Packers arriving in 2 weeks

[ExhaustTed]

Hi
We are moving to America at the end of August and in 2 weeks the packers arrive to box and move our stuff for shipping. I have never moved house this way before, as normally we do all the packing and moving ourselves. I have been working hard to declutter and get rid of things we don't need - I have three kids so we accumulate a lot of clutter.

Have you any tips for me for this experience, do I help pack, do I need to watch, how should I prepare? I wondered if I needed a sticky dot system for things not to pack, or whether I just put everything not to be packed in one cupboard or area?

And my biggest worry.... what's it like having some stranger going through all my stuff?

We also have a fairly generous airfreight allowance, so are there things I should keep until the last minute that I wouldn't think of? We have a camping kit (so pots and pans and plates and things) that I was going to hold back for airfreight, and some bedding and special toys too, but I'm a bit clueless about what else.

I have arranged for my kids to be entertained elsewhere for the week that the packers are here, but slightly worried about how they will feel when they come home every evening and find everything is disappearing. They are 5, 7 and 8 so they are aware of what is going on, but still a bit worried about shock.

Advice and mumsnet words of wisdom are desperately saught xxx

I used post it notes for my stuff - air freight, sea freight, storage and staying - and then kept an eye on what the packers were doing. We had five packers for our most recent move so both dh and I were there to supervise and for any queries.
The packers gave me a box to pack any personal items - underwear etc, but they did everything else. I don't think they really have time to pay much that much attention to what they are packing in terms of having a good root through your personal items.
For air freight we had kids' toys, books etc, but as this arrived after our sea freight (!) this was all a bit pointless! We did a massive Ikea shop when we arrived so did not take pans, towels, bedding etc with us.
Good luck - it's a stressful time but you will manage!

No experience of moving long distance, but I've always regretted that my 2year old DTs stayed with my parents during the packing and over the 24 hours of the move day. They were VERY unsettled by the move and I think they'd have understood it much better if they'd been around and involved.

My kids were 8,6,4 when we moved (not abroad though), and I found a simple children's book I bought for them to look at and read through about moving house helped to normalise the experience and make it exciting.

Good luck! How exciting.

Yeah the packers move at lightening speed and don't really care what they see.when I moved back from the us to London I had a leaving party the night before and someone spilt runny geese on my glass coffee table. I was so hungover the next day I did5 even see it before they started packing. 6 months later I loved to Switzerland and had my stuff from the us delivered direct from storage and the cheese was still on the table when they unpacked! Gross!!!

Anyway, on to advice, the best advice I got was don't scrape on the inventory list for your sea freight. List EVERYTHING. Count your books, pairs of socks, glasses etc. Basically your inventory is your insurance list. If the full container gets lost/washed over board you lose everything. If you have replace all the little things your forgot to put on the list it can be very expensive. Also I would recommend sentimental items come either with you or in airfreight for the same reasons.

I know someone who left the family passports in the desk that went by shipping freight, and didn't realise until a couple of days before they were due to fly. Don't do that!

Presumably it's going by sea?

Where are you moving to in the US?

Hotel for a bit then rental house?

We did all this when DCs were 4 & 6. Was fun - had generous flight luggage allowance (negotiated in advance) so packed loads of stuff for the kids and then basically camped on airbeds for 6 weeks until our stuff arrived - was quite liberating & the children really bonded. The packers will label by room if you ask them so I'd take photos of the rooms with stuff in to help jog your memory.

Have you found schools for the kids?

Thank you, I'm off to find lots of post it notes - and also reducing my reliance on airfreight. The packers are meant to be doing the inventory but I will keep a close eye. There is also an ikea not too far away from where we are moving too, so that might be an option (although it seems that ikea is a bit less of the cheap option that it seems in the U.K.).

And passports kept very very safe! How the heck do you recover from the passports being in the shipping container??

We are moving to Maryland and the kids are going to the local elementary school. We have done a bit of research and found a rental house in a good (according to stats and on line opinion) school district. As it's a rental, if the kids don't gel at the school, then we will move house if that would improve it.

Most of the stuff will go by sea, with a box or three air freighted and then carrying suitcases.

I had planned to borrow some mattresses and beds to see us through as we will be 'camping' in our house from the day the furniture leaves until we fly later in the month. I have less of a plan for what we do when we get there before our stuff arrives - a mix of air beds, buying me a new bed because I hate my current bed and erm..... generally winging it.

We based our move on the school district too & it didn't disappoint. Did you go on a look see before leaping in?

