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pseydtonneRemember how I said we should have some time before the move? I suspect there won't be a lot of time.
My darling's start date is the first of September, which is only about nine weeks from today. Her end of packing is mostly set, because 90% of her possessions are sitting in a pod in Atlanta. However 99% of my possessions are unpacked. Thus begins a process of organization and planning.
I'm going to use my LJ as a public notebook for this process. After all, some of you may move a long distance and not have the privilege of taking extra trips to gather things. How do you pack a home when the journey takes a week instead of an hour?
Summary:
1) What do I own?
2) Which things must move, can move, would be nice to move but can be left, can be sold, can be purchased upon arrival, can't move, must be tossed?
3) What containers will hold what gets to move? (This is more complex than you'd think.)
4) Which options are there to move the stuff, and which is most cost-effective?
5) Set up a staging areas for objects that are ready for moving.
6) Pack things in order of necessity (old books first, bed last).
7) When transport arrives, move things from staging to transport.
The above is not serial. Item #2 takes a lot longer than the rest, while I've already sorted out items 3, 4 and 5.
I own lots of books, vinyl albums, CDs and computer parts. I also have furniture, a stereo, clothes, dishes and cookware, a couple rugs and a car. Some things clearly won't be coming -- anything in the fridge, for example. Other things could come but may take up too much space in the transport container or may fall apart during the drive across the Rockies (or New England frost heaves). Transporting a particle-board bookshelf costs more than stopping at a local Ikea after I've moved.
Some things are already in boxes, but they may need to be repacked. I still have a few boxes I hadn't unpacked from a couple moves ago, although I think I'm only down to three or four of those now. I tossed six boxes of stuff recently and expect to toss a few more. The boxes themselves aren't in the best condition, so they cannot move again.
Books are an interesting problem. I've learned the hard way that you have to pack them in small boxes. Otherwise you can break your back or wind up with a warped O'Reilly collection.
Gentle Giant (the moving company, not the band) has some of the best prices on moving boxes: book boxes (18" x 13" x 13") are $1.50 each. These boxes were originally designed for moving vinyl albums, but it's a good idea to reinforce the side with tape when you use them for that.
I'm always tempted to use boxes from liquor stores: they're free, they're sturdy, their bottoms are glued tight and they handle heavier stuff than books. However they aren't always the same size, so they won't stack evenly. They also can be cut open so they can't be closed cleanly, again making them unsafe in the middle of a stack. These are minor problems when you're moving across town but can be messy when you shove everything in a bigger box and pray it all arrives uncrushed. Upshot: they're free, you get what you pay for, so use Sturgeon's Law and only use the most durable ones.
The stuff inside a box may be important, precious or otherwise significant to you. However it's generic stuff once it's in a sealed box. Pack accordingly.
One more thing before I sign off: creating a staging area is important for sanity. For example, I only have 280 cubic feet for everything that isn't important enough to go in my car. That's a 5' x 8' footprint, the same as a typical area rug, by 7' high, about as high as I can reach. It's simple to do the math and figure out how many book boxes can fit in that space:
84" / 13" = 6.46, or six boxes high with a half-foot to spare;
60" / 18" = 3.33, or three boxes wide against the short wall (back of the DtD pod);
60" / 13" = 4.62, or four boxes narrow against the short wall;
96" / 18" = 5.33, or five boxes wide against the long wall (side wall);
96" / 13" = 7.38, or seven boxes narrow against the long wall.
Since there has to be room for furniture, even when it's taken apart, then the heaviest book and vinyl boxes will need to be at the base and may only be two or three levels high but at least a couple deep. Otherwise they'll fall. Bigger boxes for bedding and clothes can go above them.
I have one practical space for staging: the mud room. Some of the stuff to be moved is already there, so it'd be easy to take things apart and mark off the space using masking tape. This will allow me to test setups well before I move, but also dissemble them so that bottom stuff goes to the bottom of the pod.
In a future installment, I will discuss making time to sift crap before it goes in a box. When you get to the other side of the country, what will you do with the stuff in this box? Would it be better to give it a new life and save that space for other stuff? No really, think hard about this -- but not so hard that you aren't packing.
