The Moving Planner Blog

Packing 

Start with the items that are least used and, if possible, pack the items in one room at a time. Make sure you use strong boxes for packing. Always fill the box to the top and close the lid. By doing so, you can stack the boxes on top of each other. Before you start packing your items in the box, ensure that the bottoms of the boxes are well taped to hold the contents. Masking tape is not recommended as the packing tape because it is easy to tear it off. The best type of tape to use is plastic of a width of approximately 1.5 to 2 inches. Never pack the boxes too heavy such that they cannot be lifted safely. Keep each box below 20kg. Try to balance the weight by packing heavy items with some light bulky items such as linen, towels, cushions or soft toys. For boxes that contain both heavy and light items, always place the heavier items at the bottom, graduating to the lightest items on top. Use bubble wrap to pack fragile items. Alternatively, you can use newspapers for packing breakable items. However, do take note that the ink on the newspaper may be smudged onto the packed items. Label all the items in each box clearly. This will come in handy when you unpack the boxes in your new house. Boxes containing fragile or valuable items should also be clearly marked. Pack a bag of daily items that you may need to use 1 or 2 days before and after the move. Do not pack any flammable goods, explosives, and perishable foods with the other items in the boxes. Pack them separately, label the boxes clearly and inform your mover.

Fridges/Freezers

Consume/dispose all groceries in the fridges, if possible, so that you do not need to worry about bringing these groceries to your new house. Empty, defrost and dry out your fridge/freezer one day before the moving. Switch on the fridge/freezer only a few hours after moving to your new house to let the coolants settled down.

Moving your pets

If possible, make arrangements for your pet(s) to stay with a friend, relative or neighbor whom it is comfortable with. As pet(s) are sensitive animals, they may be distressed with strangers coming into the house for the move. If you cannot find a suitable candidate to take care of your pet(s) during the move, then you may secure your pet in one room to minimise any inconvenience. Make a tag with your name, new phone number and place it onto its collar for the day of the move. In the event that they do really escape during the move, this will increase their chances of getting back to you.

Moving your fish

Never move your fish in their tank. Take the fish out and then remove the water from the tank. Fish should be transported in clean, strong, polythene bags part filled with the tank water. Make sure that you seal the bags leaving a good air pocket above the water. Secure the bags with 2 strong rubber bands and try to use double bags to reduce the chance of leaks. Gently place the bags into a box and clearly label the box with the position arrow or the words “this way up”. Do not feed your fish for at least 24 hours before the move. By doing this you will minimize wastes in the bag. This could harm the fishes, especially those larger fishes that regurgitate food when stressed. Do not forget to keep living plants also bagged up with enough tank water to keep them moist.

Moving your plants

Plants are one of the items that will take up most space in the truck. Cut off any protruding branches/stalks, which might break off or cause a problem during the move. On the moving day, drain off excess water from the plant pots/vases. Line a box with plastic sheet or newspaper. If the pots are breakable, separate them with newspaper and clearly label the box “fragile”. Do not shut the lid so that the moving team can see that there are plants inside and won’t stack anything on top of the boxes. Large pots should be placed inside plastic bags to prevent the soil from falling out.

Born Yankee

OK so I’ll admit it. I’m a New Englander through and through. Snow is my favorite season and if you are fortunate enough to live in New England, you know that it doesn’t just fall in the Winter. It has its own season, hence my remark. I love the laid back atmosphere of small town New England life where everybody makes a point to know everybody and his siblings. And even though I wasn’t used to it at the time I encountered it, I also like the aloofness of New England city life. It was in Boston after all that I learned help won’t magically fall deus ex machina style onto you in times of need like it would in the country. However, in a pouring downpour with no umbrella and nylons falling as fast as the rain, if you but speak to a passing person you’ll not only receive directions to your interview but use of their umbrella as well. You see, New England is just that way city or country. And I’m still of the impression there is no better place for me than there.

