Any packing advice?

what the heck do I do with cds? I mean….is it worth the space? should I upload them and them trash ‘em?

Whatever you do, don’t trash your CDs. Love them forever.

Use your towels and sheets to pack dishes and breakables.

Newspapers suck, leave newsprint on everything.

Are you moving yourself with a Uhaul or hiring someone to move you?

First sit down and make a list of what you will need in the new city. Then make a second list with what you want to keep. And a third list of what you don’t want. Will you need to switch appliances from gas to electric or electric to gas? Will you have to downsize to fit in the new place.

Pack what is on the need list first. Then pack the things on the want list, if you still have room in the truck. Third either donate the things you don’t want to your favorite charity, or have a sale. Don’t throw it out unless it is clearly junk.

Clearly mark your boxes with the contents and what room they move into.

If you have not opened a box since your last move, don’t move it this time…you have already proven you don’t need what is in the box. Either have a sale or give it to goodwill. Unless it is a family heirloom that you are keeping to pass down to the next generation.

The type of moving boxes available for purchase are great for larger and lighter items.

But, oddly enough, used liquor boxes are great for many reasons.
1. They are free. Most stores will save some for you if you ask.
2. They are very strong. They were designed to hold heavy glass bottles so you won’t find sturdier.
3. They are clean. Other types of free grocery boxes may have small bits of cereals or whatever to attract bugs and rodents, but not ones used for liquor.
4. They are small. This makes them easier to carry if filled with heavy things like books or a lot of CDs

There’s no reason to throw out CDs. If anything, throw out the plastic cases and get one of those book type holders with sleeves and pages for the CDs this way they’re all in one place.

Start packing the stuff like books, extra clothes, etc which you aren’t using now in some of the smaller boxes. Have some in each room so you can do it in little bits in the weeks leading up to moving day.

One of those clear packing tape guns comes in very handy and saves a lot of aggravation.

Have plenty of large sized markets in every room to make labeling easier.

And label everything on ALL SIDES.

If you are hiring someone to move you, give them no more than half their fee up front. Be ready to pay the driver the balance in cash, money order or certified check when he pulls up to your door. They won’t unload the truck until they see the money.

Here are some links to some checklists that may help you organize the move.

http://www.movers-edge.com/Moving-Checklist-s/12.htm
http://www.marthastewart.com/article/simplifying-the-big-move
http://www.upack.com/moving-resources/checklist.asp

I’m no help. I take everything with me when I move. I always have boxes with labels like “Miscellaneous Erap,” “Even More Miscellaneous Crap,” “Bits and Pieces of Crap’” and “Stuff I Really Should Just Throw Out, for God’s Sake.” That’s how bad I am.

When I moved across the country, I got rid of tons of little things and hauled along a number of big things. Mistake. It is much harder to replace fifty small kitchen gadgets that you’ve collected for years, and that you won’t remember until you reach for them, than an ironing board, a box window fan, and a body pillow.

Move your CDs. Don’t move cheap bathroom rugs and plastic lawn chairs.
Move your office supplies. Don’t move your particle board computer desk that you bought used for $50 and that weights a ton.
Move your beloved hardcovers, reference books, and childhood treasures. Don’t move every paperback you own and never intend to read again.
Move stuff you may have trouble finding when you try to replace it—a sturdy card table, a set of mixing bowls, matching nightstands.
Don’t move stuff you can find at any Target or Payless: throw pillows, plastic trays, paper napkins. Put the shampoo, soap, and deodorant in your suitcase.
Don’t move stuff that will cost you more to move than it will to replace, especially if it is in dubious condition anyway.
Do move what you love and also what your mother gave you.

Do move what you are going to need to live with, in, and on for a few days or a week while you round up replacements for the things you didn’t move.

Number your boxes, and keep a list of what’s in them, at least by type of things: kitchen gear, shoes, desk stuff. (It’s easier to search a numbered list than to try to read the labeled side of forty heavy boxes.) Write the numbers on the sides as well as the top.

Pay attention to which boxes contain the things you’ll need first: towels, basic cookware, enough dishes to eat off, bedding.

Jeruba says it all.

Make two piles – keep and trash. Keep the stuff you want to see at your new place. Host a garage/moving sale to purge the stuff you don’t.

Sounds like it depends if it is more convenient for you to give them away and buy new later or simply ship them to your new place.

Try not to dump perfectly good stuff. It’s wasteful and pollutive. At the very least, donate it to Goodwill or the Salvation Army or similar.

Don’t move any book that you don’t think you will ever read again, doesn’t define who you are, or is a paperback. I frequently take unwanted books and drop them in the library book drop. They either put them on the shelves, use them for their prison outreach program or sell them at the annual library book sale fund raiser.

Ditto with DVDs.