I have some advice for anyone thinking of vacating their home and living in a temporary residence.
1. Don't do it.
2. Ok, if you have to, there are worse things in life. Like actually being homeless. So don't refer to yourself as homeless, because while unlikely, you actually could be homeless one day, and that is quite different.
3. Don't use PODS (Portable On Demand Storage). They cost an utter fortune and if you have any problem of any kind, you're on your own, sister!
First, Jerry opened the door of the pod (they are technically called PODS, even if you only have one, but that is awkward to say, so I will just call it a "pod" because I'm the boss around here.). It's like a garage door and there are metal guards that keep it from rolling too high and getting off track. Apparently my husband is the hulk because the door got jammed above the metal guards, which then kept the door from coming down at all. With a bunch of our crap inside. At 7 o'clock at night. The PODS people couldn't have cared less. They told us they didn't know what we were talking about and that there was no one to come look at it, and that they couldn't credit our account at all. They also told us that they did not have the home phone number for the franchisee in Jacksonville. Really? So you sold a franchise to someone and now cannot get in contact with them if they are not in their office? We are not morons. Luckily my dad IS Clark Griswold, so he came over and disassembled part of the door, closed and reassembled it. It was a two hour ordeal from when we realized the thing wouldn't close until my dad got it closed. Did PODS reimburse him for his time, gas, or tools? Nope. But we were thankful that someone could come to the rescue. PODS sent someone the next morning who told me everything looked great. Yup, because my dad fixed it the night before. Thanks for nothing.
4. Don't use PODS. We had to get a second pod delivered. We hated to do it, they are terrible people. But we already had one and it didn't make any sense to get a different variety of pod and send half our stuff somewhere else. So we paid for ANOTHER pod. :( And it was delivered full of COCKROACHES the day before our move!!! I wish I was making this up. Part of the pod directions is to load the pod, then set off a bug bomb (yes, all over your every possession) before it gets picked up. Um, ew. Also, cockroaches, ew. So I set off a bug bomb before loading it. You know, because I had time to make a special trip to walmart to buy one the day before moving. Should you ever have roach problems I do recommend Bengal Gold. It kills roaches on contact for 6 months. That is serious. The Raid Fogger did quite a job as well. And then there were dried up cockroaches with their legs in the air all over my driveway. Those lucky buyers didn't know they were getting shriveled up cockroaches with the house.
5. Don't use PODS. I requested an end of the day pick up for the day of our move. Naturally the PODS people called me at noon to see if we were ready. Because they had 40 pickups that day and they were on my side of town, and they couldn't just show up when everyone wanted them to. So I told the pod man everything I thought about his company and all of the ways they failed at their jobs in my calmest, quietest, serial-killerest voice. And he told me he'd call back in a few hours to see how we were coming.
6. Send your kids to camp the week of your move! This was NOT the original plan, but Ty got sick the week he was suppose to go to camp, so I let him choose which week he made it up. To my surprise and great delight he chose the moving week! I would never have forced that on him, moving in a big, emotional deal. But I think he'd decided he'd had enough packing and crazy mom to last a lifetime, so off to camp he went! And it was waaaaayy easier to get his room cleaned out and packed (THANK YOU MOM!) and the rest of the house packed with only half of my children there to make a mess.
7. If your friends are of the "helpful" variety, send out a list of things that you need help with. I put a list on facebook of what I needed help with and so many people responded. It was amazing. I think people want to help, but they are very busy already and they don't know what specifically they can do. If you tell them, "These 15 things are killing me" it might be easy for someone to stop by on their way to something and pick up your goodwill stuff. Or maybe they are great with tools and can disassemble one or two pieces of furniture or whatnot in a matter of minutes, but it would take you an hour or more. I think this is true of anything you need assistance with in life. Instead of drowning, try asking for specific help. People are actually kind of awesome if given the chance.
HERE IS THE MOST AMAZING MOVING ADVICE IN THE HISTORY OF EVER!! (It's from my helpful, loving friends. I have one specific helpful and loving friend who recently moved and did not provide any advice. She told me she had no advice to give because her move was such a disaster. Stephanie, here's some advice so next time won't be such a disaster!)
1. Start packing one room and do not start a 2nd room until that one is finished.
2. LABEL boxes with as much info as you can. 10 boxes all labeled "Kitchen" is not that helpful when you just need to find one really important thing--take it from one who has been there. :-)
3. Colour code the boxes in each room
4. Pack valuables and breakables up first, because they require more care and time to securely pack. That way as it gets down to crunch time and your're just randomly throwing stuff in giant boxes, you can rest assured that breakables and valuables are safely and perfectly packed up already.
5. Don't try to move with 2 children!....We're moving right now and 1 child unpacks the boxes faster than we can pack them...good luck! :-)
6. Order pizza, open bottle of wine....
7. When we moved last-someone told me to take hanging clothes-7-8 and place black garbage bag over it and it made moving all the hanging clothes easier-put masking tape to write which room.
