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Post by revirdsuba99 on Jan 2, 2018 3:13:40 GMT
I packed a first box, had toilet paper, paper towels, soap and something to cover windows Oh and paper plates and cups.. I had another box with valuables/papers, duplicate meds, aspirin, bandaids etc. They all had RED duck tape on them and I told everyone that they were to go into the bath tub. I'm just not so sure a short move is easy. Sometimes it is better to let someone else do it all. Our 'short move' was the most difficult and a PITA. I hate moving short distances. SaveSave
Short move Feb 2017 and short move back this Jan or Feb.......... I should just throw all the packed boxes out. |
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my3freaks
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,206 
Location: NH girl living in Colorado
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Post by my3freaks on Jan 2, 2018 4:18:00 GMT
Here's my favorite tip: Buy different colors of duct tape. Assign a color for each room or area (for example, yellow for kitchen, blue for son's room, etc.). Then, once a box is filled, no need to write on the box what room the box goes to, use the corresponding color of tape...place a strip of tape around one side corner of the box and another strip on the opposite corner. At your new house, put the color tape on the doorway of that particular room (blue for son's bedroom, etc.). Boxes marked in this way can be stacked and are easily identified. Helpers only need to place boxes in corresponding areas. This worked well for us as we also had boxes going to storage (college kid needed her stuff toward the storage room door so her's were a different color than the stuff that could be placed in the back. Hopefully none of the movers are color blind  I also suggest movers for as much as possible. We've done several local moves, and the ones we did on our own never went as well as the ones with movers. They just get drug out and it sucks. Movers get it all done and over with in one shot. There are few things I hate more than moving. Good luck, I hope it goes smooth! |
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Post by crazy4scraps on Jan 2, 2018 5:07:50 GMT
I’ll second getting file storage boxes for as much of the smaller stuff as you can. I LOVE that they’re all the same size which makes them so much easier and efficient to stack, and they’re not so big that they get too heavy. Instead of packing all the important stuff first, I would do the opposite and pack all the stuff you won’t need right away first so those boxes are ready to go in the truck first. That way all the important stuff will be at the BACK DOOR of the truck and going into the house first. Regardless of which method you use to label the boxes, label them on ALL SIDES as well as the top, not just on the side or on the top. You want to be able to see from any visible side what is in every box. Be as specific as you can with the descriptions too, it will really help down the line when you’re looking for specific things so you don’t have to dig in half a dozen boxes fifteen times. If you do leave dresser drawers full, use plastic stretch wrap around them to hold all the stuff in and to keep it clean. Purge as much as you can before you move. Even though we got rid of a ton of stuff before we moved, we still ended up moving way more junk than we should have. It’s good you’re having movers handle the bigger stuff. The friends that helped us move ended up breaking some of our furniture and other stuff got wet and/or dirty because it was raining the weekend we moved.  Best wishes with your new home and I hope the move goes smoothly for you! |
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Post by Lovebug2867 on Jan 2, 2018 5:17:55 GMT
We moved my sister and her kids a year ago to an apartment less than 3 miles from her old house. We moved the drawers to dressers unpacked clothes on hangers just on the backseat to be rehung in the new rooms. She had to buy all new furniture though except for the kids rooms so we didn't have to deal with that, movers for the heavy stuff is a good idea. She packed a lot of the breakables in boxes wrapped in towels etc. A lot of stuff was just put in laundry baskets and trash bags to move.
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Post by mcscrapper on Jan 2, 2018 5:35:40 GMT
My best tip is to get tons and tons of boxes and a lot of the packing papers, a few big black markers and one or two of those tape roll dispensers with the large packing tape. Get a few extra rolls of tape too.
Have someone put boxes together in the garage or wherever there is room. Take a big box and pack it then use that box as your table in that room. Tackle one room at a time and just GO.
For packing your dishes, take a stack of paper and put a plate on one sheet and wrap it. Keep the plate on the stack and add a plate on top and take another single sheet of paper and wrap with both plates. Take another plate and repeat until you have 4-5 plates in one wrapped stack. In the bottom of that box, you can put some bubble wrap to cushion a little bit if you want or you can add some of your kitchen towels. Do the same for your bowls. Wrap your silverware in towel - forks in one, spoons in another.
I helped my dad move three years ago and we packed it all ourselves and moved quite a bit of it. I kept an eye on Craigslist for boxes and got a lot where I work. I probably had three or four truckloads full of boxes from work which was a huge time and money saver for us. We did have to buy a few boxes and found that Home Depot had the cheapest boxes.
Our local U-haul place sells packing paper for about $10 per pack. Two packs was enough for us because they are pretty huge packs.
