Moving on
17I hope @mbersiam’s house sale experience is contagious. I’ve decided to move back to Ohio from Florida, and it’s been several decades since I had to organize a move. My employer paid for several moves, overseas and domestic. They waved a wand, movers showed up, packed everything, and unpacked at my new house. I never saw a bill. Now I’m retired, and it’s all very complicated.
- 17 comments, 19 replies
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You moving back to be with your family? (I just can’t imagine Ohio as being a retirement hot spot.)
@Barney Yes, my mom’s family settled there in 1839 and cousins abound.
@OldCatLady Getting used to cold weather again could be a challenge. Do you even own a heavy coat?
@Barney Yes, when I moved here, I kept my good leather coat and cashmere scarves. Before I retired, I traveled to cold places often.
@Barney @OldCatLady 1839?! You must have good genes.
@Barney @mehcuda67 @OldCatLady
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Perhaps this felllow will keep you warm?
@Barney @mehcuda67 @mike808 @OldCatLady OwO![:eyes:](https://dj5zo597wtsux.cloudfront.net/emojione/assets/3.1/png/64/1f440.png)
@Barney @mehcuda67 @OldCatLady @PooltoyWolf
Walter (@Felton10) ain’t jelly you moving to Ohio. He gots bidness to take care of.
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Best of luck! My only advice is use colored dot stickers to organize boxes. Much easier than trying to write on the boxes and then read it when you’re moving in to the new place.
Maybe she is moving to get away from all the wackos down here including Gov. DeDumbass.
@Felton10
Maybe she also likes gator-free pools.
@OldCatLady, hope this all goes splendidly!
@Felton10 I’m gonna use that name from now on…
@PooltoyWolf I have written him many e-mails referring to him like that. He never responds???
@Felton10 It’s a factor, along with climate change, bugs and Flori-duh Man and Flori-duh Wimmen.
I’m interested in moving from Ohio (Cinci) to Florida. House swap? I want to get away from the income taxes…I lost 10% of my income moving to OH from TX…really want to move back to one or the other, but the fam is all in FL
I have moved a number of times. It is helpful to have uniform sized boxes in several sizes so your piles in the uhaul don’t fall over (also rope to secure rows periodically). It may be worth hiring someone to pack the moving truck. Don’t forget to rent a pile of furniture pads with your uhaul.
Check craigslist or something for someone dumping moving boxes. A moving company around here saves used boxes and when I asked for a handful of dishpack ones they gave them to me although I had to dig through the rather large pile to find those. Buying the brown package tape is cheaper (usually) by the 6 pack of which you may need two of those.
I bought colored dots like suggested - put them on the sides and top of the box. That way no matter how they are being stacked to move around you can see what that is.
I bought mailing labels (mid sized ones) and hand wrote what was in each box on those and stuck them to the side of the box. Way easier than opening a bunch to see what was in them.
Make sure you have packing paper. If a box isn’t tightly filled then the box tends to collapse. If that box is near the bottom of the stack the stack is then unstable.
Make sure you have separately, and put in last, things you need first. Label those boxes differently so you can easily find them. At the new place put them all in one place so you know where they are and can find them to unpack first, so you have at least one plate and a pan, etc. so you can cook, a change or two of clothes (unless that suitcase will be in your car), etc. Don’t dot color them for the room they will eventually end up in as then they can get buried.
Pack plates and dishes on their side rather than stack them. Stacking them flat increases the odds they will get cracked when the box bounces in the truck. Put a wad of paper on the bottom of the dish pack and between each layer.
Mark boxes that are light and will crush easily (like lamp shades) as “top load” (term the movers use) so you (or whomever) puts them on top rather than on the bottom.
Get rid of things well prior to packing as eventually the odds are high and you will run out of time. I had boxes I had to label “junk by the chair in the living room” and hoped I remembered what had been stacked up there. I then threw out half the crap that was in that box once I unpacked.
Working by myself it took me (house not apt) about 3 weeks of 6+ hours a day, 7 days a week to pack everything up to move.
Good luck. Moving is a giant PITA.
Oh I almost forgot. And all the crap you may have bought from meh? Well if you then decide to put most of it in a garage sale rather than move it… well 'nough said (grin).
I had good experience using U-Pack a few years ago for an interstate move. They drop off a big empty trailer at your house. You have a few days to load it, then have to install a locked barrier. They then use the rest of the trailer for shipping on their roundabout way to your destination. You pay a base fee with more per foot of trailer that you use.
I hired separate loading and unloading crews. A three-man loading or unloading crew can work very efficiently, but it really depends on the quality of crew you get.
One thing I think is a good idea that rarely gets mentioned: A few days before your last packing/loading push, make sure you pack a bag with everything you’ll need for a week or so, as if you are going on vacation and start living out of it. That way, when you’re in your final push and packing up things that you had to save for last you don’t have to stop and think “am I going to need this during the move” for every little thing.
