This move, however, is a local one and that means some of the pressure is off. I don't have to worry quite as much about space or having everything ready to go in one big trip. Because the distance is short, too, I'm not worrying quite as much about breakage, although I am taking reasonable precautions. Breakage due to careless packing would just be senseless waste and you know how I feel about that.
Yesterday I finally got my first boxes packed for this move. I've picked up a lot of canning jars over the past few years at thrift stores, yard sales, and church rummage sales. Rarely do they come in the original boxes with dividers to separate and protect the jars. In order to store them, I had to create box dividers and try to find proper-sized boxes to hold these loose jars. Finding the perfect-sized box never happens so there is always extra space between the jars which could result in them knocking against each other when transported. In the back of my mind, I've always known that I'd need to go back to these and wrap each jar when it came time to move.
This was a box with a pretty good fit, although I had to use cardboard on two sides to shrink the inside dimensions.
Instead of wrapping each jar, I just laid a t-shirt over them and tucked it down between them.
Topped off with a couple more shirts, the box and jars are secure.
This box, on the other hand, not only has way too much space between the jars, it has different sized jars. I scrounged up several more jars to fill in the open spots.
Each jar had to be individually wrapped. An old pair of pants for yard work filled in the space from the smaller jars.For packing, I use plain newsprint. The ink from newspapers is a huge mess when packing and unpacking. Years ago, I realized it made more sense to get the paper without ink. Most newspaper publishers will sell their endrolls for a pittance. (Endrolls are the last bit of paper leftover on the roll of newsprint; the machines can't use it all the way to the end.)
After the move, the paper can be recycled or re-used. We intend to re-use ours for the rocket stove, possible future wood stove, compost, and sheet mulching.
Right now, though, I need to go get another endroll as I'm almost out of paper.
7 comments:
Possibly a lot more truth in that newsprint than the other kind ... ya think?
Some nice jars there, kiddo!
Good luck on the move!
I love the end rolls, I use them to draft sewing patterns for myself. They also make great indoor "sidewalks" when it's too rainy for a toddler to use his chalk outside.
All those sheets, towels, old T-shirts and maybe some currently used T-shirts help in packing all kinds of things.
I once moved to washington DC and then 5 years later moved back to Phoenix. Everything had to be so carefully packed!
peace, Shamba
I found packing stuff into various bags was better as boxes tended to get too heavy. This applied to anything that wouldn't break including books. I did use plywood tea chests for breakables - we have a local tea packaging plant where my grandfather was manager so used tea chests are ubiquitous round here.
I have to say that its amazing how many bags you can get in a car if you try. In fact for the last move we just carried the bed by hand - it was only two blocks. Everything else went on a small trailer with a bungy net or was slung in the car any old how.
viv in nz
You can also use your linens and clothes to wrap and fill bags for the move. Let's you pack even more in the car and truck. So glad it's you and not me. I've made my last move -- I think.
Your post brought it all back. So many moves over a lifetime. Yes, Chile, we learn so many tips and organizational strategies. But five years ago I loaded up Pony Boy, my 1994 Nissan truck an drove from Phoenix to North Coast area of San Diego. I made two trips. I didn't do any of the meticulous methods I'd learned over the years. Nothing broke. And psychologically it felt like just a longer version of moving down the block.
I realized I'd become so damn good at organizing and planning that I constantly sought out reasons to utilize these hard earned skills. Right now I am realizing how freeing it is to disregard most of what I learned in my lifetime (re: organization, strategy and planning) is simply not important. It is both freeing (satisfying) and deflating (what was the point?).
These insights are brought to you by one of your older friends on the internet. I am amazed at the last 2 years' realizations about all that I held near and dear. I am learning to relax my trained tendancies. *sigh*
My last move was still way too hard for an older woman alone. I longed for helping hands. Unless one has just a carry-on bag or backpack - a move is a physical challenge.
Risa - yep! I love my jars. They're even better when full.
Krista - thanks. The end roll paper's also good for cleaning windows.
Shamba - I always use linens and clothes for packing. The problem is I have to remember to label the boxes to have those things once we're moved. Actually, I unpack so quickly that it's rarely an issue.
I'm so glad we're not doing a cross-country move. They're expensive, a hassle, and very stressful.
Viv - I like the stackability of boxes but bags do work well for soft stuff. The bed? That'll be super-easy; it's an air mattress on two pieces of plywood sitting atop buckets. Kind of a poor man's bedroom set.
Sharlene - I hope this is our last move. OTOH, I always worry that it's our last move. There's something a little intimidating about the idea of staying put for the rest of our lives. (We've moved a lot in the last 20 years.)
Kate - the past year or so has found me discarding more and more of the past "logical" decisions and methods. Even my decluttering choices are different than they were back when I did that challenge.
This will be the first time, too, that all the packing material didn't immediately go to recycling. We've always saved the boxes but never the paper. 'Course this time we won't be saving the boxes for re-use; they'll be mulched or composted (or burned).
Life is changing, isn't it?
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