h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Good thing too. I am moving again in a couple of months!

Me too, I'm moving again in 5 weeks time. It's the 3rd time in 3 years and as each time I lose a load of stuff, presumably eventually I shall end up having lost everything - at least then there'll be nothing left to move!!

Hi, agcB

Not to be too pendantic about it, I've found that the secret to moving is to never completely unpack.

Boxes should be of the banker's file type, with a lid and punched-through handles.
Avoid the kind that have to be taped.
A personal hand truck is always a good thing to have.
Shop for it carefully and get the shop help to let you test it.
Never buy one in a box. Have it assembled for you, if necessary.
If it is not comfortable, do not buy it.
Straps are nice, but not necessary.

The banker's type boxes are really nice for books, but they shine when you are packing lamps and clocks and bric-a-brac. Clothing can be used for packing material.

Be very careful with cosmetics and cooking supplies. Line the box with a garbage bag.

Labelling is good, but basically all that needs to be done is to indicate the room the box contents came from.

Moving is a good time to make determinations about furniture.
It is better to have none than to have too much.
If you don't get rid of it during the move, you'll be too tired after the move to think about it.

It is also a good time to sort the book and recording collections.
You haven't used some of that stuff in years! Short of true antiques and rarities, many items are newly available in better formats.

In any case, when you move books and magazines, pick up each one and shake it out. Silverfish and fivers you were using as a bookmark can be discovered that way.

If possible, have the windows open and the fans going during the take-down process. No matter how clean or neat a person you are, there's going to be hidden dirt and dust.

That's all I can think of.

I've tried the 'never completely unpacking' bit and it doesn't work. The stuff I don't unpack I either forget I've got or can't find when I need it and end up buying a replacement.

Whilst going through my still unpacked packing boxes in preparation for my next move (no it doesn't make sense), I found things which I thought I had lost 3 years ago and have since replaced....no doubt after my next move, I shall lose both sets of all of them again!! And so it goes on....

There's this rather neat entry .... A571808

I started moving from Scotland to England last June and I haven't finished yet! And we're moving again soon... fortunately the good lady wife and I have formulated the perfect strategy to make moving easier. We're buying a house across the road.

Oh, give me a home
that's not hard to load,
and is easy to find,
like across the road.

I'm doing my house up with a view to selling.

So far I've completely revamped the small bedroom anad tidied the dining room and replaced my garden gate.

I love renting.

In January 2001 I moved some of my stuff from the marital home into rented accommodation. In June I moved to more rented accomodation. In the meantime I ALSO had a flat where I was working, and kipped on people's spare beds all over the place.

In March this year I finally got all my stuff under one roof, and I also finally had a roof with no-one else's stuff under it.

The things I have learned are:

1) Dispose, dispose, dispose. Give stuff away, I gave 1024 books to hospitals friends and charities, and 5 bin bags of clothes to the womens' refuge. Sell stuff too. I netted some nice dosh from selling some furniture, which I am blowing on jewelery. Get rid of it before and after every single move. When you pack, pack with a bin-bag beside you. And when you unpack, do exactly the same thing.

2) Label everything including the dog and the kids. Lable with destination rooms, as TR says but ALSO label with contents, and if necessary source rooms. My book boxes say things like 'SF and Misc Fict from Hall'. My other boxes say 'Small ornaments', 'Good glass' and so on. Colour-coding is a great idea, but my packing was too dislocated from my actual moving for me to manage that. Remember that 10% of (removal) men are colour blind.

3) Stand at the door of the house, and tell the removal men where every single box is to go as it comes in. Ideally you should have people in relays, so that there is someone to catch them when they turn left instead of right at the top of the stairs. And don't let them go until the stuff is in the right rooms. I got my removal men to shift at least half a dozen things which they had put in the wrong place at first.

4) Offer tea, coffee, biscuits, and other refreshment breaks whenever the pace starts to flag.

5) Buy a large roll of bubble-wrap, you can get it from those large out of town office suppliers. Wrap everything down to and definitely including mugs. Use newspapers for individual plates. I had no breakages despite moving some of the stuff three times in 14 months. Let me repeat that. I had NO BREAKAGES AT ALL. Wrap, wrap, wrap, wrap.

6) Put heavy items - especially books and crockery in small boxes. Big boxes should ONLY be used for light things like bedding, curtains and clothes. Everything else should go in small boxes, and I really like TR's suggestion of bankers boxes. Putting crockery into large boxes is asking for it to be broken.

7) If you are using a removal firm, get them to provide a portable wardrobe.

