Travel For FOUR

We’re officially homeless. After closing this morning, we’re now camped at the local Panara before heading off to Smith Mountain Lake. Any bets on how many pounds of stuff is in our car? After two trips in a huge truck to storage in VA last week, we still have more to take along. The car’s full and we had to send two boxes to ourselves in VA via USPS…now, that’s pretty sad. Who thought we had so much stuff? Good thing we rented the largest storage unit…the sad thing is that we’ll probably get used to living without all this stuff in London and decide to sell it all when we return 🙂
It’s been an exhausting and emotional day, but good in total. What a difference having adorable, excited buyer makes. Our home is in good hands…The buying couple’s young, positive and friendly. Our neighbors will be pleased to have a nice replacement. And I’m excited that all my plants will be well cared for.

YAY!

Never, do you ever have a sense of how much stuff is in your home, until you move. We’ve now moved 95% of the stuff out of our house and are now left with tough decisions on what to take with us. For months you all have asked (as we’ve chatted about the move), “What will you take with you?” or “What will go in storage?”. We’re now closer to the answer than ever before, but it’s been more difficult to decide than I ever imagined.

From the beginning, we’ve said that we’ll take computers, kitchen gadgets and clothes. But, which ones? Here’s where we landed:

• We bought a Mac mini to be our server in London and also purchased a matching hard drive so that they’ll stack and take up only a bit of space in our postage-stamp apartment
• G and I bought new Mac laptops (I already had one, but it was a few years old–we replaced it with a new one since I’ll be in school there)
• Clothing that we’ve worn within the last year and that is still relatively new. We’re donating anything tattered, slightly out-of-date, uncomfortable, or likely to be worn only once per year. Shoes have been especially difficult to decide on–they take up lots of space when packing, but they (and all clothing for that matter) are very expensive in the UK. Is it worth it to take the slightly worn slingbacks to London? Jury’s still out.
• Gadgets that would be difficult to find or replace within the UK. Including: A jar opener (my favorite–and difficult to find), our kitchen knives (expensive), chopper (no onions by hand!), measuring cups and spoons (they may be on the metric system?), favorite recipes, cookie dough scoop (even G would say this is a priority)

And for the other question, “How will you get your stuff there?”…We’ve looked into all the shipping options and have decided that the USPS is the best and least expensive method. But, first, we’ll take as much as we can on the flight over (amounting to about 260 lbs). And G’s parents will visit this fall and bring additional items with them, as well.

We’ll then have anything else shipped once we’ve settled in an apartment.

Why are we so attached to our “stuff”?

Our 26′ truck is packed tight! Our moving help was amazing at organizing the boxes and other items–making the most of our load. E-move is great! A couple pointers for those who may be moving long-distance or putting things in storage for a move abroad:

• Buy a Scotch Gift Wrap tape dispenser (the type that you put on your hand). And at least one package of three refills
• Buy two good shipping tape dispensers and at least 10 rolls of tape to start (not the dispos-o dispensers…the ones that have real handles and blades)
• Depending on your artwork, buy 5-10 rolls of brown shipping paper to wrap frames and mirrors
• Buy boxes with foam dish packs–the little pockets protect your china, but don’t require tape
• Rent PLENTY of shipping blankets. They help you to pad things in the truck, but also help you to keep the contents tight to avoid shifting in transit
• On smooth floors, put a shipping pad down and place heavy furniture on top of it…use this to slide the furniture to the exit door
• Save your back! Use the dollies to move the boxes even if you could manage…save your strength for the big stuff
• For items with glass doors (china cabinets, curios, etc.). Place cardboard on top of the glass. Use the saran wrap wands to secure the cardboard.
• Make corners out of cardboard or bubblewrap to protect furniture edges, frame corners and other items in storage
• In the summer, move the stuff out of the attic first (put it in the garage). Then, you won’t have to romp into the attic during the heat of the day
• Check into e-move and use their rating tool to find good help. Having our awesome mover made the day much easier.

Now, we’re off to Virginia to drop things off…before heading back to pick up a few last things and to clean before leaving for good.With the largest truck Budget has, a good packer to fill it to the brim and still more stuff to go, this makes me wonder how folks in larger houses move themselves…

Off to Virginia.

After four solid days of packing, the time is almost here to start loading the truck. The question is, are we ready? In the morning we go to pick up our moving truck and shortly thereafter our help will arrive.

We thought it best to hire someone to help move the furniture, applicance, and other heavy and bulky stuff. We made a reservation through eMove.com which serves as a sort of match-maker between moving customers and moving labor. We selected a buy that has good reviews and works independantly, so we know who will show up. With some of the company listings, the reviews varied wildly as the actual workers changed between jobs. I think it is a great idea — we’ll see how it turns out.

Well, it’s off to bed. We have a big day tomorrow.