the moving sucks thread -- please share your tips

[beetle]

seems like a lot of OTers have bought new homes (congrats to @Jim Lahey , @Rusty Shackleford , @Newt , @Platinum_Thunder , and anyone else who has just bought). Also seems like a lot of people either looking or have offers out -- good luck!

with so many people moving I thought I'd ask for advice from people who have gone through this recently. What do you wish you had known? what would have made the move easier?
Here's one from me -- I posted on Next-door asking for moving boxes and within a day probably got like $800 worth of moving boxes for free. The two people I got boxes from where happy that they were being recycled and put to good use.

For the actual moving I'm thinking about using both PODS and a moving company. It feels less hectic if I have a pod delivered and can load it on my own, and then have the pod moved and slowly unload at my own pace. I would use the moving company purely for the big stuff -- sofa, beds, furniture, etc. What do you think? or is it a waste to use both types of movers?

My house is filled with boxes now so I like the idea of slowly moving them into the pod to start and clear out space.

 

[amill94]

I know it sounds stupid, but having to pack up our stuff or atleast box the smaller stuff for the movers is one of my worst nightmares. I'm dreading it.

 

[FryingPan]

Last time we moved we took almost nothing with us. We packed the things we wanted to keep into a U-Haul and literally made a post on Craigslist and Facebook saying "FREE: If it ain't bolted down, you can have it." House was completely empty in a couple of hours.

 

[Wolf]

I know it sounds stupid, but having to pack up our stuff or atleast box the smaller stuff for the movers is one of my worst nightmares. I'm dreading it.

I'm just in a small apartment, but I ended up throwing out a ton of my small stuff.

Most had still been in boxes from when I last moved 5+ years ago.

The bulk of the stuff that required packing in boxes came from the kitchen.

 

[TheProwler]

Highly recommend using a company for the majority of the packing and moving. I moved in 2010, 2015, 2016 and 2018, so I have a good feel for it I used a moving company for all of those, because most of them were long-distance.

I go through the whole house and throw away everything that is waste. Then I go through and find all the things I want to give away because they're still useful but not for me. This is a lot of kids' toys and clothes and baby supplies. If you have enough of it, a rummage sale is worthwhile. Rummage sales are good for children's items but not much else. Nobody wants to buy your old throw pillows, but they'll buy kids stuff.

I packed up all my high-end electronics in the original boxes, and I packed all my Lego. They won't take your guns, jewelry, cash, expensive collectibles, or combustibles. So move that yourself.

 

[Cashishift]

we made it easier on ourselves by packing immediate need stuff and having movers move that stuff and heavier stuff.

then since we still owned the home - took our time on the rest of the BS.

i still find stuff 2 years later like “why did move this “

and since you have guns... i purposely didn’t buy ammo

 

[beetle]

I've given away, donated, and thrown away so much stuff it's ridiculous -- I guess that is what happens when you live in one place for 20 years. Because it's been so traumatic I already told my wife that when we move I'm going to be diligent about getting rid of stuff we don't need.

Moving the ammo will be a chore -- I think I could probably fill up an entire POD with just what I have. Because I will still own the house that I'm moving out of my plan is to just move it myself, slowly. Don't really want the movers to handle that kind of stuff.

On the TVs, do the movers unmount, wrap and move them? or is this something I should take care of beforehand (unmount/wrap)?

 

[TheProwler]

On the TVs, do the movers unmount, wrap and move them? or is this something I should take care of beforehand (unmount/wrap)?

Better to do it yourself. They will either charge an insane amount of money to put it in a packing crate or they'll bang it around. They were going to charge me like $500 to move some heirloom antlers. Some of that stuff is better to move yourself.

I gave away my TV before I moved, since it was time to upgrade.

 

[.chris]

No getting around it.

 

[beetle]

Better to do it yourself. They will either charge an insane amount of money to put it in a packing crate or they'll bang it around. They were going to charge me like $500 to move some heirloom antlers. Some of that stuff is better to move yourself.

I gave away my TV before I moved, since it was time to upgrade.

thanks for the advice. I didn't even think about moving it myself, but I guess it makes sense. I have a 1 year old OLED so it's worth it to move it. I thought about putting it in the moving truck, but I guess it would be no problem to move it on my own (new house is only like 15 min away).

 

[ludewig]

I know it sounds stupid, but having to pack up our stuff or atleast box the smaller stuff for the movers is one of my worst nightmares. I'm dreading it.

I did that ordeal this week. I started packing and getting rid of things a month ago. But I still spent all night before the move putting the last things in boxes. +60 boxes total. The movers drove my stuff 3 blocks to the new apartment. Then I took everything out of the boxes over the next 24 hours.

 

[wildflower]

When you move, tell yourself that you're also going to get rid of at least 10% of your stuff.

After your stuff is in the new house, have wife work in one room, and you work in another.

 

[Foo]

When you move, tell yourself that you're also going to get rid of at least 10% of your stuff.

After your stuff is in the new house, have wife work in one room, and you work in another.

this wife split shit is fucking WISDOM right here


also - if you can afford it as stated - have them pack and box you too. cuts the stress by 1000%

 

[Jim Lahey]

Thanks for the tag, will check back for useful information in the coming weeks. Luckily, I'm a bit of a minimalist and I really don't have much stuff to move. I kept my TV boxes at least. Though I will have to buy tons of furniture to fill my new space, at least that is a bit easier.

 

[T_Dawgg]

I suggest booze

 

[8legs]

It looks fancier if you use furniture catalogs and magazines to pack dishes and knicknacks. Also, it's a re-use option for dumb plasticoated pages that can't be recycled. In trying to use this to ply myself into baby-proofing packing.

 

[RickylSmalls]

Hire someone.

 

[Gaunt]

We moved from seattle to KC last year. We did part uhual part pod. All of the heavy bulky stuff went into the pod and the lighter boxes into the uhual. The POD worked great, it is at ground level (3 inch step) not having to move the stuff up a ramp.

I would say the only thing to watch out for is the door. I is a roll up metal door and if things are lose next to the door, or boxes shift and block the door from rolling up on itself, it might be harder to open.

 

[smell my finger]

fuck that, just hire a company for full pack/unpack

 

[popnfresh]

Pod is awesome just to watch them maneuver that AT-AT into place to pick it up

 

[Stealthy_C]

hire someone.

 

[eric5678]

Moving the ammo will be a chore -- I think I could probably fill up an entire POD with just what I have. Because I will still own the house that I'm moving out of my plan is to just move it myself, slowly. Don't really want the movers to handle that kind of stuff.

I did this. Took a full year of procrastination to get it all out until I became so frustrated that I was the reason that I'd been paying 2 housenotes for a year.

Still on the fence though as if I'd recommend paying to do or not. Dont have much anything that special but still didn't want the movers touching it/knowing I had it and where I kept it.

 

[TheProwler]

fuck that, just hire a company for full pack/unpack

definitely worth having them unload and position all your main furniture, but in a new house, you're going to have to make a ton of decisions about where to put little stuff, so it's worth doing that yourself. I'd never want someone to put all my dishware/appliances away in a new house rather than figuring out my own organizational scheme.

 

[VipZ28]

Burn the house down, buy all new stuff.

 

[Achance007]

For in town move, we had a pod that we loaded/delivered at our convenience. Then on moving day we hired 2 guys from https://www.movinghelp.com/ and they loaded the uhaul. I drove the truck to the new house, and then they unloaded everything from pod/uhaul into the rooms we wanted. Also let them dip into the cooler of beer when they had about hour left of work and they appreciated it