Yet another military thread - how much prep do you do when you move?

[BikeBookBread]

This will our 4th military-orchestrated move. Every move has been a bit different (of course), but one has always been a constant: I have always done a ton of prep for the move. In the past, I have pulled out our china and crystal and put it on the dining table, etc... This time, I'm not so sure I'm going to do as much prep.

 

What, if any, prep do you military people do (above and beyond the required prep)?

[Mrs Mungo]

I do a lot more *while* they are packing than I do ahead.

 

1. I do pull out my crystal and knick-knacks, put them on the table and make sure they wrap all of that carefully.

 

2. I try to label the boxes before they are taped up and/or come out of the rooms. I miss quite a few, but I try. On the last move there were a few too many boxes labeled "toys." When I opened one of them it had *one* outdoor Tonka truck and the rest was tools, to include a GIANT AXE! I was very grateful I had not sent that on up to my son's room. :tongue_smilie:

 

3. I try not to let them put anything in the drawers, it tears them up. Again, I usually miss a few.

 

4. When it comes to taking furniture apart-I follow them around with a ziploc, a sharpie and packing tape. I put the hardware for each piece of furniture in the ziploc, label it and tape it to the item. This is one of the most important tips I can give.

 

5. Do all high-value items (guns, etc) last.

 

I'm sure I'll think of some more things later.

[ThatCyndiGirl]

I take a huge roll of paper from the newspaper and tape it to a door. This is the PCS Checklist. On there I put

 

EVERY

SINGLE

TASK I have to or dh has to complete before we leave, everything from "sell x on Craigslist" to "leave for the airport". I also put NET or NLT dates on there.

[HollyDay]

I've been thinking about this too. We might only have 2 weeks notice of our next move. Each week, we'll "get the word next week". Been like that since March. :confused:

 

I've boxed up some "clutter": seashells, various Bricabrac, school books and "stuff" we have completed but I do not want to pitch, etc. I've gone through and started making a list of "self move" items.

 

In the past, we have cleaned out a room and put all the stuff we are moving ourselves in that room and shut the door. The movers in TX kept going in there, so dh finally put yellow "do not cross" tape over the door! Sometimes I would box the contents of that room myself. Other times I'd just stack it in the living room.

 

If I have things in drawers, I always put it in ziplocks, bags of some sort, or boxes and label it. I still remember our previous move when the boxer had a huge box and he was just going drawer to drawer and dumping the contents in the box. He labeled it whatever room he ended up in. So I had a first aid kit, some of youngest dd' winter clothes, some of oldest dd's shoes, and parts for a model airplane in one box! I'm not letting that happen again!

 

Often how much prep I do depends on who shows up. I've had awesome crews that are great; come in and get the job done. I've had horrible crews that do a terrible job. Previous move, we had to unplug our house phone because one of the boxers was making long distance personal calls!

 

So, I guess the answer is, whatever feels right at the time.

[Mom in High Heels]

Declutter, declutter, declutter! That's my favorite part about moving!

I don't put out things, but I do use painters tape to tape up all the glass frames and mirrors. I put an 'X' and then a 't' over it. If the glass breaks in shipping it won't destroy the art/picture under it. I take all the art off the walls and all the tabletop photos and put them in one place. It just makes it easier on the other end to have them all unpacked together.

We designate one closet or room for stuff that we don't want packed and put a big X over the door with tape. I make sure all important paperwork and passports are in that room.

I put all my silverware and small kitchen items in ziplock baggies because we've lost pieces before in all the wrapping. Actually anything really small I put in ziplock. Sadly I lost my college graduation tassel because it got mixed in with paper (I think).

I'm sure there are other things, but I can't think of them right now. I'm watching Twilight and I'm all distracted by Edwards super awesome hair. :)

[mommytobees]

I prep, every move, I prep! Why? Because when I do prep less things get broken, less things get lost, and most of all, I can find it when we get to the other end. We've done 10 moves in the past 12.5 years.

 

*FIRST* I remove anything that is NOT being packed out, for whatever reason. My friend's husband just had their movers pack the housing office loan dehumidifier and it is *gone*.

