expect the worst, hope for the best...I packed myself, and the results were better then expected..A relative had the movers pack, and it was a debacle..stuff broken, missing,and much to their chagrin, the insurance provided by the mover didn't cover even 10% of the theft and damage, and you really have no recourse...best of luck to you

What moving company are you using? Some have excellent reputations, some, not-so-much.

Basically they will wrap and pack and label everything and anything contained in that room. And I mean everything. Keep that in mind, pack a suitcase, and store it elsewhere so you will have clothes, medicines and H&BA items during the move. Some packers will fill a box and label it for the room they finished in. So, let's say 95% of a box is kitchen items and one bathroom item is wrapped to finish off the box.... it will be labeled bathroom. They tag everything not in boxes with little tags. The supervisor will make a note of every box, wrapping and piece of furnishing that is being moved. It is extremely detail oriented.

Talk to the movers and ask them their procedures because YMMV. You definitely want to be there in case of damage.

Good luck :-)

Every time we moved it was because of a job transfer -- our relocation package included movers that also packed. They were always very efficient, very curteous and for the most part labeled things per room. They'd even label each of the boxes for the kids rooms with the kids own names. They didn't ask a lot of questions, for the most part the crew of 4 or 5 packers knew their jobs well.

We learned after the first time to put anything you don't want to be put on the moving van into the car or else it would end up packed. I'm talking cleaning supplies, vacuum, mop, bucket etc. Each box is marked with a little sticker and inventoried as it goes on and off the truck. In all of our moves we only had one item broken and the truck driver paid for that out of his own pocket so we wouldn't file a claim.

I can second that they will pack EVERYTHING and that if you want to know where something is, put it somewhere safe. Also, on our last move, I took trash out to the garage cans at the end of the day and I found broken flower pots in the garage - pots that one of the movers broke and neglected to mention.

All boxes will be labeled but they may not describe something the same way you would. Just keep moving around while they are packing and let them know to ask.

Several moves way back when DH was in Army. Movers came in like a swarm of locusts, devouring everything in site. I couldn't pack anything myself or they wouldn't move it (responsibility issues). One move they packed a dirty ashtray, complete with butts--back in the '60's. On our last move, going back home, someone packed a coffee can of grease from under the sink and I had to insist we open boxes until we found it.

I think there were 3 movers and it was impossible for me to keep up with what was going on. But here in civilian life, it should be easier to call some of the shots. Things were a lot better when we helped inlaws move with the help of movers. Sandy

OOOOOooooH Boy, i will be up late tonight....Thanks to everyone for your quick responses....now where is my coffee
:o)

I've moved over a dozen times in the military, so here's the advice I can give you (what I can think of off the top of my head):
- right now (in the morning when you read this), take photos or even better, videotape your belongings. Especially if you have expensive or antique furniture, you can verify the condition of the furniture beforehand. This is the fastest way to take an inventory. If you have a video camera, narrate as much as possible to the manufacturer, model, condition, serial number, that kind of thing.
- put anything you don't want packed by the movers into your car or a room or closet that they will not pack that you can cordon off or lock; medications, valuables, suitcases with your clothes, plastic bins with anything that might leak, weapons, jewelery, alcohol, food, etc.
- throw out the trash, fresh flowers, dirty rags or sponges, leftovers, fruit in a bowl, etc. They will pack anything left out.
- make sure they use dish packs (a stiff kind of box with thicker cardboard) for breakables
- make sure they use hanging wardrobe boxes for your hanging stuff so that it's not all totally wrinkled. If you are leaving your stuff in storage for a while, however, you can't have anything on metal hangars because they can rust in heat & humidity and you'd rather have wrinkles.
- if you are paying for the boxes, make sure they use NEW boxes; you're paying for them! You want clean, unbroken boxes and clean paper.
- wear athletic shoes and comfortable clothes and prepare for the workout of your life (if you have a two-story). Get a big fat marker and label, label, label. Walk around continuously to watch them walk and pack to your satisfaction, and then mark the boxes yourself, in addition to their marks. Many times, if they don't know what it is, they'll put "MISC" and having 25 boxes labeled "MISC" is not much help when unpacking.
- Also, they will label the rooms that the boxes are in from your old house. If you are changing rooms, you need to label the new room that you want that box in. I hope this makes sense. Say you used to sew in "family room", but in your new house you're going to sew in your "guest room" then you need to label it that way.
- Make sure the inventory sheet also has a decent description as well. Each box and piece of furniture or appliances or whatever will be given a sticky number and a description of what's in it and/or the condition.
- Here's what to remember when you're labeling a box: if that box turns up missing at the end of this, will you vaguely know what was in it, based on the description on the inventory sheet? For example, say box number #45 doesn't show up at your house. The inventory will show that it was a "4.5 dish pack Kitchen". Is that enough for you? Or do you want it to say "4.5 dish pack Kitchen glasses, casserole dishes" (4.5 is the size)? That's how you want to label.
-Watch when they walk around to finish a box and don't be afraid to make suggestions. Otherwise, later you'll be looking for something and you won't find it until you open the box labeled "Xmas" next December because they had just that much space left in the top of that box for your toaster.
- Don't pack anything yourself. If they note "owner packed" (there is terminology for this, but I can't remember it), they are absolved of all damages for everything in that box.
- For electronics, they usually need to see it turned on to ensure that it is operable. Then turn it off and then they can pack it in the orginal container. Again, liability for them.
- It is nice to provide them with cold drinks and I usually order pizza or fried chicken or something for their lunch. - You can check with your insurance company to see if they cover your household goods while they are in transit; some do. Also, I think it is worth paying extra for the replacement value if that is an option - they depreciate everything at an astounding rate (i.e. 50% each year for sporting equipment, which gets you $65 to replace your 3-year old $500 windsurfer)
- The best moves are point-to-point. If your stuff goes into a warehouse, you have a opportunity to lose boxes. Then when it goes back in the truck you get another opportunity.
Good luck!
Lisa A.

