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Packing vs Unpacking when Moving

cm24

cm24

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Been spending the majority of my time this past month packing to move from Ohio to South Carolina made me realize how freaking ridiculous the whole process of moving is. I spent easily 3 weeks getting all the packing supplies, boxing things up, throwing stuff away, and then loading the PODS container. We moved in to the house yesterday and had the entire container unloaded within an hour. All the furniture was set up immediately, and we’ve unpacked 70% of the boxes. All of that effort and stress over 3 weeks getting ready just to be finished within 24 hours of arriving at the new place? Anyone else feel that way when they’ve moved?
 
cm24 said:
Been spending the majority of my time this past month packing to move from Ohio to South Carolina made me realize how freaking ridiculous the whole process of moving is. I spent easily 3 weeks getting all the packing supplies, boxing things up, throwing stuff away, and then loading the PODS container. We moved in to the house yesterday and had the entire container unloaded within an hour. All the furniture was set up immediately, and we’ve unpacked 70% of the boxes. All of that effort and stress over 3 weeks getting ready just to be finished within 24 hours of arriving at the new place? Anyone else feel that way when they’ve moved?
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Entropy. Takes a ton of energy to get things in order, and not nearly as much to undo the order.
 
captaincaution said:
Entropy. Takes a ton of energy to get things in order, and not nearly as much to undo the order.
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That is an intelligent response. Also reminds me of how I feel trying to clean up after my dog… takes 20 minutes to clean up her toys and 3 minutes for her to reassemble the mess…

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I hate packing/moving, but it is a nice reset to try and organize things and get rid of clutter. Of course, the order after unpacking never seems to last long.
 
Always...packing is much more stressful and time consuming then unpacking. Going through that now as we moved our son back home from college. Just finished packing everything back up just to unpack it tomorrow when he moves into his condo. The joys...
 
captaincaution said:
Entropy. Takes a ton of energy to get things in order, and not nearly as much to undo the order.
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Yep.

Also, the better you do getting things in order and the right boxes the less time it takes to put it away.
 
cm24 said:
Been spending the majority of my time this past month packing to move from Ohio to South Carolina made me realize how freaking ridiculous the whole process of moving is. I spent easily 3 weeks getting all the packing supplies, boxing things up, throwing stuff away, and then loading the PODS container. We moved in to the house yesterday and had the entire container unloaded within an hour. All the furniture was set up immediately, and we’ve unpacked 70% of the boxes. All of that effort and stress over 3 weeks getting ready just to be finished within 24 hours of arriving at the new place? Anyone else feel that way when they’ve moved?
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Yes! Moving is such a nightmare. Envious of your move to SC though! Enjoy the new place.
 
It was surprising how much stuff we had in a tiny apartment, the storage unit is chest deep! Will be good to stick it all in the next place.

Looking back at it, probably should have tossed or gave away more than we did.
 
For our only major move, I was being transferred by my company from Chicago to Dallas, so packing by the moving company was included. I relocated before the wife and stepsons, so I did all the unpacking. In the two weeks before they showed up, everything had been unpacked and put away, despite me working during that time.

Since then, moves have been local and each time we closed on the new place before having to leave the old, so it was trip after trip of just hauling all the small stuff in the cars, putting it away as we delivered it. Not a lot of packing required.
 
SaratogaSprings said:
Looking back at it, probably should have tossed or gave away more than we did.
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This. You move enough times and eventually you learn to toss 50% of the crap you could just never dream of parting with before. What's worse is when you try to sell it and get some of your money back. We moved last year and tried selling a washer/dryer and no one wanted it. Then tried giving them away to anyone we knew. BTW, these were nice and they worked. Still no one wanted them. Same for a complete dining room set that new cost thousands, media cabinets, a reclining full grain leather sofa in great shape, complete set of office furniture including desk, wood file cabinets, etc. Donation services all wanted us to pay them to come pick it all up, and we had to help load it. No Thank You. Even knew a friend who worked in the church helping people get housed and back on their feet but nope, they don't need or want any of it. And I was giving it away. So now my shop has a fancy solid wood, made in the USA dining room table as a work bench, a china cabinet as a display case for collectibles, and a leather sofa recliner for watching the extra 55" LED flatscreen no one would take. Don't even ask about all the perfectly good stuff that eventually ended up in a trash bin headed to the land fill, and this was stuff we paid to move because we're stupid I guess.
 
