Saturday, August 04, 2007

Packing Hints ( part one of ????)

Get a GOOD heavy duty paper shredder. Take the bills, the duplicate cheques, the duplicate orders... from 1999 -2004. Shred. (took about 3 days, letting the shredder cool down when it quit in a fit of pique and a very hot odour) use the shredded documents as padding for the really delicate "good stuff" crystal and figurines.

Get Space Bags as well as good sturdy plastic bins. space bags are hard to put in the truck so put the bags in the bins. Remember, (unlike this twit "speaking" to you) that even though the bags LOOK small, put enough of them in a bin, the bin is HEAVY!

Make sure your Thrift Shop takes everything else... and keep really careful records of what you donate. (and no shopping while you are in there, although if you DO find that perfect little black dress....what the DH doesn't know won't hurt, right?)

Before you decide to use PODS, make sure they come to your area. We are going to have to either beg for one to come this way, or use UHaul... Best laid plans etc etc.

Ok, that's it so far. As I remember more of my long lost packing skills (Haven't PCSed in a long time) I'll put it down. But if any of YOU have any hints, for heavens sake, let me know.

LAW

13 comments:

Kristen said...

Hi.

I'm tagging you.

Please visit the link for your instructions. :)

http://kristentsetsi.blogspot.com/2007/08/i-have-been-tagged.html

Kristen said...

(exept, that last part is "html")

Kristen said...

Also - on space bags. We tried those when we moved, and they were great for the INITIAL packing-of-items-into-the-trunk, but they slowly deflated during the drive and puffed up enormously.

They don't seem to work as well as advertised. Not remotely.

Susan said...

A good bottle of wine and a sense of humor help a lot. I agree with the space bags reinflating. They just didn't hold up. Good luck with the move, though!!

Anonymous said...

Try gettting different colored stickers and marking the items that go in a certain room with a certain color. That way instead of having to read the box as it comes off the truck to tell them where it goes you can see red and know kitchen, blue and know bedroom. Made my last move so much easier! Plus we ALWAYS feed the movers even if it's just homemade sandwhiches, all of our stuff makes it w/o a scratch and this move we had some extra furniture that wasn't ours =)

Aunty Pol said...

so you have orders ?

Lee Anne said...

We're having a pantry potluck and liquor liquidation with some other families PCSing at the same time. We're firing up the grill and cleaning out the freezer.

Scully's Moulder said...

Especially for kitchen drawers, but really for anything that has several smaller pieces and belongs in the same place. Get the gallon sized zip-lock bags. Quart sized for smaller stuff. Put all your forks in one bag, spoons in another, knives in yet another, and let TMO pack that. One thing I hate doing is sorting things like silverware after it's unpacked. Also good for craft items, etc. for the "junk drawer" that everyone has, just put it all in a big zip-lock bag. Then, reconstructing the "junk drawer" is as simple as dumping he bag into it.

Reasa said...

For things you want to take with you go to a grocery store and ask for the fruit boxes. You can pack them full and the lid slides right on top. The handles on the sides make it so much easier to haul around.

Anonymous said...

I went crazy for space bags a few years ago. They are good. Except that I guess I stuffed them too full ... one popped open as it was being loaded onto the van and, wouldn't you know it, out popped all my huge pregnancy underwear/bras!

Unknown said...

ugh- orders. Fun fun fun

Wendy aka Cheeky said...

Oh I remember the days of orders - now we just move because of jobs - sorta the same thing.....

Good sense of humor and sense of adventure....

Green said...

When I moved my parents, I used their tax documents from 1977 on as padding after I shredded it all. I know how it feels.