Target is great for cheap stuff & if you can bear it Walmart.

Are the company helping with intros to other families?

We are currently packing ourselves up to move in 10 days. ARGH.

We had a moving company pack up our entire house for a move to the US and it is strange if you've never had packers before, letting others handle all your personal items but once you see how thorough and efficient they are, you know it's the best option. After you've separated out anything you specifically don't want packed e.g. clothes for suitcases to take on plane, few kids toys, personal items that you want to take yourself, just stick them in the corner of a room and tell them not to touch them. Then you basically just sit back and let them get on with it. If it's an international relocation company, this is what they do. They're far more careful with the packing than a regular moving company, the amount of packing materials they use is astonishing! A large part of their job is knowing how to fit the furniture and boxes into the container to maximize the space and not leave any gaps. The container that they fill at your house is the actual container that will go on the ship across the Atlantic.

They take care of itemizing everything for the inventory list (IIRC you will have to value everything for insurance). Our 3 bed semi was done in 2 days by 3 guys. We were reunited with our boxes around 6 weeks later (US East Coast by sea). The unloading service at the other is equally efficient, checking off every single box, checking for damaged items and placing everything in the new house just as they would for a regular house move. To be honest, once you've done it once, it kind of spoils you for the future. We moved again recently and it was a pain having to do our own packing! I wouldn't take TVs, kitchen electricals or lamps. Just buy all that new when you arrive.

Friend of mine moved to Australia this year. They were able to rent furniture and household items in packs eg bedroom packs, kitchen packs etc until her furniture arrived 3 months later.

OP, IKEA is definitely cheap in the US too. But Target is good too, esp for decorative stuff. Amazon Prime is also great, and they have a bigger selection of stuff available same or next day than they do in the UK.

The public (state) schools in Maryland, esp Montgomery and Howard Counties, are some of the best in the country. It's a great location, close to D.C. and easily accessible to NYC and Philly. I lived in that area for years so if you have any specific questions feel free to PM me.

You should ask your relo provider to rent you furniture for the time it takes for your sea shipment to arrive. It took ours almost two months from the US to UK-- way too long to rely on camp beds. They rented bedroom furniture for each of us, even a cot for the baby, plus living and dining room furniture and basic stuff like linens, kitchen utensils, measuring cups, ironing board, etc. The companies that rent this stuff out have a standard "package" of things that a family would need and it was basically enough, though we were VERY happy to receive our sea shipment!

We had I believe 1000 pounds of air freight and found that to be quite a lot. We used it largely on things for the kids -- toys, bikes, and sealed non-perishable foods they like. That was fine but I wish we had also put in our knives, pots, and other "good" kitchen items. The rental stuff was cheap quality and it was hard to cook with it.

Don't give a second thought to the packers going through your things. They really, truly don't care. That should be the least of your worries!

One word of advice: don't worry if you're miserable at first. It's HARD to do a move like this! Give yourself at least six months and possibly more like a year before making any judgments about how you feel about being there. Our kids adjusted within a few weeks, fortunately, but it took DH and me a lot longer. We're very happy now though!

Good luck!!!

Agree with others - lets the packers get on with it - they do it all the time. The only thing I packed were boxes and boxes of CDs to keep them in order - that was a waste of time! Remember your container is one of the lightest things on the shop so will be at the top - don't put in anything that might melt. If you're taking IKEA furniture you need to take it apart - print off (or find) the instructions and put with the fixings (I spent a long frustrating time putting things back together with the instructions on an I-pad). Don't take any electrics, unless they are multi-voltage - as you will need a transformer for them to work properly. And If you haven't got one get a good heavy duty jewellery roll - so you can put boxes in the packing and take items in your hand luggage. We only had one thing that got broken on our move. It will be easier than you think.

Oh and I'm sure they've told you this, but don't take any stuff that plugs into the wall. Adaptors don't work well and your things will end up getting ruined. Ask your employer for an allowance to cover TVs, lamps, small kitchen appliances, etc., as it's a big chunk to buy it all new all at once. They may not give it to you or only give you a portion, but it's worth asking!

Packers are amazing. Let them do their job! Ours are coming next week. I'm going to pack our cases and take them to the hotel (are you staying at home during the pack? That complicates things as they will have to leave beds etc to the end), pile all the air freight (books, games, toys for the children, household stuff like towels, bedding, pots and pans, crockery, cutlery) in one place, then take the kids out for 4 days and let DH supervise. Not sure what his plan is.

