional. 🙂
The RV idea was basically the only option we didn’t end up ruling out for one reason or another. Flying commercial with my father and the cats, no. Trying to arrange a charter flight (plus ground transportation for people and cats at both ends) looked dubious and expensive even if the wife hadn’t vetoed the idea. The RV option was a bit awkward, especially with the mad dash across the country during winter storm season, but doable: pick up the RV the morning before, load it up in the driveway, depart in the early morning, arrive eventually, and return it a couple of days after arrival. Helped that one of the cars was already here (for the other, we used a car-hauling service; towing it behind the RV seemed like it could add too much to the adventure).
We are selling her SUV because there is no good way to take both and we do not want to deal with shipping, towing or anything else. Plus she likes mine better…LOL
My mother used to say “You never know how wealthy you are until you move.”
We were poor when she said that but she was right 🙂
Where did all this stuff come from?
I’ve now moved myself, my friends, and my wife enough that I will pay someone to do it for me; cost be damned! The packing I don’t mind, the carrying heavy objects in advanced sex positions up 3 flights of stairs I’m over lol.
Good luck and I hope this doesn’t become an excuse to thin the library!
Get yourself some lifting straps from Amazon. These are the straps that fit over your forearms and then go under furniture.
My son and I have used them to move lots of very heavy and awkward things. It makes it easy. No trying to hold up a 100lbs of solid oak hutch with the tips of your fingers on a 1/4in piece of decorative ledge, with the back hand at a different height then the front.
Takes it to having stubbed toes and sore shins being the biggest problem.
Oh, because the are adjustable when we need to go down stairs the lead shortens up lots the tail extends, and the furniture goes down one step at a time easily.
I currently live in a 576 square foot home I built on top of my shop… for the last 2 years i have been weeding out “stuff”. Its amazing how much you accumulate….. our long term possible plan is an rv and a place to hang out and tinker.. good luck Miggy, keep at it.
Just running into one of those post-move complications here.
There’s a folder with financial records from the 1970s and 80s. Every few years, I need to dig it out. This is one of those years.
For the 30 years in Sunnyvale, I knew exactly where it was.
Now… it’s got to be in one of the boxes around here, somewhere. Probably either in my office closet or in the basement. Maybe still in the barn. Seems to have gotten swept into a pile of “office stuff” as I was doing final packing.
I’m sure there’s a lesson here.
(We have no intention of moving again for a couple of decades. We haven’t finished getting settled in here yet. Current plan calls for digging in and staying put, in this nice green place with decent soil, friendly neighbors, and reasonably sane politics.)
Been there done that a ‘few’ times over the years. Semper Gumby is the rule of the day. And don’t lose your temper!!!