My decision to leave not only New Hampshire but New England behind was a difficult one. In the Fall of 2006 I’d met the man of the dreams or the man of the hour, after only two months of knowing him I could hardly be sure which. Where he was due to be stationed in Virginia by New Year, our sprouting relationship was doomed to fail if I didn’t agree to make the adventurous 16 hour drive to visit or more sensibly to live. Neither of us wanted a distance relationship. Without a doubt the hardest part of leaving Manchester behind was the life I’d created for myself there. After four years of living in the area, I’d finally found myself in a happy, single state with an urban family to keep me occupied on the weekends when I didn’t quite make it home. My parents, who lived only three hours away would visit and would view Manchester with awe, like I had before living there for awhile. Coming from the woods to the city is quite an experience! In Manchester I had dates and dinners, invitations to bonfires and people who sung to me over the phone and urged me out on special occasions. I hadn’t experienced such acceptance since college. I had a job that paid more than I deserved for work that I loved. My best friend had moved next door. I took walks through the woods before heading to Barnes & Noble. If my life was tea, I had steeped.

In the end it wasn’t me who made the decision to move. My company announced a merger and I was laid off with severance on November 15. The apartment I’d had for just under a year would no longer be affordable without commuting into Boston and I didn’t want to commute into Boston. In retrospect I could have moved into a more affordable place once my lease expired, but what would I do for work? Could I afford a cheaper apartment? Would it be safe? Cheaper apartments are usually in the bad parts of town and I hadn’t had roommates since I graduated college in 2001. I didn’t want a roommate. Perhaps I wanted a relationship?

I convinced my boyfriend to remain in New Hampshire through Thanksgiving. As much as I love New Hampshire anyway, having him enjoying the area with me made it all the better. We shared a meal with my parents in Northern New Hampshire and all too soon I watched him start on his long drive back to his parent’s home in Alabama for Christmas. It was hard watching him go. The small studio I’d rented seemed even smaller without his few items stuffed here or there. I decided to spend as much time with my family as I could before the move and practically lived with them during my final month of the lease. Eventually I did have to make the drive to my silent apartment to start packing. Seeing everything around me gradually disappear into Public Storage boxes and tote bags felt like I’d pulled the plug on my life all too soon. It had taken me four years to create that happy life and here I was leaving it all behind for the unknown. I had very little faith the relationship would last longer than my apparent six months maximum and I’d only been to Virginia once before moving there! What was I doing?

The night before the move I received a phone call from my boyfriend. He was on his way to Virginia from Alabama and we’d meet at the apartment we’d both selected on an earlier trip down the next day. For all intents and purposes it was a done deal. My car was packed and the only thing I kept on hand was a pillow and the phone. I tearfully explained I “couldn’t do it”. I couldn’t leave my family, my friends and my life behind. Going to college was only two hours from my Mom and that was hard enough. How would I see her, my nephews and everyone else? I’d never flown and they wouldn’t fly or drive that distance. I wasn’t too keen on driving it myself honestly. I told him no. He hung up on me only after asking me the unanswerable “what am I supposed to do now?” I cried myself to sleep but felt relieved. At least I had made the right decision for me. Mom was pleased when I told her too by phone. It had to be the right decision. My best friend next door agreed it was a good decision too and he’d been the one most encouraging about giving things a chance “down there.” In the morning I awoke to the phone. It was my boyfriend. He said he’d been thinking and it was OK if I didn’t want to move but we shouldn’t be apart on New Years Eve. He asked me to come down “just for the weekend” and while I was reluctant, I felt I owed it to him. He’d been so good to me. He deserved this. I left the next morning with my car still packed. He was so good to me he agreed to drive extra into Maryland and meet me at the hotel we’d stayed in on our one and only trip down. He knew how nervous I was about getting lost on the last leg of the trip.