 

1) I have a OPEN FIRST box marked to high heaven on ALL of the sides, in it I have packed: 4 cups, 4 sets of silverware, 4 plates, ALL of the instructions on putting the kids beds together, ALL of the hardware for _every_single_thing that is taken apart (divided into individual ziplock baggies), hand towel, dish towel, TP, anything else I can think of. This is usually a medium size packing box. Oh, I also put a printed (computer) pages with Master, girl, boy, and HS along with a roll of tape (I put these on the door of each room in the new house. It tells the movers where to put boxes.)

 

2) dust and clean everything.

3) move all knick-knacks onto the dining room table

4) box the "special" items that have boxes in the storage closet (iMac, Kitchen Aid, microscope, sewing machine, rice cooker, etc)

5) we don't have any china anymore (house fire a few years ago), but when I had that stuff I would put it on the kitchen counter, it meant one less step for the movers and NONE of it would get broken. Oh, I also took a picture of ALL of it, neatly stacked right in front of the lead packer. It got the point across.

6) I separated my dvd's into three piles: dvd's without boxes, dvd's IN the box, and dvd boxes that are moving WITHOUT the dvd's.

7) take all art and pictures off the wall; I want them ALL packed between flat packing boxes, individually

 

Like Mrs. Mungo, I label boxes while they are being packed, or just after. I have/keep/get a package of colored Sharpie pens.

 

That's all I can think of right now...

 

Kris

[Sebastian (a lady)]

This will our 4th military-orchestrated move. Every move has been a bit different (of course), but one has always been a constant: I have always done a ton of prep for the move. In the past, I have pulled out our china and crystal and put it on the dining table, etc... This time, I'm not so sure I'm going to do as much prep.

 

What, if any, prep do you military people do (above and beyond the required prep)?

 

There have been some moves where I was too tired with everything else to do much prep. Others were I obsessively labeled and photographed what we were moving/storing.

 

One thing that dh did last time was to put together a bag of tools that went into the express shipment so we could hang pictures without searching for the box with the drill. He also put all of the pegs for the book cases into that bag. One move the movers did something weird with all of the pegs for shelves and we had to go buy more before we could unpack books. With 5000 books that is a problem.

 

I put a lot of energy into labeling cupboards and shelves. Pro gear, and do not pack signs go up everywhere so that the packers know what to label as pro gear and what to leave alone.

 

Last time I also put some time into separating the high value items and prewriting what I wanted listed on the inventory. So for example, the china inventory line lists the make and pattern and the number of each item rather than just "china." By giving them a prewritten list, they just had to copy that onto their inventories rather than guess then have me ask them to make changes.

[Melanie]

I clean obsessively (why ship dirt?) but that's about it. We don't own anything particularly valuable, so I just make sure the Christmas ornaments aren't anywhere near the power tools (can anyone guess how I learned that lesson? ;) ) and leave it at that.

[nukeswife]

We've moved many, many times and will probably be moving again in a year.

 

I do some prep before, mostly decluttering because I don't want to have to unpack any more than necessary.

 

Some things I've done to make it easier are

Take all pictures off walls

 

Make sure all items are in the room you want them in when you unpack them

 

I clear out a space to put anything I don't want packed in (usually a large closet or small room and then tape the door with a big painter's tape X with a sign that says DO NOT PACK on the door as well.

 

I have in the past printed up label sheets with the rooms on them and then followed the movers around to put one of those on. I made them in different colors so when we got to the new house I could just look for the color and direct them where to go with it.

 

The one thing I do above all others is to make it very clear to the packers that they are not to wander the house looking for extra things to use to "Fill the box" If they have too big of a box for the items left in that room, then get a smaller box, do NOT go scouring the house for random things to throw in there. One move had a little of something from every room in the house, now had they just used 3 small boxes instead of the one dish-pack box things would have made more sense.

 

The worst move ever was when instead of packing the rubbermaid bins of toys in paper or boxes they took a large wardrobe box and dumped them all together, legos, playmobil, transformers, etc all in one large box, then they took the empty rubbermaid bins and packed those in boxes :001_huh: Now I watch Toy room packers like a hawk.

 

I wish you the best on your move.

