Moved cross country 5 years ago. Learned some very important lessons:

1. There is stuff you definitely will not want to bring; get rid of it now rather than later.

2. There is stuff you will definitely think you want, and that feeling will last until you get moved, start opening boxes and then you will wonder what you were thinking.

3. You will unpack 90% of the boxes within the first month. The other 10% will take ten years.

Look at what he's packing, fudge. He's a fudge packer. Have you heard of "Brokeback Mountain"? They were "fudgepackers" too.

I helped a lady friend move a few months ago and she used a website to find moving guys that worked for a reasonable price. I think they have the website advertised on the side of U-haul trucks. She boxed everything up, two guys showed up dollies and a heavy duty hand truck, they loaded everything into the truck. Then when we got to our destination a different group of guys showed up and unloaded everything for us, all I had to do was drive the truck... and it was worth it to get her out of my life (long story)

Kudos to you for taking care of your mother.

To your friends you're trying to hustle - Promises of pizza, endless beer, drinks afterwards, attractive members of opposite sex coming over to help too, money...

"you just do the small stuff, I'll take the sofas and TV down"

they soon realize it's all lies... :)

rjp


PS - happy for you and your mom...

you think PACKING sucks? Try moving it all by yourself. Yeah, I've had to do that a couple times, but luckily the last couple times I moved, I had help from friends and my dad.

I hate moving.

We just bought a 5 bedroom house on 2 acres and we've been moving for like a month now. I'm so done with moving I hope to never do it again.

Hiedi

DO what I'm doing. Limit yourself to a small container. For me it is a 12x6x5.5 trailer. What ever fits I am taking.

I have already tossed/donated three truck bed loads full of cr@p I previously couldn't live without, but haven't so much as looked at in the past 2 years. There are some well dressed Mexicans in TJ right now.

Don't get the empty boxes get them filled with booze if your mother is movin in, that's what I'd have to do if it was my mother.

Good Luck!!!!

Rent the biggest U-haul you can get. Make one trip. Pay for the insurance.

Thank you for your kind words, everyone.

My mom is in her 70s. I'm an oopsie baby. :) The best oopsie that ever happened too....LOL

I do have movers coming red-beard.

I moved my dining table to the wall (it's a 6 seater, so there's room), put the pads and the table cloth on it, and have been packing in there. Don't have to move the box after it's full. Got a great system going here LOL.

pbs, I hear ya on that. But I'm a minimalist anyway. I feel, if I haven't used it in a year, I don't need it. The thing is, when you store stuff, then you (1) forget you had it, or (2) can't find it when you need it, then go buy another one anyway. That's my rule so it's not too bad here....

cool_chick,

Good luck with your mother, I hope the new living arrangements work well. I go to the grocery store and get banana boxes and Dell PC boxes from work when I'm getting ready to move. Label the boxes well and try to box things up in the order you'll need to unbox them. Don't make the boxes too heavy!

Thanks for the advice everyone. And thank you AZ.

AZ, I also marked the final stuff (thus most important) in boxes labeled "final." This way, it's the first to come out....

Just sitting here waiting for the movers in a cluttered, boxed up place. LOL

Wish me luck.

CC,
Glad to hear you've got everything under control. The last time we had to pack was 25 years ago. The only trouble was my wife got out of it by going into labor! I'm glad I could do the other delivery with a U-haul. I sure as heck wouldn't have wanted to go through what she did. (Yes I was there for her delivery too!)
Notes from that week:
1/ An Elephant-ear begonia will respond with renewed, vigorous growth after being mangled in the back door of a moving van.
2/ When the Doctor says,"Push!", take a moment to ensure the delivery table wheels are locked, before following his instructions.
3/ Stuff packed by a distracted, newly-minted father is not always packed in a fashion which allows a new mother to find it a few weeks later. Hmmm.
Les

Lucky wife...I think....

Well I'm in, found free wireless internet. One thing that I cannot get over though.....

There was a parking lot in the back of my old place, I had two long ivys I was going to carry by hand. Somehow, I don't understand when they had the time to, but somehow, they were stolen.

I still can't believe it. Those ivys took me years to grow too. This is not easily replacable. I'm literally depressed and sick about it.

Why would someone do that? God only knows. But wow. I mean really now......wow.....

When we left San Diego, the extra price to have someone else pack for us was only $800. It was well worth the price!

Dude, I spent 700 dollars today. a 1 bedroom. About 1 1/2 miles away.

Edit: Total Est. Distance: 2.36 miles

We spent $4800, not counting moving the cars or Airline tickets. And we had a tough time getting a moving van. Appearently, there are more people leaving California than moving in.

Bummer. Sorry to hear that.. :(

rjp

bigchiller, good lawd boy your all sorts of puffed up like an adder you are! Yo best is get a doctor to look at dat back of yours, wide as a barn door it is!

oh god, mike..not that pic..lol. i took a fair beating from the guys over that in another thread. why'd ya post that?
ryan