Seeing him again through that ground floor hotel room window (even before he threw open the door) changed everything. I knew once I’d stepped through that door that I wouldn’t be going back to New Hampshire without him. He teased that he’d force me to leave on Monday but by Sunday we were unpacking my car together. That was it. I’d arrived in Virginia Beach and I’d be here for three years. We didn’t have furniture yet but we, being happy to be reunited, had fast food picnics on our floor. We watched movies on his laptop and I called my Mom from his cell phone.It wasn’t too long before things came together down here too. He took special liberty to bring me home to get my cat who had been living with Mom during the move stress. I found employment in the Human Resources of a publishing company albeit temporary. It was only once here that I realized how very different, even Virginia is from New England.

I suppose Southern Hospitality applies even this far “North”. They’re quick to state they aren’t “Southerners” here, but I believe differently. The most notable characteristic of Virginians is their ready friendliness. Everyone talks to everyone and seems to want to know everyone. It’s happened to me in laundry mats, at bus stops and even in grocery stores. People converse with strangers here. At first I thought I’d found Mecca, a big city with small town values. Over time I learned it’s a little different. Over time I learned that the initial Southern Hospitality displayed was their way of sizing you up. From answers you gave to specific questions you’d be pegged into likable or dis-likable categories. Without the realization that this was the reasoning behind the friendliness, I answered everything exactly as I would have back home. I’ve since learned to be less open. Perhaps it’s a negative thing to say but I just simply prefer the New England trait of people only associating with people they have a genuine desire in being friends with. You’re not sized up in New England unless someone is genuinely interested in you. The sizing might not happen right away. Down here, everyone is sized up almost equally and always immediately. Like I said, it’s a bit different.

The other challenge I had to contend with was the fact that everyone I seem to encounter here is extremely conservative. In a prior job I was in the process of being sized up (unaware I was of course, I thought we were just chatting casually) when I mentioned something about having a Wiccan Gay friend back home. Jaws dropped literally and before I knew it I was back to work alone and virtually ignored the rest of the day. To this day I don’t know which part offended them more. I don’t want to say that everyone who is religious is conservative, but it seems that those I’ve encountered here want you to either be Baptist or dead. Things don’t bode so well for those of us with no religious affiliation at all. It appears you only have spirit here if you actively attend, kind of like you can only be a true Southerner if you love grits. It’s rare you travel anywhere here without hearing God spoken of as often as food. It’s a cultural thing that took a few months to get used to. Back home religion is more “personal” from my experience. I definitely never heard a coworker up North stand up and say “God spoke to me and told me I was a prophet” followed by a fellow coworker’s “Praise Jesus!” I had to hold back my quite New England reaction of “Well if you’re truly a prophet, why are you working in a debt collection’s agency?”

I’ve lived in Virginia Beach a full year now and that’s enough to make me realize that most people in this area aren’t even from this area. It’s an area populated primarily to support the War On Terror it seems and there’s nowhere you’ll be able to go without seeing evidence of a military lifestyle. In a way the area reminds me of a letter I once received from a Malaysian pen pal I once had. She praised God and her President in the same breath. It’s that way here too. God and Bush, Bush and God. My motto can no longer be “Live Free or Die”. It has to be “Love Both Or Leave”. Forgive me for saying this, but “I’m Still Here!” And as for the family and friends I left behind when I left New Hampshire…they’re still here too. Technology is a marvelous thing and I’m able to talk to Mom on the phone every morning. My friends I keep in touch with via email and regular letters and on those rare occasions I have made it home, sure it seems impossible to gather together friends in three different states for a brief period of time on a workday when I happen to be able to swing through but you know something, it happens. Sometimes I think they were more distant when I lived next door.

The point in all of this is that even when you don’t expect or want to make a long move away from life as you’ve known it so far, that life doesn’t vanish with the packing of your car or a really expensive moving truck. You don’t lose friends or family once you hop on the turnpike. Sure you may find yourself in an area with different beliefs, values or customs then you’re used to but that doesn’t mean you should rule out the possibility that even here, in an area so remote from all you love, that you can’t make another new and good life. People are downright people. Eventually you will find friends and you will find parts of your new city that remind you of your old one. I like to go to a park nearby and sit on the grass. It reminds me of the fields near Mom’s and on a quiet day I can go back without ever having to pay a toll.

