Aaaah, we are finally in our new home, in a new location (North Carolina) and we are even somewhat unpacked. So, while the thoughts are fresh, I thought I would share my moving tips:

1. For do it your selfers moving long distance, forget U-Haul (whose customer service was awful in Syracuse) and go with UPack.com. Not only did we save well over $800, but they did the driving, paid for the gas and they have unbelievable customer service. Additionally, we originally thought we only needed a 19′ of space. We ended up using 26′. If we had gotten a 24′ U-Haul or god forbid a 19′ U-Haul, we would have been up the proverbial creek.
2. Craigslist.com, Craigslist.com, Craigslist.com. We sold sooooo much of our stuff on craigslist. Way better than EBay for this kind of thing. All local people. Cash. No shipping. Additionally, I was able to find someone who would take my freshwater tropical fish AND we found several people who had boxes to give away (simply posted a WANTED item). In our new digs, I have put my boxes up on Craigslist and had 15 takers within an hour.
3. Forget buying boxes. They are wicked expensive. Try craigslist.com. Also liquour stores are great for small boxes. Try to go to one of the bigger warehouse ones. The employees are all to happy to get rid of them so that they don’t have to break them down.
4. Bike boxes make great picture containers. Go down to your local bike store and ask them for 3 or 4 bike boxes. We put all of our pictures in these, as well as glass shelves, glass doors from cabinets, etc. They worked great.
5. Pipe foam insulation (the stuff you wrap your pipes with) works great as a bumper guard. Just make sure to get the non-sticky kind, so it won’t leave a residue. I put these on table edges, etc. as an extra layer of protection. It is like $0.70 for 4 feet. These also work great for shipping bikes, too.
6. You can never have enough boxes.  Or enough packing paper.  Or enough friends to help you move
7. Heavy boxes go on the bottom, light ones on top.  Duh.
8. Keep you screwdrivers, box-cutters, etc. packed separately so you have them available when you get to your new place.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 11th, 2006 at 7:01 am and is filed under Misc.. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.