Moving people (4 tips to stop me hating you)

[dalekboy]

Shaz and I own a van, so we often get roped into helping people shift.

Most recently we helped Tiki shift into her new digs. Tiki hired a 3 tonne van and we got pretty much everything shifted in one hit. It's one of the reasons I tell people to hire a van to move their stuff - it makes the whole job easier. A 2 or 3 tonne van is big enough to move most households.

It was as we were starting to load up the van that I had an epiphany - I am fucking over this!

Yep, I'd had a gutful of helping people shift. There was nothing Tiki had done, and for the most part it's nothing the others have done. It was simply an echo of the dozen or so other people I've helped move over the last few years crystalising into a fact.

Most people don't know how to move house. They don't know how to treat the friends they rope in, don't know how to prepare before the move, don't know how to pack. The last person I helped move that was no hassle (before Tiki) was Mondy. He and Teej McTeej hired a van, we loaded it up, it was a good shift.

I have probably helped out in 20+ moves in the last decade or so, and that doesn't include me personally moving house a couple of times. What I realised while helping Tiki this time around was that I ended up getting stuck in the same situation again and again.

I'm very good at packing stuff, that's one of the major things I bring to helping someone move. But I also help carry stuff out to the van. And what inevitably happens is, I help move the stuff out of the house and then end up doing all the arranging in the van as well. It's a waste of what I'm good at, getting me to carry boxes, and I end up doing two jobs to most people's one. I often seem to end up moving the stuff around in the van on my own, while everyone else stands around talking and waiting for me to finish, because they've done their bit and can't really help me with mine.

So for the record, these are the things I will insist on if you want me to help you move - By the way, most of these things should be kept in mind if you're getting anyone to help you.

I will not help you move your entire house unless you hire a van!
I'm ready to help out, but I have better things to do with my time than make fourteen bloody trips in my van when we can make one or two trips in a hire van. Plus it's so much easier to get things into a hire van. You can take all your furniture in one hit, rather than a separate trip for the couch, the arm chairs and table, the washing machine and fridge... You get the picture.

If you have people turning up at a particular time to help shift, make sure everything is packed and ready to go!
The amount of times I have turned up to someone's house and had to then wait around while they finished packing, or help them pack, is ridiculous. It's bloody rude to ask your friends to give up their time to help you shift and then keep them waiting. And if you don't have things ready, do not, Do Not, DO NOT get shitty at them for packing your stuff badly or in odd places. You should have had this all done. If you want help packing, organise another group of friends to help out with that the day before.

You are providing lunch and possibly dinner for your helpers, otherwise you can go to hell!
Your friends aren't there as a free labour force. If they are putting in their time to help you, the least you can do is spring for their food and drink. Pizza and/or chips are very popular.

If you want me to help, I'm in the van arranging the boxes and furniture. That's it!
Not strictly true, I will help carry things in at the other end. But having one or two people in the van to arrange stuff as it's brought to them is a good idea regardless. You can have people take turns if you want, but it makes the whole process move much more smoothly, not to mention quickly.

And that's it. Four little things that will make your shift go quicker and easier for you and your helpers, and will avoid me hiding tuna in your curtain rods or ducted heating.

Cheers,
Danny

PS I am whingeing about moving households of stuff here, I'm more than happy to help move a couch, table or some bookcases in my van. Just wanted to be clear on that.

[edit] PPS Aaron Jacks is also a good person to move. Just want to give credit where it's due

Comments

[cheshirenoir.livejournal.com]

Hear Hear!

More tips:

Buy / Hire a trolly: I purchased one for $20. I wouldn't trust it with a fridge, but even so, it makes moving big cumbersome stuff around a dream. Get some rope or tiedowns to go with it and thigs are easier again.

Get a range of box sizes: Not everything fits into one sized box. Some things aren't designed to go in big boxes. Books come to mind. If you are loading books into packing boxes, only load the bottom half. Load the top half with clothes. They'll tear otherwise.

Don't move the day before your final rent inspection: You'll never get it done. There are always things that need extra attention. You can't do it in one shift. Have a couple of days to get the "other stuff" and to plan around disasters.


