I took some photos as a ‘memories’ of the packing and moving process. This is probably the last I’ll share of the old house (at least the last of photos you’ve never seen before). I’ll also review my ‘tips‘ (they’ll be the dot points scattered throughout)
Boxes stacked in piles, ready to be rolled out. I thought they were high enough, but the movers got one or two more boxes on each pile! So this tip:
- use as many uniformly sized boxes as possible – they stack easier This worked well
- wear pants with pockets – failed at this last weekend, and spent my life asking for things out of other’s pockets, namely keys! worked
- label boxes on two adjoining sides – at least one should be accessible/viewable when stacked/moved then no one read these but me 🙁
- consider a ‘car load’ for odds and sods – I have a list of what I think will be in this load did this, later than hoped with the hospital visit
- birdcages
- lamps
- magnetic notice board
- ironing board
You can’t beat plastic for protecting furniture. I’d kept the bags the sofas came in. I don’t usually keep packaging, but I couldn’t trash that much plastic, and I knew it was hardy enough to use again (unlike the flimsy mattress bags we bought)
Oh below you see the arm liberated from the sofa… That was a task and a half, but the BF and I are a good team and we got it done with minimal irreparable damage. The put back together has not happened yet…
- create a list for the order of packing, starting with the least used items (like linen closet stock piles, out of season clothing etc) Or just do it all right before the move day
- consider the order of stuff onto the truck vs off the truck, therefore, I’ll pack my entry buffet first, so it comes off last – in both cases, it’ll keep the entryway clearer in both homes. So simple, and yes, this is what happened
- make sure you have all the tools you need for your flat pack items (thanks Ikea, I have so much Ikea in my house!) – allan keys, shifting spanners etc mostly worked, but the movers having a drill to borrow was a bonus!
- remember to have toilet paper (more than one roll!) at both houses. Thankfully there’s a four pack left at the new home! worked
- as above, it’s useful to have scissors/knives for opening boxes and cutting tape at both locations seemed to happen, by magic rather than planning
- work out a ‘food plan’ cause at some stage eating will be needed <- ekk something I’ve not done yet! Nope, Dad did that!
I seemed to clean this place endlessly – on moving out day (when I had nothing to do but await the movers finishing emptying it). Then again the day after, in the morning, til I needed to be at the new house to receive the new fridge. Then again that same afternoon – to meet the agent and do the condition report for the new tenants. I won’t bore you with photos of the all the chips and dents… cause I have those too! Just some errie empty home photos. It was so echo-y, and both bigger and smaller all at once.
- keep cleaning and hardware products at the ‘outgoing’ house for the final touch ups Ideally some at both house would be better!
- roughly hash out what will go where (furniture items particularly, but you can get crazy and go down to cupboards!), and where ‘other’ stuff will go, such as all the boxes! didn’t do well, so I keep moving things in the kitchen to the BF’s frustration
- spend the ‘pre’ move time getting things back to their rightful owners, dropping stuff at recycling centers or thrift stores etc. The less the move the better! (I’ll be rehoming my bokashi compost box to my parents, my sewing machine, 1 microwave and a toaster to some friends in need, excess craft stuff went back to the Co-op, and I have a box to give the op (thrift) shop already) Did this well! But then there’s a little be of ‘collecting it all back’ too!
Good bye old house – let the new tenants love you as much as I do!
Good idea to get boxes roughly the same size. We didn't do this, and it was so crazy trying to fit everything together. We scrounged up random boxes from everywhere – my grandma and aunt were contributing some, most were found at the grocery store, etc. Didn't really feel like paying for them.
We also used plastic/bubble wrap for electronics and put them in the car so that they wouldn't get knocked around all over. Worked great! It is so annoying when you're the only one reading the labels on the box. People kept asking me where's what, what's this, read!! I do need to get better at labeling things though, I really liked to use the word "misc." Closet misc, bathroom misc, desk misc, that got overused quickly…
I was lucky my freebie boxes ended up having some eerily similar dimensions, it really helped so much.
Yeah people just dumped boxes near the kitchen table and I just picked them up and emptied them – most of them were for the kitchen area at least. I don't think I wrote misc once! When in doubt I wrote things like 'third kitchen drawer' or similar, then I knew what sorts of things were in there.
I'm impressed you kept the couch plastic! I was trying to figure out how your waste posts had so little 'moving materials' – makes more sense now!