[RobinF]

The worst move ever was when instead of packing the rubbermaid bins of toys in paper or boxes they took a large wardrobe box and dumped them all together, legos, playmobil, transformers, etc all in one large box, then they took the empty rubbermaid bins and packed those in boxes :001_huh: Now I watch Toy room packers like a hawk.

 

 

 

We are not military but have moved often (20 times in 20 years). This would be my nightmare.

[ElizabethB]

We move everything we want to keep in a closet after moving everything out of there and put big signs on the door for them to not come in and not take anything from there. Last move our daughter made the signs, they were cute. She also posted a $1 reward for her favorite animal that was missing with a hand drawn picture of him. He was never found, but they all thought it was cute and promised to look for it.

 

My husband packs up his model airplanes himself (he's a pilot and has little models of all the planes he has flown.) He also preps the Grandfather clock we got when we were in Germany and supervises when they are wrapping and moving it. Everything else we own is not that nice, we're waiting to buy nice things until after we stop moving so much.

 

We also separate out things that go with the house, although last move some extra kitchen tiles got missed and came with us. We'll just keep moving them around, we'll only be 6 hours from the house they belong to after this next move and my husband might have a chance to return them.

 

Last move most of our boxes were labeled pretty well, but one said "Misc," my husband was complaining until he saw the junk in the box, he had to admit they were right!!

[BikeBookBread]

Thought of another question...

 

All of my china is in storage bags, separated by those spongey thingies. I've never had these bags before (I got them here because we finally have a BUFFET!) So, should I remove the china from those storage bags and have all the plates wrapped separately like they do my everyday dishes??? I can't think which would be better. I'm just so darn TIRED right now....

[TravelingChris]

I would remove the china because if you have packed it, they aren't responsible but if they pack it, they are,

 

My number one thing I prepare is separating important papers so I can hand carry those. I have files that they can pack but I need some groups of papers myself.

 

One of my other main tasks are separating professional gear and making absolutely certain it gets marked on all papers. My dh is a physicist and he has many physics and math books that are all professional gear. They are easy to mix up with all of our other books. They weigh a lot too. We always have issues with these things.

 

I try to prepare all desks and dressers so we don't get odd items mixed in with socks or junk drawers mixed in with school supplies.

[BikeBookBread]

I don't know that much of DH's pro gear even made it OUT of the boxes (except for the things he took to work, and movers will be going there to pack those up). I already have my papers ready to go...

[Paige]

I clean obsessively (why ship dirt?) but that's about it. We don't own anything particularly valuable, so I just make sure the Christmas ornaments aren't anywhere near the power tools (can anyone guess how I learned that lesson? ;) ) and leave it at that.

 

That's about all I do too. I guess we also go through and photograph every room and everything of value but that's it. It never even occurred to me to pull out things for them so they would be boxed together. Usually, I take the kids out of the house with me and let DH deal with the packers. One thing I've learned is to make sure I pack anything embarrassing myself even if I don't need it. I had a big, embarrassing "personal shower" (if you know what I mean) before we got married and shoved it all in some box under the bed when I moved in and forgot about it for years. I was absolutely mortified when we arrived at the next place and unpacked it all. :ohmy: I can still picture the teenage boy who was packing that room and I'm so glad I didn't know what he had packed until after the packers were all out of the house! Who knows what he must have been thinking!

[Mom in High Heels]

Okay, now that I'm not distracted by Edward I remember the other really important thing I do! When they take our beds apart, I stand there with a ziplock bag and put all the hardware in it (screws, etc) and tape the bag (securely) to one of the bed rails. That way when the beds are unwrapped (they wrap EVERYTHING in paper now) we don't have to hunt for the hardware.

[asta]

We have moved a lot in DSs career. On average, every couple of years. I can attest to the "every 7 years is equivalent to a total house fire" adage. It may not happen all at once, but it does add up.

 

I've learned not to value things such as furniture and knick knacks. Believe it or not, even furniture may get stolen.

 

If there is a photograph you cannot bear ever losing, scan it and carry it on a usb drive. Put irreplaceable original documents and jewelry in a safety deposit box somewhere (after awhile there are simply too many to carry with you). Choose the "one singular thing" that represents each period of your child at each phase of their life, and figure out a way to transport it. If everything else is lost, you have a chronology. Scan your child's school records and put them on that USB drive.