Mind you, twice I have moved house with only a shopping trolley. The joys of being a student with absolutely NO furniture.

[dalekboy.livejournal.com]

Forgot about the trolley... good one.

Though there are people who can make using a trolley hard. My father-in-law is a great bloke, but he has a knack of finding the most awkward way to move things. My favourite was when we had to move a wardrobe using a trolley - and he insisted we put the wardrobe with its side resting on the bottom bit of the trolley! Aaarrrgghhh! It's really hard to maneuver with six feet of wardrobe sticking out in front of you...

[baralier.livejournal.com]

Having moved house an average of about 0nce every 12 months or so over the last 15 years I'm getting pretty good at it. Trolleys not so much a priority but working out the order of things to go into the truck is a good thing.

As for boxes, make friends with you local bottleshop (or several) as wine boxes are the best size for backing books into. And if you've got close to 2000 of the buggers (like me) popping round the day before the move isn't going to work :-)

[sjl.livejournal.com]

Funny you mention the fridge in conjunction with a trolley. I helped a friend move house. Twice. They had a massive fridge; it got loaded onto a trolley (no way were two people carrying it out the door, and I doubt we could have moved it out the door with one on each corner.)

Went smoothly the first time. The second time, the trolley gave up part way; the metal bent, ruining the trolley.

I'm glad that I managed to miss the third move. That fridge was an absolute bastard of a thing to move.

When I come to help people move, my attitude is that I'm brute muscle. Give me something to move, tell me where to put it, and I'll shift it as instructed. Don't expect me to pack stuff into boxes, because I don't know what belongs where. And when I'm loading stuff onto a truck, I'll try to get things in some kind of order to try to maximise space ... but if somebody wants to organise the truck, that's fine by me; again, just tell me where to dump stuff.

As for books, I learnt that lesson very quickly. Small boxes and books are good. Large boxes? Nuh uh.

[mortonhall.livejournal.com]

I'm totally with you on this. We stopped helping people move a while ago for much the same reasons. For my last two moves I hired professionals to do it. It cost a lot more but saved the hassle of a)annoying friends and it was b)over quicker c)less hassle for me.

Since my work-related injury to my hand/wrist years ago, I can't lift stuff anyway so I use a small luggage trolley to shift stuff that others might be able to lift. We have 2 - 3 of these and they are really really useful. Can even be used to move bookcases!

[dalekboy.livejournal.com]

When we move to mum's we'll be in the situation (yet again) where there won't be any need to call in friends. Once the carpet's down (two weeks) we'll just take loads of stuff every time we visit. There's no date we have to be out by, and we're already boxing up bits and pieces.

And for the big stuff, entertainment unit, fridge, desks, etc. we're hiring professionals. Let someone else worry about how to get stuff over the railing out the front. Hell they're getting paid.

The bad point about this is that it means I don't get to drag in all the buggers I've helped out. Damn, no payback! Unless our funds are low, in which case... hehehehe...

[stephen-dedman.livejournal.com]

After years of persuading our fellow paupers to help us, we've hired professionals for our last few moves, and it's greatly reduced the level of associated toxic stress. Moving house is still one of my very least favourite activities (one reason we bought a place - no more evictions just because the owners are getting a divorce and one of them needs a place to live), but as Macbeth said under not dissimilar circumstances, "if it were done when 'tis done, 'twere well it were done quickly."

[llbatt.livejournal.com]

When we moved at the end of last year I was 8 months pregnant. A few friends and relatives offered to help. A few even turned up. We decided to use a company to pack us up and get us to the other side. They quoted one price then charged us nearly three times more at the other end.

We mainly relied upon our friends for the unpacking part of the procedure.

And yes we fed them. We cooked a bbq for lunch.

For the record - don't use aardvark removals

[lonewolf23.livejournal.com]

Never trust a company named purely to get them into the first position in the Yellow Pages. ;)

[llbatt.livejournal.com]

So my new business venture, "AAAAAAAAAAAAA Mobile Proctologists", wouldn't get your business, Martin?