Our last two moves we used linen, towels and tea-towels to wrap breakable platters, picture frames etc. inside boxes. Worked well and was a 'no waste' option (sorry -only remembered it now – not pre-move!)
I knew it wasn't my forever home, and they packed down nice and small. I did find all this paper for wrapping my plates in the bin room recycling bin (i'd previously seen it in a box in someone's car in the carpark too). Anyhow, I foraged that to use. But seeing I don't weigh/track recycling, it didn't come up. I have wrapped an artwork in bubble wrap that came in one of the boxes from work – I usually freecycle any excess bubble wrap (stupidly the bubble wrap the big art first came in – d'oh – keep sofa plastic but not frame plastic!?)
Why do women's clothes have so few pockets?! I like the idea that I could have enough pockets not to need a handbag for a short outing.
Great moving tips. I also like the car-load suggestion – good for valuables and the bits and pieces you want to have with you easily accessible.
Hope the new place is going well.
Agh I agree! And my 'womens' work pants have way shallower pockets than the mens pants I often wear (Hard Yakka Uniforms are pretty uni sex… well sort of!). Still, I love with work having man pantrs with deep and many pockets, as there's no way I can have a hand bag on a work site (imo!).
The car load idea worked well – save for my 'emergency' 5L water being left in the car. And then last night it got written off – so I think that's a win for the panel beater.
My last move, everything arrived safely except the cordless drill – I guess the movers wanted another one, LOL! If using a moving company, you shouldn't assume your goods will be safe from theft. Once I arrived at a new place with everything except an expensive computer. When I asked about it, they said they didn't know. Later I heard them talking about it – in French – assuming I didn't understand them. I got the computer back…I would advise to mark (or not mark) certain valuables. For example, if doing your own packing, just mark your jewellery with "Bedroom 1" or something like that and put it in with a box of clothes.
I also had a credit card go missing from a filing cabinet that was in storage. I was shocked when my credit card company called and said it had been used to charge limo rides! That will teach me to keep unexpired credit cards tucked away in a drawer.
I packed some very large boxes full of books. The movers were not happy and said I should have used small boxes for heavy things.
You sure cleaned up your old place nicely – the tenants will be delighted.
Wow that's amazing you've had so many crims in your moving. I felt like they charged me like criminals (just short of 4 figures!), but they did a great job, and only one things been damaged which is a plastic drawer.
Interestingly, my 'hidden' credit card is still in place (it's also where I hide 'extra' cash for emergencies and trades). So I'm glad I checked that too…
Can you believe, I had one true box of novels! I've decluttered big time there! There were binders and the like, but they were split up, as I knew I had a tax appointment. In any case, I've learnt to keep box boxes SMALL!
I laughed at your comment that nobody read the labels but you! When we moved house, I had a box with clean bedding (pillows in cases, duvet in cover) ready to go straight on the bed and I labelled it clearly. After our moving helpers had gone, my husband had a migraine and needed to go to bed and could we find that box?! Eventually, after checking what seemed like nearly every single box moved, I found it in the kitchen, upside down, so the label didn't show, under another box!
Oh Liz, a migraine on moving day would be HORRIBLE! I had all the 'old' sheets etc in garbage bags, and HAD to have clean stuff for the new beds (which I protected in dry cleaning bags!?) Thankfully I could easily find them for a mid arvo nap of moving day. The nap ended up being 10 minutes between my father leaving and my mother arriving – GROAN!! But multiple sides of the box being labelled helps when they end up topsy turvy. The only 'upside down' box was the one with condiments… everything got pickled in soy sauce… sigh!
I'm moving into our new condo next weekend! Did I mention I haven't started packing yet? NOT.ONE.SINGLE.BOX.
Did I also mention I am going away camping this weekend as well? Yikes! I will be bookmarking this page and going back for great packing/moving tips. I'll also force errrr encourage J to read it as wll 🙂 Happy Moving Sarah!
Thanks GMD – there's really no point in getting too ahead of yourself with packing to be honest. A solid weekend day will work – and ask for some 'port-a-robe' boxes, and that is the easiest way to move everything that's hanging. My company loaned them for free. Next weekend is SO soon though, that happened FAST!
Enjoy camping – it's like packing on a small scale – just keep all your camping stuff on hand as you pack all your normal stuff, and you'll be right.