[stef]

bed pillows, toss pillows, bedding...you know, the stuff you want to find and use right away when you get to your new place


do you throw it in a big plastic bag, or do you pack it in a box?


btw: would you share your best packing hints and tips? things that would be helpful for a local move done in one day

 

[simi-steading]

I use blankets and such for wrapping mirrors and/or pictures and small furniture.... I use shrink wrap to wrap around the bedding to hold it on what ever I'm wrapping. That way you protect your items, and you can see instantly where the blanket you want is...

I use towels, pillow cases and such for wrapping and boxing fragile stuff. Yeah, you find towels for a while as you unpack, but it helps keep down on the broken stuff, and you also end up with less boxes in the long run..

 

[puddlejumper007]

have your wife put the tv control in her purse , or you will never find it again. ask me how i know.....

 

[Miss Kay]

I do a box or a big garbage bag with everything I'm going to need that first night and place it in the car trunk. Then, I start with one room at a time, work from corner to corner. With each item, I decide if this is to be packed, thrown away, or given away and start a give away box or area. I use newspaper to wrap things and when the box is full, I use a sharpie to write the area it came from (Kitchen top cabinet) etc. Once every thing is boxed that needs to be boxed, I use the spare blankets etc. to wrap the furniture and tie with hay string, tape, etc. Then back up that truck or trailer and start loading. Hopefully you've got some great friends that are willing to help out.

 

[Forcast]

I do a box or a big garbage bag with everything I'm going to need that first night and place it in the car trunk. Then, I start with one room at a time, work from corner to corner. With each item, I decide if this is to be packed, thrown away, or given away and start a give away box or area. I use newspaper to wrap things and when the box is full, I use a sharpie to write the area it came from (Kitchen top cabinet) etc. Once every thing is boxed that needs to be boxed, I use the spare blankets etc. to wrap the furniture and tie with hay string, tape, etc. Then back up that truck or trailer and start loading. Hopefully you've got some great friends that are willing to help out.

and I packed the truck with the stuff I needed most for that first night last so it comes off the truck first, beds get set up first,so if you are just too pooped, and kitchen stuff coffee pot cups some dishes silverware

 

[stef]

have your wife put the tv control in her purse , or you will never find it again. Ask me how i know.....

lol!

Isn't there an expression, "moving isn't for sissies!"? If not, then I've just coined a phrase.

 

[whiterock]

bed and bedding is the last thing in and the first thing out, bed set up and made before anything else is done. Of course I ain't moved in some time. that is how i did it.

 

[DirtyHowi]

DO NOT pack every book you have from your degree in ONE box...the six guys helping you will have a hernia and refuse to move anything else.....

 

[Wolf mom]

Well, I'm packed and was planing on moving the beginning of October - Nope! Change of plans! - now I'm unpacking trying to find my down comforter, flannel sheets, winter clothes and my dehydrator as my boxes just say "kitchen, bedroom, etc. and I used a lot of linens and clothes to cushion fragile things. What a mess!

Trying to stay positive, as I'm rooting through already packed boxes, I'm trying to eliminate more "stuff" while trying to locate the things I need for the winter.

 

[Sanza]

I'm going to suggest putting your bedding and all the linen closet into large bags and then use the vacumn cleaner to suck the air out of the bag and tie it very tight,
I do this for storing my old heirloom wool quilts and feather pillows because the bag shrinks down to a couple inches and become rock hard.

 

[gracielagata]

MY DH is a retired Marine, so we have the packing thing down, lol...
I never used boxes for our dressered clothes (the ones we didn't need for travel, that is)- we would load the drawer-less dressers on the truck, then bring in the drawers full of clothes and put them in, and wrap with moving blankets.
We also filled tv cabinets and the like with our clothes, once the cabinet was empty of the tv/stereo/wine and on the truck- open the doors, put everything in neatly, and wrap it shut with that movers shrink wrap. Which brings to mind- fill every drawer, shelf/cubby of all your furniture. For drawers, you can fill those then carry to the truck most times. But big things like cubbies or tv cabinets, fill those after you get it on the truck so as to not have too much weight when carrying- that is a good place for spare blankets!
We never used good blankets to protect furniture, as the straps wear heavily on everything, as evidenced by the holes left in them- wouldn't want that to happen to a good blanket. Yes, use them inside boxes or whatnot, just not on actual furniture with strapping. (But then we always had long distance moves. Local moves, blankets probably aren't bad for that use).
Be careful of random things digging into appliances or furniture when it is on the truck- our fridge has a few digs in the paint b/c the foot of something rubbed on it, where the blanket didn't go all the way down. It is amazing how much things shimmy no matter how tightly you think you have it packed.
I used all manners of towel and clothing to wrap dishes- is easier and less wasteful. oh, and once we switched to Correlle, those were so much easier to pack, lol.
I never went room by room, as you ended up with too many boxes then. Pack physically like with like, as long as you don't overload, and then use the clothing or soft things like throw blankets, stufties, towels, etc. to pad the box. By like with like, I mean in accordance to the rules of Tetris, lol- whatever fits on/with something else in the box, without breaking things obviously. This makes for many less boxes!