[lonewolf23.livejournal.com]

I thought that was only your hobby?

[llbatt.livejournal.com]

I got a degree from an online Mexican University!

[lilysea.livejournal.com]

Also for the record, avoid Grace Removals.

I used them for the Perth-Canberra move. I got their "professional packers" to do the packing - big mistake. They also lost stuff in transit, and their furniture delivery people at the other end delivered damaged furniture, and damaged the house in the process of installing it.

The move: $$$$ and annoyance, lost and damaged stuff

Badmouthing the incompetent removalists at every opportunity in the hope they go out of business? Priceless (:

[meljane.livejournal.com]

Ken and I can relate all too well .

I've lost count of how many people we've helped move , some people we've even helped move twice .

The reason why Ken usually gets picked to help people move is because he had a station wagon, which is also the reason why Ken next car was a station wagon as well (he just knew people were still going to ask him to transport their stuff) .

There has only been one time when a friend had a moving van and that is only cos she could afford it , most of our friends are lucky enough to be able to afford a trailer and the others just transport their stuff bit by during the week .

Most people are good with packing , some have really flimsy boxes where stuff has fallen out and others just haven't been all that ready to move even though have given us a weeks warning that they needed us .

Most of the time we get offered dinner or lunch at the time or offered a meal sometime in the future sometimes not (not that I mind unless I'm really hungry).

Alot of the time we don't mind helping moving cos we like to help people but there are the odd few times when just get sick of helping people move or people just assume that we have nothing on and that we would gladdly drop everything to help them move .

People are strand creatures indeed !!!?

[meljane.livejournal.com]

I find it amazing that people ask us to help them move but no one offers their help to move us grrr.

[tikiwanderer.livejournal.com]

I was surprised at the amount of help I had moving from Bentley to Carlisle (beginning of June last year). I'd expected only a few people to be free, so had as much ready as I could and had already had anything big or heavy or furniture-like shifted by professionals two days before (I needed the extra time to get everything else packed). The nice thing about having done it that way was that the total time to load, move and unload was just on one hour. A couple of people turned up a bit late and found that we were already done :-)

I also loved having geekboys help me. I don't know what it is, some sort of increased spatial-mathematical ability or something, but I keep running across people whose ability to pack is wonderful. And having put my stuff all in boxes that *I* could carry (on the assumption that I would carry most of them), I got to watch geekboys competing with each other's masculinity not by who could carry the heaviest box, but who could pack the most boxes into a car boot. I love you all...

[kitling.livejournal.com]

the rudest thing is asking people to help you move and then not actually being packed.

Its okay to ask for help packing. But having the truck rock up and not be packed is very annoying.

The hire a van is sensible too. I get sick of 47 car trips. Although the last few moves, we've moved all the fragile breakable stuff in cars the night before and just have to shift the furniture and heavy stuff on the day.

Boxes - make friends with your local bookshop if most of what you own is books and dvds :)

[chaosmanor.livejournal.com]

Several years ago Laurton moved house when Rowan was five months old. Since she was a new-mum zombie, she hadn't packed or anything. And since it was 44.5 degrees Celcius that day, she went and stayed at a friend's airconditioned flat...leaving Amanda and I with an unpacked house, extreme heat, and removalists standing on the front porch.

When she moved again a year later Amanda and I boycotted the process completely as compensation for the hellish experience she had put the pair of us through.

[dalekboy.livejournal.com]

Best moving horror story I've heard so far!

Good luck with the shop, o' sexy one!

[chaosmanor.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

The shop is looking good, and the new owner is well cashed up, so we're getting loads of new stock to reopen with. And as stephen_dedman has pointed out, the shop is staffed almost entirely by redheads. An interesting hiring policy, and one that works for me.

[chaosmanor.livejournal.com]

Of course, it's only three weeks since we packed a bookshop up and put it into storage. And we get to unpack the shop again this week. 7000 books, 150 cartons. And the rest of the shop-type stuff, like counters and shelving and Stuff.