I bought a whole bunch of different color 3m postems and put a different color on each box according to the room I wanted the box to end up in. Then put that color postem around the door frame so the mover would know which room to put the box in. BTW-Bankers boxes (even light duty) are pretty strong and can be piled 4 high without being crushed.
@Felton10
Are Bankers Boxes a brand name? Or a type of box?
@f00l that is a brand name although I got the ones at staples for about 2.00 a piece in batches of 10-even less with coupons I had. Probably bought 140 of them total.
Geeks use apps. I was all set to make a flowchart, but instead of reinventing the wheel, I’m using https://moveadvisor.com, and new & recycled packing material, including honeycomb paper. And color coded labels. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DVC4ZBS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_fabc_172122P5VZQ5V603Y38S?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
where abouts in The ol’ buckeye state if you don’t mind me asking. (I’m in Lima)
Don’t worry, I’m totally not going to show up at your door unannounced…Totally…
@earlyre Wood County, specifically in BG. I just saw that the house where my grandma was born (1886) sold in January. It was built during the oil/gas boom, and many like it are still going strong.
@OldCatLady Cool! Which of the historical tribes inhabiting Ohio did your European ancestors displace?
@mike808, I Can’t speak for @OldCatLady, but My ancestors( been here since the 1850’s IIRC) bought land that would have been either Shawnee, or Ottawa…
Lima was Def. Shawnee territory, but the river that runs through it is the Ottawa River…15-20 miles north, it runs through(on it’s way to the Blanchard, and Maumee Rivers, then Lake Erie) the county seat of Putnam County, Ottawa. which was former the site of one of the last Ottawa villages before they were forceably removed. To make way for a bunch of Swiss and Germans to move in…
BTW: The natives were removed by an act of congress in 1831 (The Same year my City, Lima, was founded! coincidence? of course not!)
ever hear of the Indian removal act(s), or the trail of Tears?
I was actually really disappointed when I did the Ancestry DNA…knowing my family was in N.America Since the Early 1700’s (mostly in VA, and yes… another branch did have a plantation…)
than I have ZERO Non European DNA…
No Native American, or African DNA…
I was hoping for SOMETHING… nope, just a white bread mutt from around Europe,mostly Alsace.
@earlyre The problem with “ancestry” DNA geolocation is that they are comparing your DNA to where people are now, not then.
Pretty much like finding out you have Native American ancestry and concluding you’re from Oklahoma. That’s not how it works. But people believe it. smh.
With any luck, we’ll have a “Trail of MAGAs” to Florida where they can be contained. We’ve done it before, so there is a chance.
Liquor boxes are great for moves. Very strong, and they have dividers for glass ware, etc.
i wish you well…
but why? why are you moving back to ohio after decades away from there?
I work at a C-store (Casey’s) and every so often we get people asking us to save boxes for them. Usually medium sized (cheese, meat, etc) ones work best for moves. Some really sturdy types of boxes are the ones that our soft-serve ice cream mix, Gatorade, antifreeze, and windshield wash fluid come in.
So my suggestion is that you ask local businesses if they will save boxes for you and specify what size and if you are okay with them being broken down or not. (You definitely don’t want the sturdier types broken down as they are very difficult to break down without damaging the box.)
Although shopping at Walmart irritates me to no end, they some incredibly good prices on moving boxes in a variety of sizes. In store, they’re located in the office supply section. They also have a huge selection of boxes and moving kits online. Free two-day delivery saves you the trip and hassle.
I moved from IN to KS, but had a lot of time to get organized for the move (11 months!). Downsize! was my mantra and I’d repeat GROS (Get Rid of Shit!) to myself a lot. A friend said I was brutal about letting things go. Two years later, not missing any of it.
I hired guys to pack my truck. Best money ever spent.
@transplant I can use GROS as a mantra! Thanks, it’s better than just muttering to myself. “Touch once” is what I’d used in past.
My suggestion is to write what’s in the box bc you may have stuff boxed up a lot longer than than anticipated. Sometimes life happens and those boxes stay packed up. Also if your having somebody move your stuff make sure you know how many box’s total (maybe break them up into categories) I’ve lost stuff from unprofessional mover. Have no idea what they did with it but it never made it back to me.
Ohio has it going on. Wind farm, solar and all.
http://www.amppartners.org/generation/wind-power
Get rid of as much as you can .
Start packing a box a day ,the out of season stuff.
Once again purge items
Print out sticker labels that list the rooms in your new house. Every box gets labeled on side and top. That way movers can put in right room
@CaptAmehrican I did get color coded labels and matching packaging tape, and the app lets me ID what’s in each box, and which room it was in. Yellow is kitchen/pantry, dark blue is MBR etc. Lots of FRAGILE labels, too. Three boxes a day is my goal, and I have stacks of Costco grocery boxes for friends to root through before I toss or donate stuff. I’ve found homes for my plants, including tubs of outdoor herbs.