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I have collected common sayings on moving and moving companies by people who was happy, or not so happy with moving and moving companies.

“My family and I were planning a move from … to … All was exciting and scary at the same time.”

“For months, we planned, budgeted, gathered boxes and did everything that we felt we needed to do. We procured the apartment, that we found online and rented it sight unseen.”

“I called the truck rental company and complained about the slowness of the truck. After finally convincing them that something was wrong with it, (they told me there was no governor on the accelerator) they did give us a partial refund”

“I will say, however that the next time I plan a move, I will allow more time to save money and hire movers.”

“After handling all of that, there was still something that I found to be more important than any of these things: dealing with the emotional strain of moving. Leaving somewhere that I had called home for some time can be considered a loss, similar on a smaller scale to grieving for a loved one”

“Anger may not be a big part of the grieving process in the move. After all, it was planned and there were good reasons for it. But anger can pop up in little ways, probably when we realize changes we have to make that we didn’t think of ahead of time. Anger, at least irritation, might appear when one has to buy new clothes because of the change of climate.”

“Try making a list of all the things that are good about the move, big and small, and keep it handy to review every couple of days after the move. Schedule specific activities ahead of time. Set up a tee time for golf before moving. Call a church or synagogue before moving and commit to visiting on a specific day”

“Moving house brings with it much stress, stress brings forth perspiration, we then feel uncomfortable, worrying that we do not smell feminine as we should. Yes it may sound a little foolish that one would care to worry about this on such a stressful day yet so many of us do. I know I am always checking my deodorant and perfume on a stressful day. Yes in actual fact, I am so much more aware of my personal freshness than usual.”

“Psychologists classify moving as one of the most stressful occurrences of life, and this stress falls most heavily on the woman of the house. The smart woman will tap into the science and art of aromatherapy to make the day go smoothly. ”

“Trying to self-move into LA was my first mistake. Trying to navigate the maze of freeways is an adventure best left for the professionals. This may be a city built for the automobile, but it doesn’t come with easy directions. It took a couple stops at gas stations to make the intersection of the 101 and the 110 make sense to a newcomer… odds are that if a spot is big enough for a moving van, it’s probably not a legal spot. Eventually the problem was solved, the house went on to complete its journey, and one more Los Angeleno managed to complete his moving adventure.”

“FLATRATE Enterprises knows that any top-of-the-line moving company needs to have the upper hand on storage and packing facilities, as well as that of safeguarding their customers’ precious cargo. That calls for SPACE and plenty of it. That is why FLATRATE has chosen to locate their offices in…”

“You are ready to move! Your things are packed, you have a smile on your face and everything is looking good. The movers are there. In fact they were early! Everything seems to be going according to plan. You decide to go to Starbucks while the movers are carrying your things out. After all, you’ve earned it! You organized a huge move and you have everything running smoothly. You go to Starbucks and grab yourself something with loads of caffeine in it. As you head back to your soon to be old place, you smile with gratification at how well you’ve handled things. You did it! You rock! ”

“When it comes to your important possessions, play it safe. Select a reputable moving company. Make sure the company has references and make sure that you take the time to contact those references. Invest the time to go to the moving company’s office. How does the office look? Is it well kept? Is it a pigsty? How a business office is maintained can tell you a lot about the company right away. If things are out of order and in disarray, that is probably exactly how that business is managed. Make sure the company offers insurance. Make sure you know their policy on damage to your goods. Never do business with a company that just has a phone number…”

“One company with an excellent reputation for small office moves is FlatRate Moving. They’ve done this for decades, and were one of the first companies to specialize in moving home offices, and later small offices. They’ve moved companies ranging from law offices to small home based publishers across the country. ”

