[denisesykes]

We have heard today that we will not be able to complete the sale of our house next week as we had hoped , it will be the following week .Unfortunately this means that my OH will miss all the fun as he flies out next Tuesday leaving me to deal with all the last minute stuff.
I am slightly concerned as Paul is always the practical one and I am not an very organised and completely impractical.
Has anyone any tips as to how I can make the day the shippers are here as painless as possible .I know that I will have to unplumb the washing machine,dishwasher( what!!!!!) 24 hours prior to the day but what else should I be thinking about .We have packed all clothes in cases to go in the container but is that right as I have just read that 'clothes should be placed in piles'

Also do I have to be here? I work in a school and am not allowed any time off in term time.
I am so worried that I will really mess up being left to deal with all this stuff although I do know that I am being a pathetic girlie and that loads of people do cope by themselves!

Any help gratefully recieved

Denise

[Suzy Rimbo]

Hey!

Firstly dont panic! I can relate to you fully, my hubby came to NZ seven months before me and I was left with every thing to do, at first i thought OMG! then i just chilled and thought if i forget to do something or bring something so be it, after all i'm not perfect.

What i found useful when organising was to move the things that were not going to one side, put them in a spare cupboard or draw and put a sticker on it, that way when the guy's came they knew not to touch them.

I did this with every room and beleive me when this had been done i rested a lot better at night.

When it came to the washing machine and dish washer i just left mine, told the guy's i wasnt sure what to do!!!! they was more than helpful and did this for me.

I packed some clothes in a suitcase, both clothes and suitcase were packed together.

I was told that i needed to be there, i think one of the reasons being security, there was also time's they needed to explaine were they had packed some things, like screws to reassemble things for the guy's when you get this end, and not forgetting the amount these guy's need watering! I would see if a family member can step in for you, give them a run down on what's! what! ie: ignore the cupbords and draws with stickers! everything else goes!

If they do the same as the guy's we had (GB Liners) they will wrap most of your stuff the first day and then just leave it in the house and come back the day after to finish the wrapping and the loading, you will find that after the first day you can have a good look round to make sure everything is still out you wish to go.

Remember dont stress yourself!! you can only do your best, the worst that could happen is you forget something and the chances of that being a large item is very slim and any small item can always be posted out.

Hope this is of some or little help.

Good luck with the move, take care,

Suzy

X

[jubjub]

We packed clothes in suitcases too, not a problem, they just wrapped the cases and labelled them! the other things we were told we could do to help speed things up (I had to be out the house early on day 2) was flat pack any furniture that you could, like beds, pack non breakables like books, but leave the boxes open so they could double check. I took all the pictures/mirrors down and put them all together.

The other thing I did was to put stuff in the correct room for when we got to the other end, ie we moved from a 4bed and knew we were only getting a 3, so I emptied one room completely (that was then my room then for putting all the stuff they were not to pack like passports, my cases and stuff).

Oh and make sure you have some milk, tea, coffee left as they will want drinks, and biccies.

Basically if you ask your shipper what you can do to help, they should be able to tell you, I asked if I could leave them alone for short periods, and that was fine, as I had to walk a dog, take stuff to dump etc, but was never away for more than 30 mins at a time. I dont think they would like it if you were out all day, can you not get someone to keep an eye on them for you? You also need to be there to sign off the shipping manifest list.

Good luck, I did it all by myself too, but the guys were great and it all worked out fine. (Did it all myself this end too, blinkin hubby missed all the packing and unpacking!, but was only supervising really, so it was OK!)

[Do B Brief]

We made a small bedroom as a dumping ground for everything we DIDN'T want to go. Blocked it off and told the removal guys, everything except that room!

Oh yeah, as mentioned earlier, loadsa tea, coffee and biscuits! For you as well as the removal guys (and gals?).

[Avalon]

Apart from being there when the shippers arrived - we went out for the whole day and chilled. Went for a swim, then coffee and breakfast, a wander round, lunch - got back to the house by about 3pm when they said they would be finsihing for the day. It was actually very relaxed ( my view is that you pay an AWFUL lot of money - get them to do the work!)

On saying that - we already had most of our stuff boxed already. All but about 100 of our books were all boxed (and an inventory made of which books were in which box - I was really retentive about this).We had also already boxed quite a bit of "stuff" when we put the house on the market, for decluttering.

One thing I would recommend if you have the time and inclination - is to take down any flat pack furniture. What we did, was pack it down, then put all the "bits" into a small bag and LABEL it with the name of the peice of furniture. Then we put all the bags of bits into a plastic "furniture bits" box.

We actually left the box out and some bags and asked the removers to do the same for any stuff they broke down. Belive me it makes life that bit easier when you get to the other end. My Parents didnt do this - and we cant find the bits to put thier furniture up.

Try to be relaxed about the whole thing. These guys do this day in day out. During this experience - we have never had problems with the removers - even if we have had some issues with the companies involved. The guys doing all the hard work have been excellent. They will look after you.