 

If there is some little thing your kid absolutely refuses to let go of and insists on carrying, do not argue - let them carry it. If everything goes down on the boat (which happens more often than you'd like to know), and kid loses that thing, they'll never let you forget it.

 

 

a

[Mrs. Frankweiler]

I just make sure the Christmas ornaments aren't anywhere near the power tools (can anyone guess how I learned that lesson? ;) )

 

I think we had the same movers!

 

Some people thinks this is crazy, but the last few moves (all on the East Coast) I've packed up my kitchen myself and moved that stuff in a u-haul trailer. I can unpack it faster at the other end, and since it's with me the whole time I don't feel like I need to use a small forest's worth of packing paper to pack up the plastic kids' cups. I also feel like I'm more settled once my kitchen is unpacked and set up, and this helps me get to that point faster.

 

I also get colored stickers and give every room a color. The night of the pack-up (after everything is in boxes, but before it gets loaded in the bigh truck) I put the stickers on the boxes in each room. Then, at the new place I can say, "Blue stickers go to the boys room, red goes to girls, etc...) I know the boxers are supposed to label the boxes, but I've learned that they sometimes take some creative liberties in their labeling practices.

 

I tend to declutter on the back end of the move as I'm unpacking. I'm going to have to unpack all the boxes anyway, so why go through all the stuff twice? That way I have the boxes on hand already, and I don't have to part with something just because it might not fit. I'll know right then and there if it fits or not.

 

If you're staying in CONUS, getting a u-haul trailer is another suggestion. Marine lingo is "partial DITY move." You get your trailer (or you might even be able to use an SUV), and load up everything that you don't want them to take, or that they aren't allowed to take. The gov't will pay you a percentage (I can't remember exactly how much, but I think 90% sounds right) of what it would cost them to move that stuff with professional movers--all for moving stuff you'd have to move yourself anyway. The important thing is to keep all your receipts, and have the trailer officially weighed both when it's completely full and completely empty. Each time we've done this, we've made more than $1000 (sometimes way more) even after paying for the trailer and having the trailer pull installed on our van. It's all completely legit--you can find out about it at the place you go to when you set up the move (we call it TMO--it might be something different for you.)

[charmama4]

 

I clear out a space to put anything I don't want packed in (usually a large closet or small room and then tape the door with a big painter's tape X with a sign that says DO NOT PACK on the door as well.

 

I had entire room set aside!! With 6 people and tons of stuff borrowed from the Loaner Closet, I needed the room.

 

But, even when I put a sign with big bold lettering and taped over the door the packers STILL tried to pack a cabnit in the kitchen!

 

I have in the past printed up label sheets with the rooms on them and then followed the movers around to put one of those on. I made them in different colors so when we got to the new house I could just look for the color and direct them where to go with it.

 

I have GOT to remember this one!! Much easier than trying to write it down, just slap a sticker on it!!

 

 

 

The worst move ever was when instead of packing the rubbermaid bins of toys in paper or boxes they took a large wardrobe box and dumped them all together, legos, playmobil, transformers, etc all in one large box, then they took the empty rubbermaid bins and packed those in boxes :001_huh: Now I watch Toy room packers like a hawk.

 

Ya, what's up with that?? I had one packer take the tote bin and wrap it in plastic (which I would think would be not only easier but cheaper than using a new cardboard box). Another packer would dump the tote box contents in a box and stack the tote box. I just don't get it.

 

QUOTE]

[TXMomof4]

Thought of another question...

 

All of my china is in storage bags, separated by those spongey thingies. I've never had these bags before (I got them here because we finally have a BUFFET!) So, should I remove the china from those storage bags and have all the plates wrapped separately like they do my everyday dishes??? I can't think which would be better. I'm just so darn TIRED right now....

 

Yes, have them individually wrap every piece of china. Our last movers did take it out and do it without my prompting, but I would have insisted anyway. Of course, I ended up with 8 dishpack boxes of china - it was ridiculous. But 42 place settings of china made it here without a chip.