[kababqueen]

zakk said:

Yeah we are purging left and right. I would advise against purging the big items unless they are old and you have the $$$ to get new stuff, it isn't easy to get rid of a lot of things for a price that will enable you to get the same quality replacement. A lot of the stuff we're purging is old or stuff we've never used in 10 years....

See if you can sell some of the things you need to get rid of instead of tossing them. I've actually sold a lot of old/junk items on Craigslist for a profit in the past...some people out there will buy just about anything

[Shivermetimbers]

oh, purging! i'm such a fan. almost every three weeks, i donate a garbage bag or two full of stuff to good will, perfectly good stuff too. if i don't use it, out it goes. i absolutely cannot stand unnecessary clutter. i have a bit of trouble doing it when it comes to expensive clothing my kids have worn only once or have never worn but outgrown cos i forgot we had them :( i feel like maybe i should save them for another baby, but then i think i'm sure there're people who could use them a lot more than me. i get rid of a lot of great baby stuff in general. just this week, i gave away a baby bjorn priced at 120, which my kids have used only once. i still have a brand new baby bath tub (good will wont take it), two booster seats used only once, another baby bjorn, two bouncers in amazing condition, another baby bjorn...maybe i should post some of this stuff on islamica in case anyone wants them here, can i even do that? hmmm.

anyways, moving on to moving inshaAllah, we're doing a fairly large move in approx 5 days as well. the hardest part was finding movers who would give us an in-home estimate as opposed to having us list all our stuff over the phone/by e-mail and then giving us a price. from what i've read, the latter can be very unreliable and end up costing a few grand more.

we opted for a binding estimate which allows room for as much extra weight as we like without any additional charges, but if we end up with less than the original estimate, we get our money back.

i'm not too stressed because we're getting everything packed, right from the beds to our junk mail. as far as i'm concerned, time = money. surprisingly, it can be relatively inexpensive compared to the actual move when you're moving so long distance. you're already paying a bajillion dollars, so a few hundred extra to save you soooooooooooooo much stress doesn't seem like as much as it normally would (e.g., move = 9k, packing = $950...get what i mean?). i don't know if using movers for a local move would be as cost effective though.

from everything i've read, here're some stuff to be aware of/watch out for:

- the method of payment you use. many moving companies will fail to inform you of the additional 10% or more they charge for running a credit card.
- does the "weight" include the weight of the truck?
- will fees for tolls and fuel be added
- when will everything be delivered. will it be over a spread of days?
- will the actual company be doing the move or do they use independent contractors? do these contractors undergo a background check.
- to what extent are they liable for damages incurred to your goods or the homes you will be moving from and to. for e.g. will they pay up if they damage your floors?

This post has been edited by Shivermetimbers: 07 July 2010 - 09:10 AM

[Budmano786]

Craigslist

[Mozlem]

If the practice is paying for the move, take advantage of the unpacking services the moving company provides. We did on our last move and it was great. We were pretty much unpacked in a day or so. I think it's expensive though, so if you're paying yourself, it might be worth hiring a couple of girls for a day or two. One can watch the kids and the other can unpack, break down boxes etc. It sounds like you're being pretty organized about packing, so that should help in the unpacking.

[Shivermetimbers]

PhDGirl said:

If the practice is paying for the move, take advantage of the unpacking services the moving company provides. We did on our last move and it was great. We were pretty much unpacked in a day or so. I think it's expensive though, so if you're paying yourself, it might be worth hiring a couple of girls for a day or two. One can watch the kids and the other can unpack, break down boxes etc. It sounds like you're being pretty organized about packing, so that should help in the unpacking.

i know large furniture items such as beds, cribs, couches etc are "unpacked" (re-assembled in the case of bed and cribs), but how does that work for stuff like dishes? does unpacking mean they'll place/hang items in your cabinets/closets for you or just that they'll take it out of the boxes?

our stuff isn't here yet and i hadn't considered that taking stuff out of the boxes themselves would be a lot of work..is it?

[Mozlem]

I guess how helpful it is it depends on how much stuff you have. Ours put books on shelves, hung clothes in closets etc. Then they also broke down all of the boxes and put them in the attic and took away all of the packing material.

[Shivermetimbers]

PhDGirl said:

I guess how helpful it is it depends on how much stuff you have. Ours put books on shelves, hung clothes in closets etc. Then they also broke down all of the boxes and put them in the attic and took away all of the packing material.

i think having that done for you is always helpful i don't think it would work for me though, because i like my things organized in specific ways.

[Mozlem]

Shivermetimbers said:

i think having that done for you is always helpful i don't think it would work for me though, because i like my things organized in specific ways.

Yeah, I moved when the baby was pretty new and was nursing, recovering from a c sxn etc etc, so we were happy for all the help we could get! We had them pack up our stuff too. I'm not sure how expensive it was though since this move was paid for (we've never used packing/unpacking services before on previous self-funded moves).

They do it how you want though. Like you say "put the large dishes here, and small ones here" etc and then go to the other room and tell the other guy "put these books on this shelf" etc. Even if you organize it all yourself, it might be worth you having someone watch the boys to do it yourself and/or help you with the boxes, packing material etc.

[Shivermetimbers]

PhDGirl said:

Yeah, I moved when the baby was pretty new and was nursing, recovering from a c sxn etc etc, so we were happy for all the help we could get! We had them pack up our stuff too. I'm not sure how expensive it was though since this move was paid for (we've never used packing/unpacking services before on previous self-funded moves).

yeah, we went with packers because our move was paid for as well. if we ever move in the future, i definitely plan on hiring packers again inshaAllah. in addition to not having to worry about doing anything ourselves at the origin, it made unpacking at our new place a breeze! all the boxes were labelled so they were placed in the rooms they belonged right away. furniture which needed assembling was completed within minutes and everything inside the boxes was so neatly organized as well (no toothpaste in the dishes box). all my folded clothing was still folded and clothes on hangers were in boxes with railings, so all i had to do was just take them off the railing and hang them up.

Quote

They do it how you want though. Like you say "put the large dishes here, and small ones here" etc and then go to the other room and tell the other guy "put these books on this shelf" etc. Even if you organize it all yourself, it might be worth you having someone watch the boys to do it yourself and/or help you with the boxes, packing material etc.

you are so right. the husband is at home so he watched the kids while i unpacked. if he hadn't been around and i had no one to look after the kids it would have taken me weeks! i thought of you while i was taking the stuff out of the boxes. the packers used SO much paper, taking it out of the boxes was a mission in itself. in some of the boxes they would have one dish and the rest of it would be filled with paper, a little ridiculous really.

another potential hassle would have been the disposal of all the boxes and packing material. our recycling company said we'd have to break the boxes down and then cut them up into 3x3 pieces. so for a very small additional fee we had them take the boxes with. veryyyy worth it. depending on how many boxes you have, something like that could take hours.

in bad news, over $1k worth of the husband's ps3 games as well as our nintendo ds and all the games for it were stolen. we took our valuables with us, but we never even considered taking the games. something to keep in mind for the future.

[Laimuun]

we're moving. trying to start packing really sucks because I don't really know what to start with.

[Mozlem]

Laimuun, can you start with winter stuff?