One HUGE lifesaver for us was renting a Pod. Don't know if you have a Pod service in your area but you might have something similar. it was GREAT for us because we could load boxes and crap in the pod and we were granted permission to move the pod to the new house and park it in the side driveway. My dad had a lot of stuff inches shop and we rolled it in there and parked on and around that stuff. We didn't put anything really valuable in there in case anyone tried to vandalize the Pod but we had one of those super heavy duty locks on it and we were fine. The delivery dude was also able to place that pod with the door right up against the garage door of the new place so it was almost impossible to get into the pod w/out the garage door open. It also made it super easy to move that stuff out. It was truly a game changer for us.
I'd definitely hire a moving company for the bigger stuff. We had them move all of the furniture, TVs, washer and dryer, etc. It wasn't cheap but if they broke anything, their insurance covered it. If we broke it, we were outta luck. They were wonderful to my dad and actually hung around a while to chat with him. It was really sweet.
Make sure you label your boxes on top and on at lease one side. Don't overpack a box. For your art / pictures off the walls, take a broken down box and place your picture on that and place another flattened box on top and tightly tape around the boxes. The box should be bigger than your picture for this to work best.
Good luck with the move!
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kelly8875
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,415
Location: Lost in my supplies...
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Post by kelly8875 on Jan 2, 2018 5:51:01 GMT
I would hire movers for it all, since your hiring them for what's left. 5 minutes away is still a pain. Have them quote you variations to see what it's worth to you. I'd rather pay for the move, and then have the time to unpack and clean the old house up.
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Post by mikewozowski on Jan 2, 2018 6:07:10 GMT
i guess i am of the opposite opinion than most of you. i think moving a short distance is pretty easy. you can pack not as carefully and move several boxes at a time. you can unload the boxes (like dishes into the cabinets or pantry items and then take the boxes back and do it again.
moving clothes on hangers is easy. heck, you can pack soft stuff in garbage bags and lug it over. reuse the bags for packing more or for garbage bags as you need them.
hiring movers for the big stuff is a great idea. you might move some of the dressers yourself so you have places to put the clothes as they move over. or you can move the dressers with clothes in them if it is not too heavy. if heavy you can take the drawers out and move them that way.
good luck on the move!
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Post by jlynnbarth on Jan 2, 2018 7:50:53 GMT
We moved last year about 5 blocks away. One of the best tips I have is if you have the plastic organizers for your silverware, keep it in the organizer and just wrap it with plastic wrap. Nothing falls out. For knives, put them inside your oven mits if you have them to keep whoever moves/unpacks them safe from cuts. Hanging clothes, keep them on the hangers and pull a big black trash bag up over a group of them and criss cross the handles over the hanger. If any fall off they fall into the bag. You can then reuse the bags for trash later. No reason to box them. We also pulled the drawers out of the dressers, wrapped them with plastic wrap and moved them like that. No boxes needed. We used our bath towels and sheets to wrap art work and framed photos we were moving before boxing. We used dish towels to wrap dishes and glasses. We loaded the truck so that things that were going upstairs or downstairs (we have a 3 level house) came off first, so that we weren't fighting getting past anything on the first level. I moved my craft supplies/tools myself so nothing happened to them  Don't overpack boxes with books. They get too heavy and you can get tired quickly. |
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finaledition
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,896
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Post by finaledition on Jan 2, 2018 10:55:54 GMT
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Post by JustCallMeMommy on Jan 2, 2018 16:15:50 GMT
I think local moves are harder than long distance moves. It has kept me from moving into a bigger house locally.
I also moved an office recently, and it was super fast after everything was boxed up and the boxes were lined up neatly to have 2 Men and a Truck move everything. The boxes took no time at all compared to the furniture, so they didn't add a lot of cost. Heck, the pianos that were moved in advance took longer than the rest of the office combined. If I were moving, I'd seriously consider letting the movers do it all in one load.
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Post by anonrefugee on Jan 2, 2018 16:25:14 GMT
We used to move every 24-30 months. I live by the banker / file box suggestion- even now it's what I use for storage.
Our worst move was within the same neighborhood. DH especially thought we had more time with no sense of urgency preparing. We hired a company to move the big stuff and some boxes. If I had it to do over I'd have them move everything, and be done. At least I could spend time unpacking instead of driving/ shuffling for an extended period.
Good luck!