8. Throw away as much as possible, your new house will accumulate the same junk guaranteed!
9. use towels to pack fragiles...kitchen towels, bath towels. First organize before you start packing getting rid of clothes and things no longer needed. Much less stuff to pack. Do one room at a time. Kitchen last. Anoyne can help pack kitchen dishes but only you can pack you room. Little bits throughout the day. I'll try to think of more. Will be packing here also. :)
10. I'm all about very specific labeling as well!
11. Having just moved to a new place two weeks ago (only moved a mile away and were blessed to spread the move over a week and a half), we were able to pack boxes, move to new place, unpack in the room they were going to be going into, and take boxes back to repack again. That way, some things got set up rather quickly, but then we also had "it's at the other place" moments as well. After moving 11 times in the past 20 years (yikes!), all the above advice is awesome. One thing we haven't done, but I threaten to do after every move, is that if we move again, we are either hiring it out to a moving company, or simply selling every last item (even the kids if they sit too long) and buying a camper. :) Good luck...and I'm keeping you all in my prayers!
12. Really basic, but small boxes for heavy things, larger ones for light things. Bedding and towels can go in big garbage bags. If you purchase white newspaper sheets for packing you wont have to scrub newsprint off your fragile stuff. Send the kids to gramma's house!
13. Hire someone!
14. Go ahead and pack up anything you can live without between now and the move. Packing up a few boxes right away might help you feel motivated and productive instead of overwhelmed. It will also help with the unpacking process once you're in the new house (if something was packed in one of the first boxes, it probably doesn't have to be unpacked right away). Be specific when labeling boxes (what room does it belong in, whose stuff is it, what is inside). Designating one spot in the house for your packed-up boxes to live until the move.
15. If you have to buy boxes, Home Depot has some great ones. We had to buy some there. I labeled specifically on the tops of boxes and then I just wrote a letter on each side (K = kitchen, L = living, J = Jocelyn's room, M = master, and so on) so we could easily take each box where it needed to be as we entered the new place. My only other piece of advice is just to keep making progress. Thinking about packing and moving everything drove me nuts, but just packing one box at a time felt more feasible. Oh, and choose one place in the house to stack most of the boxes as you pack them so you don't feel like you're living in boxland. (You'll feel like that long enough in the new place!) And call me if you need someone to commiserate with! We're in boxville, out of the old house 100% but not settled in the new place yet (just moved in 2.5 weeks ago).
16. Have a moving party! Hire your most trusted friends over for pizza and beer. Tell them that for every box that is packed appropriately and safely they can get a slice of pizza and a beer!
17. Pack everything. hand carrying single items to a truck wastes time & energy. I'd go with the Capt'n Morgan Black Spice Rum. One before the move, one mid-way then finish the bottle after the kids are tucked in. Oh yea because i'm a pastor do not forget to pray.
18. Anything you haven't used in a year can usually be tossed. Throw away as much as you can now (garbage, donate, etc) and unpacking will be much nicer.
I agree that towels and clothes are the best (and cheapest) way to pad breakables. If you want free packing paper, go to Publix on the last day of their sales circular and ask for their remaining old circulars.
Hospitals are the BEST places to get moving boxes. They get thousands of boxes a week and many of them are nice and sturdy. So try a drive by of their dumpster/loading dock area and/or ask to speak to someone in the loading dock area about boxes. Every hospital is different, but many are happy to cut down their garbage bill by giving you as many boxes as you like. My recent move was sponsored by Jackson North Hospital. My brother's by Aventura Hospital. ;) Liquore stores are the second best place to get boxes. You won't find the amount or the variety there, but their boxes are very sturdy. So are boxes for water bottles at the grocery store. If you still don't have enough boxes, try craigslist. Many people advertise their moving boxes in the free section. I once got all expensive uhaul boxes from someone who just wanted to get rid of them after a move.
Make sure that you pack cleaning supplies and tools in a well labeled and accessible box. You will likely need those first and more urgently than most anything else.
I agree that detailed labeling is the way to go. I had 5 kitchen boxes, but couldn't find glasses to give everyone a cold drink after moving for the life of me. I had to run out and buy plastic cups.
Invest in renting (or if you move a lot like me: buying) a handtruck for each of the stronger people who will be helping you move. It makes you much more efficient. I own one and always rent an additional one when I move. They are the most valuable pieces of moving equipment you will use. And unless you are actually moving appliances, don't get the appliance one. It is hard to maneuver.
Best of luck. I hate moving too.
19. A lot if good advice above. A lot of small boxes are better than a few big ones. Pack the truck with a few big items and then fill to the top above them. Usually an improperly truck has the front piled high and the stuff slowly sloping toward the rear just waiting to shift during the drive.
20. If you are moving close by maybe you could deep some things in dresser drawers and then put them right back in the dresser when you get there.
21. I forgot - liquor store boxes are great for glassware...
22. Having just completed a move, my only advice is that if you wish to remain sane, DON'T DO IT!!!
23. Now that I've read the comments above, my advice is: 1. send the kids away. 2. hire movers. 3. grab the wine and cheese and head for the Caribbean for the week!
Pretty amazing, huh? Really, when you're panicking and you have no idea what you are doing, how amazing is it to get specific directions tailored to you? Besides getting some direction on how the heck to pack and move, I felt LOVED! Thank you friends!!
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