moving

[kay7777]

I am moving soon and I am now starting to pack...can anyone give me some good ideas about how to protect my things? Thank you, k

[Jim Tiberio]

Moving companies, truck rental places, storage rental facilities and even office supply stores have lot's of great products for safely packing and shipping your stuff. Mostly they are just fancy cardboard box inserts, bubble wrap and styrofoam peanuts, they work but I don't know how much better they are than a regular box and wadded up newspaper. I mostly just bought the boxes themselves and items for protectiong pictures/paintings/mirrors while moving.

[delphiprog]

I agree with the above, with one caveat: Don't ever use newspaper to pack fine china. It could bleed off the newsprint onto the china and you'll never be able to get it off the china. I bought large sheets of unprinted paper from a local shipper to use instead of newspaper. Real cheap.

Also, I'd recommend making sure you buy property insurance from the movers or make sure your Homeowners/Renters policy covers your stuff. Finally, if you're using a moving company do your homework on them. A friend of mine moved from Ohio to L.A. His stuff arrived two months after he did, although it was intact.

Doug

[PipeDown]

All that packing material can add up to big $ fast. Using your clothing, blankets and quilts as packing material can save lots of money, you just need to pack some clothes seperately so you have something to wear when you get there.

The other biggie is do not overload the boxes. Its no fun to pick up a medium sized box only to find out it is the heaviest box on the truck. Lots of smaller boxes are better than one heavy big one especially if you are doing most of the lifting.

[jah213]

Personally, I have found the glassware boxes and inserts from U-Haul to be wonderful! (Note that I would NOT say the same about U-Haul, itself.)

They are a nice size box with corrugated inserts (sort of turns the box into an egg-carton type of arrangement) and foam "sleeves" for inserting glassware into before placing it in the box. The boxes and sleeves work for a variety of different sizes of things (think crystal pieces, porcelain collectibles, etc.) You can pack a LOT of glassware FAST using these, and I have never had a glass break while using these (have moved about 50 times, including cross-country twice, with and without professional movers).

Also, mirror boxes for, obviously, mirrors and large pictures are, IMO, well worth the money in terms of their ability to protect their contents. These also work great for mirrors in frames or uprights (such as on antique dressers) and can be cut and combined to fit just about any size.

Wardrobe boxes are expensive but really nice to use, can be re-used as a small spare closet if you have storage space, and you can pack large, odd-sized items (e.g., lamps, lamp shades, snow boots) in the bottom of them.

Be fussy about the tape you buy to seal the boxes. Crappy tape adds a lot of frustration to what should be a simple procedure. I've found that the kind sold at the post office is probably the best and easiest to use, although the most expensive. Staples brand is also pretty good. Avoid True Value Hardware brand; it's a sticky, easily shredded, skimpy mess.

If you are moving a large amount, I would recommend packing a bag with

2-3 changes of clothes, grooming supplies, medications, etc., and also a "basic kitchen" box to take with you in the car (pan with lid, coffee maker with filters and coffee, cup, bowl, plate, fork, sharp knife, can opener, spoon, paper towels, dish soap, dish cloth and towels, some cleaning rags, a few garbage bags, pen and notebook, and so on). These will help make things a lot more pleasant in the new place while you sort through all your boxes. Also, if moving pets, make a pet supply box with bowls, litter (disposable litter pans are great!), couple days' worth of food, toys, towels, and take it in the car.

Jo Ann, currently in Michigan :-)

[hallerb]

DEFINETELY PACK A SURVIVAL KIT! Enough clothes and essentials like toilet paper soap etc in a well marked box you carry personally. That way if you get seperated from your belongings, thru miss directed truck etc or even cant find my clothes.

All non disasters for the well prepared

[nr]

Pack pictures good side in (away from the outside). One of my boxes was punctured and I didn't catch this until weeks after the move when I finally got around to that box. Also, try to have one person check each box as it comes off the truck for holes or other signs of potential trouble.

[Ann Hodgson]

[mm]

Don't pack your aerosol cans, I guess.

I didn't plan to hire a mover, but he called me and gave me a good price, sight unseen, because I lived 150 miles away from where he was and where I was moving to. He gave me a few instructions on the phone, maybe, but I'm sure he didn't say anythign about aerosol cans.

When he got there, he brought the subject up and said he couldn't take any. Thank goodness I had the presence of mind to lie, because they were spread out throughout the boxes and it would have taken hours and hours to find them all.

He wanted me to take them all in my car, but that was full already with the gasoline can and my plants and my jewelry and valuables and a friend.

OTOH, I believe him that it is a violation of FTC? rules, and if it were hot summer time, and the truck sat in the sun for an afternoon, I guess they might explode. It was the end of May.

Also don't pack your 12 inch tvs. I had a lot and I packed each in a liquor box or something. He intended to wrap them in moving blankets, and what I did just used up space.

IIRC, you don't have to pack what is in your chests and dressers. They just take the drawers out, put the dresser in the truck, and put the drawers back in. Even if you are doing the moving, that makes sense.

A mover should have a pamphlet. Even if you aren't hiring them, they'll give you one.

I didn't have one because I did everything over the phone, and I was still in college mode, where we just stuffed it in the trailer.

[Corinne]

[nj_dilettante]

Don't overpay for packing material! Buy directly from a box wholesaler.

is great, they have just about everything you'd ever need, and they ship same/next day. If you've got questions, don't hesitate to call them - they treat small customers wonderfully! The only drawback is that you've got to buy in bulk - 25 of each box size - but the cost is a fraction of what you'll find elsewhere. Bubble wrap is 1/10th the cost of the cheapest I've found near home - cheap enough to make it reasonable to use for packing.

[Keith Williams]

I've found that liquor boxes are all different sizes making packing the truck a major PITA. They usually don't have tops either. I've found that the best, cheap, moving boxes are "copier" paper boxes. They're sturdy, about the right size, all the same size, and stack well. When I've had to move I grab bunches from work over a few months prior (sometimes even pack them ahead ;). I suppose one could make friends with the local Staples manager too.

[jah213]

Oh yeah, the paper boxes are *definitely* the best freebie box. If you don't work where much paper is used, ask everyone you know who does to keep an eye out for you (don't forget teachers and people who don't work in offices but who make lots of copies). The fact that they are all the same shape/size and have good lids also helps before the move, when you are building the wall o' boxes as you pack.

Open liquor boxes and so forth may be handy for large cooking utensils (my big wok and roasting pan come to mind) and other large, odd-shaped items if you are moving yourself. If you are using pro movers, they may not accept any open boxes.

Jo Ann

[Edwin Pawlowski]

There are probably tips at the web sites of moving companies.

Good boxes, lots of packing materials, a little knowledge. When our dishes were packed, each piece was wrapped in un printed newsprint. You can buy it from a paper supply house and some janitorial and paper good distributors. Dishes were packed standing on end as they are less prone to break than the stress on a flat dish.

Mark each box with the contents and what room it should be placed in when unloading.

[mm]

I'm not at all complaining, Edwin, but do you (or anyone) have any idea why I got 10 posts, in 10 threads, from you just now, all of which were replies by you to someone else. And yet I don't seem to show the posts you were replying to. How come I don't show the original posts, that you are replying to?

I get one or two of these every couple months, not especially from you that I've noticed, but this is the first time I got 10 of them, or even 3 of them in one day.

I'm using Agent to read news, if that helps anyone.

TIA