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Post by revirdsuba99 on Jan 2, 2018 16:37:14 GMT
Instead of packing all the important stuff first, I would do the opposite and pack all the stuff you won’t need right away first so those boxes are ready to go in the truck first This was my suggestion when moving your self with multiple trips.. Supplies that are needed right away. Papers/valuables should stay where you are sleeping! |
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caangel
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,708
Location: So Cal
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Post by caangel on Jan 2, 2018 16:51:48 GMT
We raided the local furniture store's dumpster on delivery day and got all our packing/padding material. There were several other people with the same idea so we had to go by a few times to get all we needed. Everything was clean and easy to grab.
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Post by crimsoncat05 on Jan 2, 2018 18:13:37 GMT
I took out dresser drawers and moved them completely full. Then we'd bring over the dresser on the next trip and slide the drawers back in. I did this kind of stuff when I did a local move, too- moving like that still sucked- a carload at a time, every day after work... but moving yourself means you can move things without having to pack up the boxes and boxes of belongings, since movers wouldn't move anything that wasn't packed or wrapped up. |
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Post by beaglemom on Jan 2, 2018 18:57:34 GMT
We just did this. 7 miles between houses. We packed 75% of our stuff. They did the kitchen and my china and some other stuff they had time for (I was only willing to pay for one day of packing). They only cover breakage on stuff that they pack. They then moved 95% of the stuff from one house to the other. We still have 5% left at the old house - we aren't putting it on the market till March so we have some time. We are slowly bringing the last bits over a couple days a week. I wish we had just had them bring everything. We labeled everything really well and they put the boxes in the rooms they were to go in and it was great.
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Post by bigbundt on Jan 2, 2018 22:06:25 GMT
Take your vitamins and wash your hands. We moved a couple of miles away and were doing pretty well and then I got sick and then my ILs got sick and couldn't watch our kids a few days and that really knocked us back.  Although we packed up ourselves, we hired movers to actually load and unload everything. They also took apart furniture and put it back together. HIGHLY recommend. I personally moved a lot of stuff myself just using laundry baskets. Mainly things that would take a long time to pack and unpack the traditional way. Hanging clothes, just took them out of the closet and put them in the new closets right away. Dishes and small appliances we didn't use everyday? Just threw them in the baskets and loaded them right into the new kitchen cabinets. Pantry items too. Toys, extra linens, etc. I would make two or three trips a day which sounds like a lot but it would only take half an hour or so spread out through the day and I actually moved a lot of stuff in that time and "unpacked" it with not a lot of (I feel) effort. We did hire a truck a couple of weekends before the big move for stuff in the garage the movers would not transport. Like lawn mowers and household chemicals. We went ahead and moved a lot of tools and garage type stuff. |
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Post by Basket1lady on Jan 3, 2018 1:13:24 GMT
I posted this on the other thread:
We're military and have moved 15 times in 27 years. Prep work will make it all so much easier!
I'll echo the Last Load box. Be sure to either label the coffee maker or include it in this box, as you will want it in the morning. Pack one box that is just bedding, pillows, and linens. You will want to sleep in your own bed the first night you are in your apartment. Pack another box with cleaning supplies--Mr Clean erasers, rags, paper towels, windex, Simple Green, kitchen cleaner, scrub brush, dusters... I find that the house I'm moving into is never as clean as I'd like it to be.
Check Craigslist/Facebook Marketplace for free boxes. We moved over the summer and got all of our boxes from there, as well as offered them up again when we were done. Don't use newspaper, only plain packing paper. The ink will get on everything and it's hard to wash off.
Either label the boxes with their room or get labels to mark the boxes. Amazon sells the labels, but its easy enough to write on the boxes or to make up your own labels. If you make your own, use markers to color code the labels.
I try to have the house picked up and organized before packing. It makes it easier if you are looking for something before all of the boxes are unpacked. When packing electronics, put the remotes in the boxes with the device. We hardly ever use the remote that comes with our family room TV because we use the TiVo remote, but you need it when doing the installation. The TV is one of the first things that we set up because we get all the wires plugged into their proper places before moving the furniture in place.
Schedule your cable/wifi installation now. You will want wifi and I've waited up to 3 weeks to get an appointment.
Pack breakables firmly, but not tightly. You don't want items shifting around in the box, but if it's packed too tight things can break if the box is dropped or shoved against something else.
I'm a fan of a box for everything, even the garage stuff. Moving companies like to just put things on a truck, but that's when we've had things break.
But first, cull out stains, cleaners, paints, etc. You don't want that packed in the boxes and they can be an accelerator in case of fire. We usually get rid of these items on the curb with a FREE sign, but sometimes bring them in the car. Same thing in the house with liquids. That bottle of shampoo tipped sideways can make a huge mess in your load if it's on the top of the stack.
Good luck!
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Although we packed up ourselves, we hired movers to actually load and unload everything. They also took apart furniture and put it back together. HIGHLY recommend. 