This won't help you but what I did when we started to think about moving was to start buying various sized see-through containers. I buy them when I see a sale, Target so far has had the best size / value.

Things we don't use but may need from storage - excess winter coats, and off season shirts; I didn't fold them, laid them flat with hangers still on.

Pants / PJ's also went in a see-through container. Any extra linens, dishes; plus stuff from the kids rooms that they have but don't regularly use.

Lowes has 19 quart containers - 2 for $5. I'm really liking these for my books & magazines. I also started packing up extra telephone lines, painting stuff to make it neater.

I build computers & have a lot of misc screws & stuff; picture hanging kits. Walmart sells a fishing kit that's great for stuff like this.

I used movers once, and I packed everything and label them as well. I can honestly say that the process was very smooth and enjoyable. None of mine things were broken and they did a great job. Every box was put into the room that was labeled.

I would suggest pack everything and label it and then you can rest assure that none of your stuff will be broken.

Good luck-
maria

Years ago, I met someone who said he used to work for a moving company. He said he got extra furniture, etc that had not been unloaded at the proper address. The bigger moving companies pack for several clients and sometimes things are overlooked when they are unloading. Rather than turn this stuff in, he and other workers took them home and the client would have to file a claim.

We didn't want to worry about this, so when we moved we rented a U-Haul and hired locals at both ends to load/unload the truck. We packed everything ourselves and put items we didn't want moved into a spare room with a note on the door. The movers at the first end ignored the sign and walked in anyway. We knew because we in there working when they opened the door. The guy apologized, but we were on notice that we had better keep an eye on everything else they did.

We had already put our valuables in the trunks of our cars. We also used walkie talkies to keep in touch with each other so we could be in two places at a time.

The movers at the end were excellent. They had to move a piano up a 4th floor walk-up and were very careful with everything. They broke nothing and only dented one thing. We bought them pizza, drinks and gave them each (3) a generous tip. My spouse stayed outside with the truck so we could be sure that passing strangers wouldn't walk off with anything or that nothing ended up in the worker's van parked directly in front of our U-haul truck.

We had found a book at a clearance outlet that came in handy. It's called "Complete Idiot's Guide to Smart Moving".

Here is a link that might be useful: movingscam.com

If any boxes are going to be stacked in storage for a while, make sure they're labeled on all sides. What fun to look at a stack of unlabeled boxes (because they were stacked w/ the labels facing the wall, duh!)

we had movers pack our stuff for our last move, since it was a relo, and I loved it. such a treat to have them do all the work. they did ask me the occasional question, but it went very smoothly. they were in our house for three days doing the packing (we had something like 30,000 lbs of stuff).

they will pack anything and everything, but not trash that's obviously trash in the can. they label each box with the room and a general description of the items inside such as dishes, cooking tools, food processor, books, magazines, etc.

You do need to be there while they're packing. I wouldn't go anywhere for long in case questions do arise. It's a small price to pay to make sure that everything is done the way you want it done.

Good luck on your move!

My biggest move was Denver Montreal; part of my stuff was going in storage, part of it was to be unpacked in a rented house ; I spent weeks grouping things together; for example, if you have tealight/candle holders or books, etc.. in various rooms, group them together in one room, and so on and so forth.
That way, you'll have them in the same place at the other end.

It's always a good time when you're moving to declutter anyway so the more work you do before they come, the better organized the unpacking will be.

If you have any narcotic drugs, get them out of the house or keep them on your person.

At this point I wish I had narcotics in the house.....
So far so good I think. Im glad I started packing when I did though, but wished I started even sooner. I did wake up very early this morning and ran down and threw away everything I could find that was garbage and shower curtains etc...they have 2 rooms left to do the master and the office which I locked the doors because i want to do as much as i can myself . So tomrrow they will begin again. I have close to 26,000 lbs of stuff, unbelievable....

Since I had to show the house to the realtors, I cleaned, decluttered, and packed the majority of stuff before the hired movers and packers showed up. I had already quarantined the things I didn't want them touching. Our move went pretty smooth. A couple of things got broken, but nothing major. Nothing got lost as far as I know. They tagged everything with a number as it was packed. I checked off the numbers as the boxes were brought into the house. The movers were a pretty cheerful and hardworking group.

Friends of ours had a different experience. They had some $50 gift cards stolen. I don't think they were happy with the packing either.