[lisa]

Hi

although I wasn't strictly speaking by myself the day the shippers arrived Andy had been out the night before and was a little worse for wear and actually still in bed when they arrived !!!
My eldest daughter had had a sleepover so there were 4 12 yr old girls skipping about in pjs plus my other 2 and I have to say the guys were completely and utterly unfazed by the whole scenario.
I had packed all the boxes myself so they just needed to wrap the larger items, they sorted out stuff they thought we might need for that night ie sofa ect and left those for the next morning.
It really is an odd feeling when they arrive with the container and an even bigger spectator sport for the neighbours the 2nd day when they bring the other lorry which they use to "walk" through to load the stuff.
And after all this I actually missed them driving off with all our wordly possessions as I had popped out for a bit!!
Anyway everything went well - ooh one tip don't forget to thoroughly defrost and dry fridge freezers as mine had a bit of water left in it and absolutely stunk when unwrapped at this end AND bring coat hangers they don't give them to you in the shops here and I chucked all mine out before we came.
Sooo don't worry you will be fine just pop the kettle on and play dumb if you've forgotten to do something !!

Lisa

[curtis]

Denise,

Hope all goes well, for what it is worth I will also be on my own as Martyn flys out on Sunday. We do not have a firm date for flying out yet as we are still waiting for confirmation from the people who will (hopefully) be renting our house for 6 months.

Thanks to everyone else for all the tips. I had thought of labelling those items that I did not want to go on the container, however I think the use of the spare room is an excellent one and shall be doing that now...thanks jubjub & do b brief :nice1

Well GOOD LUCK, keep calm, all will be fine. Just keep giving them drinks & biscuits and they will be your new best friends!!! :laugh

Karen

[Cardiff Irons]

It was actually very relaxed ( my view is that you pay an AWFUL lot of money - get them to do the work!)Very, very sound advice :nice1

[Smiler]

My two cents worth.

They pack and you're covered on the insurance. Sounded good to me :nice1 and they did everything except some bits I had in storage boxes like xmas deccies and stuff. That's why we paid the arm and a leg bit.

G disconnected the washing machine and they packed that too. They even packed our peg brushes and had to unpack them from the lorry but they knew what packing case they were in!!!

We piled all the 'Do not pack stuff' in the spare room and well, they didn't pack it.
IMHO we had moved 3 times in 3 years in the UK but never via a container and oceans. They are the experts ( fingers crossed) so we let them do their job and stayed out of their way as much as poss.


And good luck, stay calm and make lots of tea and coffee and cake for them
Deborah

[Miffy]

The are prfessionals - let them do the work.

with me, they arrived at 8.30 in the morning and I had packed nothing apart from:
Colthes into the bags we were flying with
Bike bag and bits (we were also flying with these)
Snowboards bindings / boots etc into snowboard bag (these were being shipped)
Clothes we were shipping into other suitcases. Not all the colthes fitted so I just left them in the wardrobe.

I went around with the boss bloke explaining what was going. I basically said everything! Apart from what is in the conservatory with me, and some of the white goods (washing machine as it wasn't hours, small freezer)

He then got his 'boys' to start packing. They dismantled all out flat pack furntire and got a seperate box labeled "parts & bits' which all the parts and bits went into clearly wrapped up and label what they came from.

By 2 in afternoon. the house was packed up. they had left the fridge, mainly so the milk for their tea I reckon, and said I should empty it and then clean it out.

The next day they arrived at 9, unplugged the fridge and wrapped a few outstanding things. At 11 the container rocked up and they loaded it it (and then finaly washed up the cups, emptied the kettle and packed them up!)
I waved good by to my belongings and they left at around 12.30. (I went to the pub with my neighbour for the rest of the afternoon)

They did an inventory and all the paperwork.
I made tea. every hour, and then inbetween times too!
Get tea bags in, coffee, extra milk and make sure of have some sugar left. Or like me you'll be popping to the local shop for supplies!!!!!!

I also sent a note around to the neighbours that the movers were coming on such and such and that a container would be arriving on this morning. I asked them if they were at home not to park on the road for those days. Most cme round and offered they use of their drives if extra space was needed or a turning circle was required.

[denisesykes]

Cheers everyone for your sound advice.Paul (OH) has now gone , should be landing in CHch within the hour! We are hoping exchange contracts on the house by the end of the week with a provisional completion date of 28th Oct.Fingers crossed!!!

[wanderingoregonian]

wow so much advise - the comment on telling neighbors about parking reminded me of something... I know for my last few moves I could call up my city hall and ask for a special moving permit. I'd tell the city officials the size of my container/moving van/truck and the date, then the week of the move the city would post offical signs saying no parking from this time to time on the given day. It was amazing. I guess the city wanted to avoid the grid lock of moving trucks double parked on the narrow streets. Here in the states I often don't know all my neighbors (let alone folks just stopping in the neighborhood for the day).