-lift that heavy thing, Ps/d
My darling's start date is the first of September, which is only about nine weeks from today. Her end of packing is mostly set, because 90% of her possessions are sitting in a pod in Atlanta. However 99% of my possessions are unpacked. Thus begins a process of organization and planning.
I'm going to use my LJ as a public notebook for this process. After all, some of you may move a long distance and not have the privilege of taking extra trips to gather things. How do you pack a home when the journey takes a week instead of an hour?
Summary:
1) What do I own?
2) Which things must move, can move, would be nice to move but can be left, can be sold, can be purchased upon arrival, can't move, must be tossed?
3) What containers will hold what gets to move? (This is more complex than you'd think.)
4) Which options are there to move the stuff, and which is most cost-effective?
5) Set up a staging areas for objects that are ready for moving.
6) Pack things in order of necessity (old books first, bed last).
7) When transport arrives, move things from staging to transport.
The above is not serial. Item #2 takes a lot longer than the rest, while I've already sorted out items 3, 4 and 5.
I own lots of books, vinyl albums, CDs and computer parts. I also have furniture, a stereo, clothes, dishes and cookware, a couple rugs and a car. Some things clearly won't be coming -- anything in the fridge, for example. Other things could come but may take up too much space in the transport container or may fall apart during the drive across the Rockies (or New England frost heaves). Transporting a particle-board bookshelf costs more than stopping at a local Ikea after I've moved.
Some things are already in boxes, but they may need to be repacked. I still have a few boxes I hadn't unpacked from a couple moves ago, although I think I'm only down to three or four of those now. I tossed six boxes of stuff recently and expect to toss a few more. The boxes themselves aren't in the best condition, so they cannot move again.
Books are an interesting problem. I've learned the hard way that you have to pack them in small boxes. Otherwise you can break your back or wind up with a warped O'Reilly collection.
Gentle Giant (the moving company, not the band) has some of the best prices on moving boxes: book boxes (18" x 13" x 13") are $1.50 each. These boxes were originally designed for moving vinyl albums, but it's a good idea to reinforce the side with tape when you use them for that.
I'm always tempted to use boxes from liquor stores: they're free, they're sturdy, their bottoms are glued tight and they handle heavier stuff than books. However they aren't always the same size, so they won't stack evenly. They also can be cut open so they can't be closed cleanly, again making them unsafe in the middle of a stack. These are minor problems when you're moving across town but can be messy when you shove everything in a bigger box and pray it all arrives uncrushed. Upshot: they're free, you get what you pay for, so use Sturgeon's Law and only use the most durable ones.
The stuff inside a box may be important, precious or otherwise significant to you. However it's generic stuff once it's in a sealed box. Pack accordingly.
One more thing before I sign off: creating a staging area is important for sanity. For example, I only have 280 cubic feet for everything that isn't important enough to go in my car. That's a 5' x 8' footprint, the same as a typical area rug, by 7' high, about as high as I can reach. It's simple to do the math and figure out how many book boxes can fit in that space:
84" / 13" = 6.46, or six boxes high with a half-foot to spare;
60" / 18" = 3.33, or three boxes wide against the short wall (back of the DtD pod);
60" / 13" = 4.62, or four boxes narrow against the short wall;
96" / 18" = 5.33, or five boxes wide against the long wall (side wall);
96" / 13" = 7.38, or seven boxes narrow against the long wall.
Since there has to be room for furniture, even when it's taken apart, then the heaviest book and vinyl boxes will need to be at the base and may only be two or three levels high but at least a couple deep. Otherwise they'll fall. Bigger boxes for bedding and clothes can go above them.
I have one practical space for staging: the mud room. Some of the stuff to be moved is already there, so it'd be easy to take things apart and mark off the space using masking tape. This will allow me to test setups well before I move, but also dissemble them so that bottom stuff goes to the bottom of the pod.
In a future installment, I will discuss making time to sift crap before it goes in a box. When you get to the other side of the country, what will you do with the stuff in this box? Would it be better to give it a new life and save that space for other stuff? No really, think hard about this -- but not so hard that you aren't packing.
-lift that heavy thing, Ps/d
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no subject
Date: 2011-06-21 10:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-22 04:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-22 11:08 am (UTC)let's talk if you still have computer hardware you don't wanna take :)
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Date: 2011-06-22 05:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-23 02:22 am (UTC)