Buy/use lots of straps, as you can use them to hang things from the roof of some moving trucks. Speaking of- before you rent it- be sure the truck has lots of tie down points.
Those tie down points are *extremely* useful to lock in sections. So that as you go along packing the truck, things get locked in like Tetris, then you start filling again.

We never cared where our beds, bedding, clothing beyond what was for travelling ended up. 99% of the time we got the entire 26ft or two 16ft long P.O.D.S. units fully unloaded the day we/it/them got there. And that was at times after driving for the entire length of the country, and with only 2 adults and semi-useful child lol. And even if you don't get it all unloaded- that is what the air mattress/sleeping bag in the trunk was for.

Heck, our last move, the retirement one, we went from coastal SC to near Spokane, WA. DH drove the truck, I drove my car. We had the ENTIRE 26 ft moving truck loaded to the gills... get it closed, look out at it... the dang thing is leaning so far on one tire it is nearly to the ground!! It had a bad axle. We had to unload it and reload it all onto a new truck!!! Did all that in one day again, in the rain, and were only behind by a day at that point.
Which reminds me of another point---- if you are towing a car- DO NOT take their word for it that the dolley will work!! Try it days before! We had to pay $1200 extra last minute to ship DH's car! Which in retrospect might have been a Godsend, as the replacement truck they gave us had absolutely no power. Another point- maybe stay away from Budget for long hauls- we were not happy with that whole fiasco of the broken truck and non-fitting car dolley. And they only refunded us $400 after the massive inconveniences of unloading and reloading and shipping his car.

Okay, that was a lot of info. Hope it all helps. And good luck!

 

[puddlejumper007]

you have been given some really good advice here ..yes moving is not for wimps....if you do not want to label every thing in the boxes, just label what room they go in...saves a lot of looking in boxes for something you need...Good luck...

 

[AmericanStand]

Load by size The biggest first.
So that usually works out Load fridge , fill fridge with the biggest stuff you can get in it pack that in place with smaller stuff all wraped in clothes and bedding.
Then couch, belive me you can get LOTS of stuff IN a couch , repeat etc.

 

[kasilofhome]

Have boxes and labels ready, open a spreadsheet on a computer. Code each box per room as filled. Enter each item on the spreadsheet..the cost of the item..where purchased in known or could be important to an insurance co. Photo valuables and in could photo to the spreadsheet.

Have newspapers, zip lock bags, painters tape, duct tape.

Round one pack what you want to keep but can live without....empty cleared homes sell faster that filled homes.

Really do have a box for sell,giving,or disposing ready to yes be for you even start with your first item. Tape all small items placed in a zip bag to the large item...see above about the remote control.

 

[gracielagata]

Load by size The biggest first.
So that usually works out Load fridge , fill fridge with the biggest stuff you can get in it pack that in place with smaller stuff all wraped in clothes and bedding.
Then couch, belive me you can get LOTS of stuff IN a couch , repeat etc.

I think filling the fridge is always the one thing we forgot to fill! What the heck do you get in a couch?!
All we ever managed to get was the cushions and various pillows... We were always nervous to overload the springs and ruin them. We even at times put boards across the base frame above the springs, so we could stack things on top without harming the springs.

 

[stef]

Thank you, all. Many good tips here.
I can see using dresser drawers to pack soft and light weight things.

 

[HOTW]

Create a master list of everything as you pack it and number your boxes! Makes it easier to unload at the end to find the things you need most. Number the boxes on all sides so you will be able to tell which box is which. The bedding is always last since you usually sleep on it the noght before it depends on what is available to toss it in. Load the heavy items first and distribute the weight, and tie down the heavy items, you do not need too much load shift. Packing up my son to bring him up to canada we have to have a master list of all items and the value, so its pretty conplex.

 

[unregistered358967]

Stef - are you having movers come and pack and move or are you doing it yourself?

 

[Jokarva]

We did several local moves back in VA, I used towels and sheets as padding and the extra soft stuff and clothes went into black garbage bags, and that worked well. But after one move we ended up missing some clothing so I think one bag ended up in the dumpster somehow. Just make sure everyone knows not to throw out bags before looking in them!

 

[Waiting Falcon]

Pillows around the spinning wheel and lamp saved them when the mover was careless.
The main thing you want to remember... no shakes, rattles or movement of any kind of the object(s) and it will ride safer.