Advice for someone who is moving halfway across the country?

[Elitist Bitch]

So, I'm about 11 days away from leaving Idaho for Minneapolis. I have a job and a place to live. We're not taking a car with us. I'll be living with my boyfriend of two years, and I'll be working while he goes to law school. (Not supporting him though, we split things down the middle). We're in the process of packing, and we're taking either a van and trailer or a U-haul truck with our stuff there. Is there anything I can do to make our move easier? Some hint or trick that someone has found that makes moving less stressful? Should I take furniture or leave it? And how the hell do I ensure that my vinyl record collection doesn't get warped en route?

[voodoo]

So, I'm about 11 days away from leaving Idaho for Minneapolis. I have a job and a place to live. We're not taking a car with us. I'll be living with my boyfriend of two years, and I'll be working while he goes to law school. (Not supporting him though, we split things down the middle). We're in the process of packing, and we're taking either a van and trailer or a U-haul truck with our stuff there. Is there anything I can do to make our move easier? Some hint or trick that someone has found that makes moving less stressful? Should I take furniture or leave it? And how the hell do I ensure that my vinyl record collection doesn't get warped en route?

If you find yourself putting something in a box that you haven't touched in the last 18 months, toss it in the trash instead.

I've always packed the vinyl flat with paper in between to fill and deter shifting, but edgewise with slight pressure on the stack from the box should also be ok?

If you're in love with your furniture, take it.  Otherwise, hock it on craigslist for a few duckets and use them to purchase stuff from a rental warehouse at the destination.

[Bill Brasky]

Pack the records tight in milk crates, and don't put anything on top of them. 

As far as the rest goes, expect to eschew half.  Thats always been my rule of thumb.  Having moved about 20 times, I have some sentimental belongings, a few boxes of good clothes, a few expensive electronic devices.  It always blew my mind to move a ton of shit that could remain boxed forever, which led to a dispassionate appraisal of most possessions.  Fact is, most shit doesn't matter. 

Even the furniture is negotiable in your personal argument, unless its killer shit, its just shit and can be replaced.  It may not be worth breaking your spine and hauling a dozen heavy pieces that together aren't worth a thousand bucks used - probly find similar shit in the classifieds in your new locale.  Maybe have a moving sale, get a hundred for the couch, a hundred for the credenza (whatever, you know), then upon arrival, select a few nice things and begin a new motif. 

With local moves I always had the luxury of extra hands from friends, and was able to make a few trips back and forth.  Long haul, you can't do that.  Its a one-shot deal.  Which leans my advice to the dispatch of all extraneous shit, for simplicity, the lack of manpower, smaller vehicle, fatigue, etc.   

[Rillion]

Whether to keep or leave your furniture depends on how valuable it is, how useful it is, how much it will cost to move, and how much room you'll have for it.  A lot of factors.  It would be a good idea to map out a floor plan of the new place and figure out where you're going to put things.  If you can't find a place for something, consider giving it away or "loaning" it to someone who has a place for it if it's too nice to give to the neighbors by putting it on the curb or next to the dumpster.  I used to have a cool 60's kitchen table that I still regret giving away like that, but I didn't know anyone who had room for it.  My old queen bed currently lives in the guest room of my brother's house.

If your vinyl collection is not too big, you might be able to fit it in the cab of the truck so it gets air conditioned.  Otherwise, I hate to say that you might have to ship it with special instructions, which will be expensive as hell.  

Making sure you get your utilities set up will probably be the thing that makes your move the easiest.  A lot of shipping companies have moving checklists that give advice on what things to do at what point in your move (switching mailing address, paying off accounts, getting a new land line, etc.) Even if you don't use that company, you can still get a good time-line of when those arrangements need to be made off their web site.  

P.S.  Don't put stuff in a storage unit, thinking that you'll recover it someday.  The monthly payment will just be rent you have to pay on the things you don't care about enough, and by "someday" it will be dusty, old, moldy, and broken. 

[Turd Ferguson]

I say leave everything big, unless it has some real sentimental value. Get all new shit when you get there if money is not an issue. Starting in a new place with new furniture etc is a good clean break from the old and a nice psychological "fresh start".

When I moved from Indiana to Illinois, I was renting so I left all the couches, tv, bed, wardrobe, all tables. Made an agreement with the landlord to sell it off and make a few bucks for himself for his trouble. Ended up he made out just fine and actually sent me 200 bucks and didnt even ask him to do that.


Do whatever feels right.

[Laetitia]

Going with the group on the furniture. Unless it's something valuable - either from an economic or a sentimental standpoint... let it stay. Sell it or give it away. Check now on Craigslist for the Twin Cities, if you want to find out about purchasing replacements when you get there.

Even with a big house and a family, there is not a lot of furniture I would put on the "yes" list for a cross-country move. 90 year-old mahogany baby grand, hubby's desk (purchased for our first home) grandparents' smallish bar cabinet, great-grandmother's chair, my daughter's dresser & mirror (3rd generation girl thing). Most everything else would be put through the checklist of whether it's worth needing the larger size truck, or if it would save money & hassle to let it go.

[Elitist Bitch]

Thanks for the advice. We've decided to leave most of our furniture here. Most of it is just college kid shit that isn't worth moving. All of our utilities except electric and internet are paid for, so those are the only things we have to set up. Thank goodness. There are any number of Walmarts, Targets, and an Ikea around, so there is no reason to take crap furniture with us. I hear Minneapolis is a great city, and I'm ready to let all this stress go and enjoy starting a new life.

[Bill Brasky]

Thanks for the advice. We've decided to leave most of our furniture here. Most of it is just college kid shit that isn't worth moving. All of our utilities except electric and internet are paid for, so those are the only things we have to set up. Thank goodness. There are any number of Walmarts, Targets, and an Ikea around, so there is no reason to take crap furniture with us. I hear Minneapolis is a great city, and I'm ready to let all this stress go and enjoy starting a new life.

It seems to be the prevailing sentiment, myself included. 

Throwing a dozen (maybe two-three dozen) boxes into a van, so much better.  It may hurt your sensibilities to get fifty bucks (or nothing) for a pretty decent couch.  You may even allow yourself a wistful tear when you draw your finger across a nice thing that you've decided must be let go.

But when you click the lights off for the final time and head out on the grand adventure, and your responsibilities weigh about a thousand pounds total, all in easily manageable cartons - with the unavoidable few things that you still busted your balls getting through the doorway...  and all the fuckingshit disaster-mode scrambling that you'll still never avoid even if your shit fits int he trunk of a Volkswagen...  It'll be awesome to arrive in a new place with absolutely nothing. 

You'll have the survival basics that seem almost trivial, silverware and bathroom junk, all your discs and LP's, and it adds up - no matter how conservative you cut it to the bone, your van will be packed and your brain will want to blow a blood vessel.  It'll be 114 degrees and raining buckets, and you'll get the shits of moving long before its done. 

You should probably scope the paper for a dude who has a little ad in "Miscellaneous" called ABC Junk Removal.  They exist in every town.  You pay them a hundred bucks and they throw all your junk into a war-wagon, and they bring a lazy-eyed lummox named Hank who can carry a Sherman tank under each arm.  When your shit is picked through, and your van is packed, they will remove the rest.  You throw a great pile of detritus int he middle of the porch, living room, and leave the unwanted dressers where they stand.  They will bulldoze that shit out in an hour, and you'll wonder why you never called them before. 

[Riddler]

i disagree on using a storage facility.
this gut is dirt cheap;
whatever it is....he don't care..

[youtube=425,350]<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/N0gb9v4LI4o&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/N0gb9v4LI4o&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>[/youtube]