Tag: packing

Well, we’ve moved out completely and closed on the selling of our house.

The trailer was packed to 23’9″, or 9″ over the 23 linear feet estimate. In the process of having our trailer dropped off and picked up, we discovered that the subcontractor for U-Pack (an ABF subsidiary) for our move was Old Dominion Household Services, which offers consumers moves direct to consumers themselves. I ran the estimates on OD Household Services and discovered that the move would have been 40% cheaper by going directly to OD. While I shopped around, I didn’t go deep enough into my search.

We’re currently living out of suitcases and bins with family, and preparing to fly out of the country for a few weeks. Our dogs are staying with other family in town and have settled in to a mostly lazy routine themselves after a rough couple of hours and lots of nervousness about the old house being emptied.

There’s nothing much left to do with moving but go to our new location and find a rental house. Our stuff is already on its way, and we’ll catch up with it in less than a month.

Since this is the last weekend before the movers help load the moving trailer, virtually everything is packed away now:

• All the dishes except for the ones that happened to be in the dishwasher at the time.
• The toaster oven, coffee makers, pots and pans.
• Any dry foods that required cooking or additional ingredients have been handed off to the sister in law.
• Soy sauce, fish sauce, and other non-refrigerated condiments and spices have also been handed off to the sister-in-law.
• About a week or so of clothes is packed for the Philippines trip which will happen the day after we close.
• I’ve packed 5 days of running outfits in my gym bag and will hold out 2 pair of running shoes as well.
• The “lawn mowing shoes” have been packed up. Oops. I have a backup pair of shoes that can be “converted”, though.

Observations so far:

• The shorter the time frame you have to work with, the less painful things become.
• Keep track of things that you’ll need close to or after the date in which your stuff gets packed up or transported away.
• Even if you eat out quite a bit, the amount spent getting carryout for dinner versus having to cover every meal without pots/pans/toaster oven is another level of expense altogether, unless you really like PB&J and cheese sandwiches.
• Starbucks VIA still has that “instant coffee” taste. I’m sticking to the french press as long as possible. Or buying coffee.
• I’m stashing an extra couple thousand dollars in a hidden “moving across the country” account on the off chance we do this again.

Still to do this weekend:

• Consolidate the technological devices in the house and pack any extra switches.
• Break down the beds so that they’re just mattresses on the floor and the rails and hardware are wrapped up for quick loading.