jbb2388 said:
Yes! Moving is such a nightmare. Envious of your move to SC though! Enjoy the new place.
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We’re definitely enjoying the new place!! Celebrating the fact we’re unpacked by playing the U of South Carolina’s home course this afternoon as a reward for all the work haha
 
SaratogaSprings said:
It was surprising how much stuff we had in a tiny apartment, the storage unit is chest deep! Will be good to stick it all in the next place.

Looking back at it, probably should have tossed or gave away more than we did.
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We definitely learned from this one. We could’ve easily added more boxes to the pod and didn’t… made the car travel more crammed!
 
cm24 said:
Been spending the majority of my time this past month packing to move from Ohio to South Carolina made me realize how freaking ridiculous the whole process of moving is. I spent easily 3 weeks getting all the packing supplies, boxing things up, throwing stuff away, and then loading the PODS container. We moved in to the house yesterday and had the entire container unloaded within an hour. All the furniture was set up immediately, and we’ve unpacked 70% of the boxes. All of that effort and stress over 3 weeks getting ready just to be finished within 24 hours of arriving at the new place? Anyone else feel that way when they’ve moved?
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Moving like a lot of things is 90% preparation.

Hopefully this is your last or 2nd to last move that you do that work yourself.
 
Duffer Waldorf said:
So, you're saying I shouldn't have boxes still packed up from 3 (or more) moves ago?
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Nah, you’re just being proactive and preparing for the next move already!!
 
Carolina Dundee said:
Moving like a lot of things is 90% preparation.

Hopefully this is your last or 2nd to last move that you do that work yourself.
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Haha my issue is that I like knowing what is in each box so I know where it goes when we get to the new place. Plus it’s a heck of a workout carry boxes around. I can pay people to carry the heavy clumsy crap and transport it across states!!
 
we are packing our house right now for the move in 3 weeks....and it SUCKS!!!! packing and purging and packing and purging. it's like it never ends. i could totally see how unpacking is much easier. you have already done all the work now you are just opening boxes and putting stuff away. you are not analyzing whether to keep an old shirt you found in the back of your closet that you haven't worn in 15 years but now is bringing back old memories :ROFLMAO:
 
I could write a book on our move from hell - but I will let other posts/threads do that.

We did not have it as easy or as well as you have. And we got rid of easily 75% of our furniture - we do still have memento stuff in the garage likely being destroyed by heat and humidity. If I am able, will hopefully start closing the garage in as soon as next week.
 
The only good part about packing and moving is being able to get rid my wife’s useless garbage. It’s easy to see what you don’t actually need when you have to pack it in a box and move it.

Also, congrats on escaping Ohio. I’ve got 3 more years until I’m gone for SC.
 
My last move was the easiest on me of any I’ve ever done. Wife sorted thru everything hauled what she wanted to donate then packed everything else. With no help from me. I returned home from working in South Dakota and hauled boxes and some furniture. Got boxes situated where she could put everything away and returned back to South Dakota for work. Couple trips like that and all I had to do was figure out where she put everything. 🤣🤣🤣
 
Unpacking is always the better of the two. The thing about unpacking is you think you did this great job purging and you still end up with too much crap in the storage room.
 
I hate both equally. I moved in my house over a year ago and still have stuff in cardboard boxes in an extra room. Hated packing because it made me realize that I've accumulated a bunch of stuff I don't need.
 
Bosco... said:
There’s no better way to figure out how much useless **** a person has until you have to put it in a box and move it.
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This is so true!!
 
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