“When you’re unpacking, take the time to check every single box off the master packing list. Any box that looks dinged, open up and check the contents against the master packing list. ”

“A few days before your actual move, a highly skilled team of “packers” will arrive. FLATRATE packers are the best in the business. Efficient and conscientious, you will be amazed at how carefully your belongings will be packed. Within our team of packers we even have room specialist who will get right to work in the area they know best. Who better to pack your china hutch and all of its contents than someone who does that for a living? “

The day dawned bright and sunny, a perfect California moving day. We were bound for Oregon, with the promise of closeness to family and a new, better-paying job. We had found a house under construction and were committed to purchasing it. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky.

I picked up my friend and we drove to the local UHaul dealership. I requested the truck I had reserved over a month prior.
“Well,” said the cashier, “it looks like we don’t have any trucks available for out-of-state one-way moves today.”
“What? I made the reservation over a month ago, and confirmed it last week!”
“I’m sorry, sir, we don’t have any trucks available to go to Oregon.”
We went back and forth like this for a few minutes, and I realized that I was going to either lose my temper and possibly regret my actions, or we were going to have to go elsewhere.

I felt cheated. How could a company do business like this? We made some calls and finally ended up with a great big, yellow Penske truck that drove like a Cadillac. The only problem was that it had to come back to California. So many people were moving away from the Bay Area in 2001; the truck rental companies had insufficient inventory to supply one-way movers.

My wife had gone on ahead with the kids in the minivan, and I still had a car to bring. My father agreed that he would bring the car and meet me halfway, when the time came to return the truck. Our great friends loaded the truck and wished me well. I rolled the door closed over all our belongings and set off. As I wished San Jose well, I adjusted my 34-year-old buns in the seat, and hunkered down for a 17-hour drive into the night.

I-5 is a trucker’s paradise. These loud and long behemoths dominate the night, often trailing two or three boxcars in their wake. My majestic Penske, so bold in the daylight, became a doddering nuisance among the rightful rulers of the roadway. As they rumbled by, often at speeds over 90 miles per hour, I wondered at the lack of police presence on the open road.

Being graced with a relatively small bladder, I was forced to stop every 100 miles or so to relieve myself. I sensed an uneasy camaraderie with the truckers, once we were out of our vehicles and exposed like so many turtles without shells. They walked upright and urinated like men, although I knew they were human avatars of metal gods, released to earth for only a moment before being chained back into their thundering cages.

I drove through the night. When I felt drowsy, I pulled off the road and slept for 20 minutes at a time, grateful to be moving along without a real schedule. The next day, I pulled into Portland with bloodshot eyes and a fresh perspective.

My impression of long-distance moving does not mean the same as that of someone moving, say, across the country or around the world. But for me the move to Oregon rises among the memories of my life for a number of important reasons.

First, it was at a time that I had lived half my life in California and half elsewhere. I romanticized my early life in Oregon, hoping I could one day move back to my childhood home at the base of Mount Hood. But California represented freedom, and sunshine, and it was there that I sobered up for the last time to date. So it wasn’t easy.

Second, this was the first real opportunity we had as a family to make a big move that would change our whole lives. Sure, we had enjoyed some success with jobs and homes, but this meant a whole new community and a different experience of family. My wife was ready to leave her matriarchal family and launch in a new direction. We had a false expectation of being able to connect with my mother on a longer term (she passed away a year after we moved) but a church family stepped into the void, and we have enjoyed deep and meaningful relationships with friends.

Third, it was the physical separation of my son from me (born to my girlfriend in 1990, the year I sobered up). I see him now on scheduled visits (and he has achieved frequent flyer status on Alaska Airlines) but there is an open wound on both of us from that separation that may never heal. My girls sometimes forget him in family prayers or wishes, and for that I am sorry.

But overall, the move has been positive. We have enjoyed increased health and vitality as a family, and have been able to address some long-standing issues with debt and emotional maturity. I recommend that type of move to anyone.