8) Put together a last in first out box with loo roll, soap, a towel, the kettle, tea, coffee, and a large bottle of bubbly. There is NOTHING like bubbly to make you feel you have had a successful day. Put together another box of cleaning things, and know where your slippers are, so you don't have to walk around barefoot on your first night.

That's it. Good luck, Rainbow, and all other movers.

Ben

If you don't mind, Ben, I'm copying & pasting your post for me to keep, I hope to be moving soon and that's all wise advice.

Forgive me tonsil revenge but it's renting where you live money down the drain?

I know people who've lived in council accommodation all their lives and paid rent. They will leave with exactly what they came with - nothing.

When I sell my house it'll be at a massive profit, I paid £25,500 for this house 17 years ago, and I'll probably sell it for between £70,000-£80,000. I've only got a tiny mortgage left which I am keeping because it gives me the option to move up.
Maintaining property you own is a nightmare when things go wrong, but nothing beats the satisfaction of actually owning your own place.

Please do, AGB, I am happy to offer virtual help!

On the subject of removal firms:

I was quoted £500 by one firm who then dropped it to £45 per hour. The move involved two pick up points and one destination, and I finally paid £315. Big difference.

The £500 was for a big van and three men, but I knew that the stairs were so narrow at all the houses that they would just get in each others way. I ended up with a 7 Ton Van (a big Luton?) and two very nice guys. Even so, it kept me on my toes keeping up with where they wanted to put the boxes.

So don't just shop around, ask them what the different levels of service are. Some will pack for you, which appears helpful until you realise that you won't know what is in each box, and that they will take the attitude that breakages are not a problem because they are insured.

As well as your slippers, know where your sheets, bedding, toothbrush and clean knickers are, so you can at least have a bath, (with the , of course), and get dressed the next day.

I absolutely agree about owning your own place; mine has gone up by about £7k since I agreed the price on it six months ago. That SCARES me, even though I have 'benefited' from it.

Good luck!

Ben

Well, our credit stinks, and the payment on the vehicles costs more than the rent. Our landlord is very good about taking care of his properties, like having a plumber on retainer, whom we have to use about four times a year, because we are at the bottom of a hill, at the end of a sewer main, and the neighbor's stuff flows into the back yard.... And he had the place painted last year.

My stepfather owns the property he lives on and he's lived there since about 1955... in an 'orrible 'ittle shoebox of a house.

I dunno. The spousal unit and I would like to find a leaky trailer on forty acres in the boonies...far away from neighbors. Then we could take our time and build the house we've always wanted, the one where her kitchen is miiiiiiiiiiiiles away from my office.

Yes, one of the advantages of renting is that things like plumbers are included in the deal.

Ben

Supposedly - I have a landlord who only repairs things when you are moving out, so prospective tenants aren't put off. I have rented for the past 19 years, not out of choice, and hate being at the mercy of my landlord, who if he feels like it can kick me out at two month's notice.

I'm moving again on Tuesday. My landlord decided he wanted the flat for his grandson to stay in, and since I was planning on moving from London anyway, and am in the middle of jobhunting, finding another flat for a short rent could be a real pain, so I'm moving up to my sister's place.

In the last 20 years I've moved about 15 times, and as a result much of my stuff is semi-permanently in plastic storage crates.
I don't tend to collect much apart from books, CDs and computer gear, but it's surprising how little things can add up.

I was sleeping today, because I was up all night.
When I woke up the spousal unit, who has had several more important tasks to deal with, like a vehicle part recall notice and a little matter of filing the taxes, had rearranged the living room in such a way that all the shelving was now blocked and all the reasons for the shelving was moot since she boxed up half the stuff just to fill a box.

I just rearranged the bedroom and the kitchen for her benefit, but she had to do something with the living room....cause it was sooooo "tacky"... Now it's inaccessible...

I like moving, because her eyes glaze over from the enormity of the task and I get to be efficient. It's only when we're firmly settled in, that she starts gettting squirrely.

I have a new tactic to stop myself hoarding books. Unless I really really really can't bear to part myself from it, I leave it on a train or tube with a note inside saying 'To whoever finds this, read and enjoy and pass on to someone else'.

Brilliant idea. Don't think it will work in HK, because they sweep the trains after every journey and chuck out anything left on the seats but I'll give it a go on my journeys over the border.
Because I read so fast (a very expensive habit) I have quite often handed over a finished book (or two!) to my neighbours on a long distance flight.
However, I believe that "books furnish a room", so I find it an emotional wrench sometimes.

I either give them to charity or leave them in second-hand bookshops. I put one in a letter box once.