Hello

I live in the States and have had packers for a big move here. The best thing you can do is throw out anything you don't want now. They pack Everything, an old ballpoint pen, - half used box of tissues, an old lightbulb!

Of course your appliances will not work over here so I don't know what you plan to do with those. If I were to move again I would not bother with packers, their methods are very wasteful, yet it's hard to say no when it's paid for!

I'd watch fairly closely! My tips:

• make sure everything is properly itemized and you have a list of what's in each box. I had one box go missing and it was a pain trying to work out exactly what was in it for insurance.

• move things you don't want packed in to a different room. That way there's no room for misunderstanding. And double check that everything in that room (and in the cupboards/drawers) is not going.

• if they're like the packers I had, they will pack EVERYTHING at lightning speed. I found a bin complete with rubbish (luckily just papers etc as it was in study!) when I unpacked at the other end!

• triple check on the morning they arrive that you know where the important/valuable bits are - passports, birth certificates, paperwork you'll need on arrival etc. I switched handbags the day before and was incredibly lucky that my packing company were willing to go through the boxes for me and retrieve it! Apparently it's not uncommon - women leave them in bags and men in jacket pockets according to the very patient woman I spoke to!

• take a few lightweight home-y bits in your suitcase. Posters for bedrooms are a good idea, I had space for a fancy small cushion and blanket. Anything to feel like you're living in your home for as long as it takes your stuff to turn up.

We are moving to the states at the end of the month too. We have done one international move where we didn't use our air freight properly so will take more in that.

We are storing all of our small electrics, tv etc so they are here when we get back.

Make sure that all of your jewellry is taken in hand luggage, it won't be insured in pack. Last time I was invited to pack my own underwear!

Windy - what do you mean when you say you didn't use your air freight properly? Not enough? Left things behind? We have 1000lb which seems like loads and I'm not quite sure what to pack. Best of luck for your move.

Thanks everyone for the tips, they are really helpful and I'm working through them all. I currently have a skip on my drive so I'm going to be very busy filling it over the next week. I do struggle to get rid of stuff so I find this really challenging.

Dh is hopefully around, however things are starting to kick off in his new job so I'm hoping he's not going to have to go back to the states. I'm starting to rethink us staying in the house while they pack. My in laws live in the next town so I might just move us all to there until the job is done. I can pop back in the days to oversee the packing.

Closer - we are in Montgomery county, and I've not actually seen the school the kids are going to as I've not been over to see the house - done it all through FaceTime and dh being there, but did look around a neighbouring school when I went over in late winter. It does feel like a bit of a gamble, but as fairly calculated as it can be under the circumstances.

I think I am generally really apprenhensive about the move, it's a big leap into the unknown , and the packing is the next piece in the puzzle to tackle.

On the way out we underestimated the air-allowance by a lot. I found it really hard to judge. On the way back to packers misjudged and we had more than would fit in our container so they had to add it to air!

I have done the skip thing and have some things that will need house clearance, they are too heavy for me to skip!

I put kids in childcare, no close family and pets are picked up early.

I cycle through excitement, fear and exhaustion. Good luck.

Oh to add I put things I don't want packed in the car, packers move at speed as laughingclouds said.

OP, Montgomery County is lovely, and like I said the schools are literally some of the best in the country. There is also a sizeable international contingent due to its proximity to DC. You won't have trouble meeting people. Potomac (esp Churchill High School pyramid) is the "posher" part of Montgomery County, although it's all nice-- drive down River Rd away from the Beltway and you will see some ENORMOUS houses, probably owned by Saudi oil princes :). Rockville is nice too. I'm familiar with the area feeding into Wootton High School and it's very family-oriented. Bethesda and Chevy Chase are my favorite areas, as they are closest to DC and Bethesda has a nice downtown area. CC does too though I think that might be in CC, DC (confusing as there is both!). In general there's not much of a village feel, as everything is sorted into residential developments off of busy roads, and stores are mainly in shopping centers with big parking lots. You probably won't use public transport except possibly to take the metro into DC. The Montgomery Mall is OK and Tysons Corner (across the river in Virginia but not far if it's not rush hour) is fantastic.

Be prepared for it to be HOT AS FUCK and super-humid when you first get there. It's miserable but it will get better in September, and you may have a lovely snowy winter to make up for it. Ask your landlord and neighbors if there is a community pool that you can join. These are often the hub of social life for families with little kids in the summer, as it really gets too hot to even be on the playground. It's probably too late to join for this year but there are sometimes waiting lists (ridiculous I know) so you want to make sure you are well-positioned for next year.

It's scary and overwhelming but it will be fine!!