This move makes the second time we've been professionally packed and moved. We're talking from start-to-finish ... everything AND the kitchen sink.
We started the process on a Tuesday morning -- and three guys swooped onto my doorstep and four hours later ... had transferred belongings that we'd designated "storage" from our home to an offsite 10x10 unit. We're talking literally swooped in. Barely took time for lunch. Asked that I point out what went to storage and then they set to work.
Two took the garage and shed and one took the remainder of the house. Now, granted, I had already relocated the majority of the storage items out to the garage ... placed in a holding station, so to speak. Still though - they were efficient and quick.
Wednesday morning came and the process started all over again. This time they unloaded more boxes, more tape, more bubble wrap, more shrink wrap and LOTS more guys from that truck. Wednesday required about 12 hours for the packing, disassembling, wrapping and boxing of everything. Thursday required about 8 hours for the shuttling and loading of the one truck, into the second truck and the final details.
Because of several issues that I won't go into at this time (because I'm still a bit bitter, angry and have a fight to pick with Allied) we had to use a shuttle truck to get the packed boxes from our house out to the street. This literally meant loading up ONE truck (in a puzzle sort of fashion), driving it down the driveway and then unloading into the container (in a reverse puzzle sort of fashion so that the container would be properly loaded).
Kitty cat that was NOT too sure about this whole moving process.
Funny story -- as they whirlwind through the house, often times I would check random places (closets, nooks and crannies, etc.) assuming that they would forget something. It seemed logical that in a house they'd never been in - surely something would get forgotten?
I never WAS able to find anything they'd left behind in their flurry of packing ... except for the silverware drawer. I hollered out to Pat (who was responsible for the kitchen packing) and asked if he thought we ate with our fingers in India ... to which he replied "just not the ones on the left hand!" WISE GUY.
About 3 hours into the "load day" ... a 100% empty garage.
I know I said I wouldn't say anything about my current bitterness towards Allied ... BUT ... here's how much room was left in our 40 foot container (and we'd originally been told we needed a 20 foot). In case you CANT see it that well, it's about 3.5 feet. Seriously.
Bidding adieu to "our stuff"
A couple of things if you are reading this and about to embark on your own "having them pack up your house" adventure:
- From what we were told, I was not allowed to pack anything ... or run the risk of a "PBO" label on each of those boxes (packed by owner) which would then be subject to customs officials going through each of those boxes. No thank you!
- As much as stationing items in the garage as I purged helped me mentally up until the movers arrived (out of sight, out of mind) I fear ... No, I DREAD the unpacking process as we now have bathroom stuff intermixed with books, with some toys and silverware thrown in the mix - no doubt.
- Have bottled water on hand and plan to buy the guys their lunch each day. They are grateful and it made me feel a bit better about the care they were taking with our things.
- Over-estimate and inflate any estimate provided to you by at least 35%. No kidding.
- As of the writing of this post, proceed with caution when choosing Allied.
- Schedule babysitters for your children during this process. They will need to see the house when it's empty and say goodbye to their home, BUT they don't belong at the house during the packing!
- Use sticky notes for things that you feel require extra caution and care during packing.
- Use sticky notes to label each child's bedroom. Place each child's name on their bedroom door so that boxes are appropriately labeled.
- Do a somewhat thorough inventory of your belongings so that you are aware of the age of major items and whether anything is slightly damaged or broken before the movers begin.
- Never stop asking detailed questions. For YOU, this may be the first time you've experienced a move like this. Don't let the folks you're dealing with for your move force you into assuming ANYTHING.
Crossing my fingers that the new group in charge of our container can whip themselves into shape and get our container delivered to Delhi, processed through customs and scheduled for delivery VERY. VERY. VERY. soon after the 16th of July!
