In Need of Packing/Moving Tips

[Rhonda Dunaway]

We're moving in approximately 3 weeks, and I started packing today. So far, I think I have thrown away more things than I've packed. Is this good or bad? I know some of you have moved in the recent past. I am throwing myself on your mercy and asking for your best moving/packing tips or advice. What wisdom can you share? Knowing what you know now, what would you do differently if you had to move again? Can you share anything with me that can keep me going through this process? I know I need to confront the situation and just get going. Still, as I ponder the boxes, packing tape, bubble wrap, and stacks of stuff, it's hard not to daydream about faking my own death and showing up again in a month or two when the move would be over. Yeah, like that would even work anyway.

Rhonda Dunaway

[bethany]

I just went through this experience, so I will try to share some tips.

- Hire movers to load the truck, even if you're renting a U-haul. We used Two Men and a Truck and it was very reasonable - around $250 for them to load everything in our house. They sent over three guys and it took them a little more than an hour. It was totally worth it. They were very careful, and took care to wrap up all of our furniture. We rented furniture pads from U-haul (along with the big ol' U-haul). They used the furniture pads and our furniture survived the trip from St. Louis to Omaha without a scratch.
- You can get cheap moving boxes from Sam's. They are in the office supply section.
- Plan on making several trips to the Goodwill - keep all of your reciepts so you can write off your donations at tax time.
- If you're selling your house, consider renting a storage locker. Sometimes less is more when it comes to "staging" a house. We had an 8 x 10 locker and it was around $80/month.
- Use your towels/sheets for padding around breakable stuff.
- Label every box with contents as well as which room it will go into in the new house.
- Pack things inside each other. For example, I had empty canisters and tupperware containers and I packed all of my kitchen utinsels inside them. Consolidate when you can. If you have luggage, use that to pack and protect breakable stuff, too.

Good luck!

[Rhonda Dunaway]

Hi, Bethany.

These tips are great! I feel better already. I'll be calling Two Men and a Truck ASAP. We are getting rid of most of our furniture, but we still have tons of boxes -- we've lived in our current home almost 15 years. So, I think hiring movers to load and unload everything is going to make this move so much easier.

You mentioned renting a U-Haul. Did you move with two trucks or with a truck (from Two Men and a Truck) and then a U-Haul trailer attached to your vehicle?

Rhonda Dunaway

[bethany]

We rented a U-haul because we had a pretty long distance to move (St. Louis to Omaha) and it was a lot cheaper to do the driving ourselves. We just paid for the Two Men and a Truck to wrap up our furniture and load it, as well as all of the boxes that we had packed.

If you rent a U-haul, U-haul will offer to rent you the furniture pads as well and the TMAAT guys will use those and their own giant rolls of saran wrap to wrap everything up. :)

Another thing I discovered - those big rubbermaid tubs aren't much more expensive than the big moving boxes. I went out and bought a few of those for heavy stuff like books (my husband and I were both English majors - we have a LOT of books).

[Rhonda Dunaway]

Hi, Bethany. Thanks for your response. You're right about those Rubbermaid bins. They aren't all that more expensive when you compare them to the cardboard boxes, and I do think they work better for heavier items and/or items that are more fragile. I've been using all your tips so far, and they've been working great.

Rhonda Dunaway