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Relocation & moving humor

Who would have thought?  Here are just a few of the tips I have gathered from our journeys based on events that you wouldn’t think would happen but did. 

 

Tip # 1.   Movers will tell they do not pack living plants.  They will tell you this at the beginning of the move process.  It is a normal expectation.  However, because they tell you this does not mean that they tell the people packing your goods this.  After arriving at our new destination, I was unpacking a book box.  I was unpleasantly surprised to find at the top of the box, my small 12 inch Christmas tree.  As we were moving only a few days before  Christmas, I had been looking for this Christmas tree.  It was the only Christmas tree we would have that year.  It was a live Christmas tree complete with wet soil.  Of course the wet soil had also managed to damage most of our coffee table books it was packed with. 

Be sure to let your mover know that you are quite comfortable with moving your plants yourself and you would prefer that

they not be packed with your books.

 

 

Tip #2.  Movers will tell you they do not pack grease, oil from cars and other liquid objects.  The packing of garage items was quite underway when my husband discovered he needed something.  I can’t even recall what he needed.  However, as he was searching for this item, (thank God!), he discovered the pail of oil that had been set aside to dispose of was packed in a box.  The pail had no cover and had about 5 quarts of oil.  I can only imagine the damage that might have been done….

Be sure to let your mover know that you would prefer that they not pack the open oil that you drained from your car.  You plan to recycle but not re-use.

 

Tip #3.  I have a curio that belonged to my grandmother which has hand made curved glass.  It is not an extremely valuable piece, however, it does mean a lot to me and the handmade curved glass is not replaceable.  In addition the legs are quite fragile.  For our one move, I expressed my concern and the carrier said that would crate this item to protect it.  It arrived to our new destination in the same condition as the old destination.  I was grateful.  For our next move, I requested it be crated to protect it.  They said that would be unnecessary.  They would be extremely careful with it and wrap it in movers’ quilts.  However, their extreme care included pushing it on its’ wobbly legs until the legs came off.  It never even made it out of the house and into the moving van!  ….

Be sure to hover over the mover whenever family

heirlooms are involved.  It is the only way!

 

Tip #4.  Many of you may have a box of bows that you keep handy.  Be aware that even if your box of bows is full, it may not be full enough to satisfy the movers.  In our last move, I discovered some of my children’s stuffed animals packed on top of my bows.  Amazingly very few of the bows could be used.  I had visions of using them, smashed and squashed with no apparent shape.  The recipient of the package would give me the “You couldn’t afford a new bow? look”  and I could reply, “It is new.  I was the first to remove the paper backing from the sticky stuff.  I swear.” 

 Be sure to request that nothing be packed with your

bow box—it is already full and packed.

 

Tip #5.  One of my favorite packing scenarios was this toy my sons had—the Ball Party Roll Around Tower by TOMY.  It is the tower that you drop balls down.  It comes in 5 pieces that you put together and then an assortment of 10 or so balls.  Ours was together in one piece prior to the move.  It came out of no less than 8 different boxes.  Each of the 5 building pieces was packed into separate boxes.  Even the balls were scattered among three boxes.  Does this take additional planning to ensure that matched items are scattered into separate boxes?

    Be sure to request that related components stay together

and not get unnecessarily scattered into different boxes.

 

 

Tip #6.   When we left DC, it was in August and yes it was hot.  I can only say be sure to have plenty of plastic cups at the kitchen sink.  My husband offered the movers $xx. to buy them lunch.  They came back to say it was not enough money, we needed to give them more.  We had offered them 2 six-packs of soda to help quench their thirst (There were six of them so it would be two drinks each.).  They soon raided our refrigerator and drank EVERYTHING.  They even drank my 5 year old son’s juice boxes.  I was and am utterly astounded.  They left us nothing to drink.  I am told it is a common practice for movers to bring water bottles and such knowing that they work up a thirst—especially during the hot summer months.  Obviously somebody forgot to tell our movers. 

Be sure to understand in advance what your

feeding responsibilities will be and put a lock

on your refrigerator.

 

Tip #7.    What they take apart, they are supposed to put back together, unless of course they can’t find the parts box or its late and they are too tired.  At one of our moves the contract included putting beds and other unassembled furniture together at the new location.  Granted it was a long day, but they left without putting the beds back together saying they were too tired.  We were tired too and the baby needed his crib! 

If you are paying for the service—make sure

 they perform the service or agree to a reduction in fees.

 

Tip #8.    One young man, after moving a large piece of furniture into a room, made a quick movement of his head to get his hair out of his eyes.  The movement also flung a splatter of  “sweat” along our freshly painted walls!  My stomach recoiled and I couldn’t look at the spot for quite a while even after it was re-painted.

Maybe movers should wear hair nets to keep their hair

in place so that there is no need for excessive

head movements that could cause

“water” damage to the walls.