The Big Move

[That-Crazy-Rat-Lady]

Advice needed!

I'm having to move my stuff into storage as my house has sold but the house I'm moving into is still pending (paperwork!)

I've found a decent priced storage unit and was wondering if anyone had an advice on storing your entire life in a 75sqft room?

I am labelling boxes and colour coding them on importance - any other tips?

I don't want anything to get damaged as it could be there for a few months!

Thank you

TCRL xxx

 

[Gramaisc]

We had stuff in storage for three years once, mostly in wooden crates, so that helped greatly in the structural sense. There were very few losses. People seem to go for cardboard boxes now, though they can still be remarkably strong, too. Stronger, less easily damaged stuff at the bottom, obviously, even in each box - boxfuls of books for the base layer, etc. You can reduce the volume by putting some items inside others - I remember emptying a teapot after three years and there were actually things in the spout, This does, though, increase the density and the weight of each box. If it's stacked up in a room, it'll be under less stress than being bounced along in a van for a few hundred miles.

Unpacking after a decent time can be quite interesting - a game of "What's In Here?" will develop.

An example that stumped all of us was a Quality Street tin with a single solid item inside - nobody even remembered the Dundee cake disappearing during the packing.

Furniture is another thing, that wasn't our problem in those days. Often, bits can be removed - castors, feet, etc, and this will reduce the wasted airspace. Some furniture items will have hollow spaces that may be useful.

Putting a settee against a wall will result in a space behind it that can be filled with ironing boards, rotary clothes lines, etc.

Don't store air!

Damage will generally happen in transit and stacking/removal, rather than over time spent in the store.

 

[That-Crazy-Rat-Lady]

We had stuff in storage for three years once, mostly in wooden crates, so that helped greatly in the structural sense. There were very few losses. People seem to go for cardboard boxes now, though they can still be remarkably strong, too. Stronger, less easily damaged stuff at the bottom, obviously, even in each box - boxfuls of books for the base layer, etc. You can reduce the volume by putting some items inside others - I remember emptying a teapot after three years and there were actually things in the spout, This does, though, increase the density and the weight of each box. If it's stacked up in a room, it'll be under less stress than being bounced along in a van for a few hundred miles.

Unpacking after a decent time can be quite interesting - a game of "What's In Here?" will develop.

An example that stumped all of us was a Quality Street tin with a single solid item inside - nobody even remembered the Dundee cake disappearing during the packing.

Furniture is another thing, that wasn't our problem in those days. Often, bits can be removed - castors, feet, etc, and this will reduce the wasted airspace. Some furniture items will have hollow spaces that may be useful.

Putting a settee against a wall will result in a space behind it that can be filled with ironing boards, rotary clothes lines, etc.

Don't store air!

Damage will generally happen in transit and stacking/removal, rather than over time spent in the store.

Thank you!

I'm feeling really overwhelmed with it all - I don't have a lot of stuff - and none is of any value but I'm very sentimental and would hate to damage anything!

I can't wait to play 'whats in here' I've already stashed some trinkets in odd places and look forward to falling in love all over again!

 

[Gramaisc]

Thank you!

I'm feeling really overwhelmed with it all - I don't have a lot of stuff - and none is of any value but I'm very sentimental and would hate to damage anything!

I can't wait to play 'whats in here' I've already stashed some trinkets in odd places and look forward to falling in love all over again!

It gets easier each time you do it - unless you have a long hiatus, then you need to start training again. People get more and more 'stuff' all the time now - if you went back into anyone's house in 1970, there was almost nothing - you could see 95% of the walls and all the floor, apart from the odd bit of furniture.

At the risk of mentioning such a thing, I moved most years, until I came to Stafford - then I lived in one place for four years, the longest that I ever had - moving for another couple of years, until moving here, forty years ago.

I am considering asking ALE for a quote for moving this lot.


The "getting it in the available space" problem is largely down to furniture issues, after that comes the "stacking it all up without damaging too many things" stage.

 

[proactive]

We had stuff in storage for three years once, mostly in wooden crates, so that helped greatly in the structural sense. There were very few losses. People seem to go for cardboard boxes now, though they can still be remarkably strong, too. Stronger, less easily damaged stuff at the bottom, obviously, even in each box - boxfuls of books for the base layer, etc. You can reduce the volume by putting some items inside others - I remember emptying a teapot after three years and there were actually things in the spout, This does, though, increase the density and the weight of each box. If it's stacked up in a room, it'll be under less stress than being bounced along in a van for a few hundred miles.

Unpacking after a decent time can be quite interesting - a game of "What's In Here?" will develop.

An example that stumped all of us was a Quality Street tin with a single solid item inside - nobody even remembered the Dundee cake disappearing during the packing.

Furniture is another thing, that wasn't our problem in those days. Often, bits can be removed - castors, feet, etc, and this will reduce the wasted airspace. Some furniture items will have hollow spaces that may be useful.

Putting a settee against a wall will result in a space behind it that can be filled with ironing boards, rotary clothes lines, etc.

Don't store air!

Damage will generally happen in transit and stacking/removal, rather than over time spent in the store.

This.

 

[That-Crazy-Rat-Lady]

Also - should I store my clothes in vacuum pack bags? Don't want them to go festy in wooden chest of draws in a storage unit!

 

[Gramaisc]

Also - should I store my clothes in vacuum pack bags? Don't want them to go festy in wooden chest of draws in a storage unit!

What sort of time are we talking of - a few weeks/months through a winter period in heated storage?

Personally, I wouldn't bother much - the vac-packing can reduce the volume somewhat, if that is likely to be an issue, but, as long as you don't store worn, but unwashed, clothing, there shouldn't be a huge issue. I would be inclined to avoid plastic containment - cardboard boxes would probably suffice.

We will have had the wintry end of clothing in store for those three years and I don't recall any issues - there probably will have been some bedding, too. Nothing will have been in plastic at that time.

 

[Thehooperman]

Video everything you pack and which box it's in.

Two reasons, firstly you can look at the video when you need to know where stuff is and secondly you have a record of its condition should anything get damaged en route.

Also go through all of your belonging before packing and ask yourselves when you last used things. Anything more than say 6 months since it's last use is perhaps not worth keeping or at worst worthy of consideration of discarding.

 

[Gramaisc]

Video everything you pack and which box it's in.

Yes - such a thing wasn't feasible in my moving days, but when a friend had a whole-house-burglary, where he even had to go next door to ring the cops as they had taken the phone, the insurance chap suggested that everybody should make an annual cursory video of the contents of the whole house, opening cupboards and drawers, etc.