I know it’s still early, but we are getting close to summer
transfer season. And while I’m not
supposed to leave post until July (at the earliest) I’ve already started making
my lists and mentally preparing myself for pack out.
Why, you might ask, are you worried about pack out now? For heaven’s sake, the movers will come and
do everything for you! Well, my friends,
I’m glad you asked that, because, as this will be my sixth move, experience
teaches me to prepare early. While the
movers will pack everything for you they basically just want to get everything
in a box as quickly and carefully as possible.
This might not sound like a problem, but imagine 3-6 strangers in your
house with boxes, paper and tape emptying drawers, closets, boxes, in 16 hours—and
this includes loading the truck—and you might begin to understand why you need
to be ready in advance.
First things first:
Do you have items going to more than one place, or in more than one
shipment? For instance do you have an
air shipment and a sea shipment? Are you
sending some of your things to storage, or to another house somewhere? What about your suitcases?
Think about where you are sending your things and by what
method. Speak to your shippers early on
in the process to find out if you can ship food, electronics, liquids, or aerosols. If you get a lighter shipment (like an airfreight)
to get you settled in before the main bulk of your household effects arrives, separate
out those items first. In this shipment
you want to think about what is the bare minimum that your family can survive
on and feel at home. Things like kitchen
supplies; pots, pans, plates, silverware, anything you use regularly to get
food on the table—and take it from me pack your muffin pans and loaf pans if
you might ever make muffins or bread. I
now have 5 loaf pans and 2 muffin pans because every time I move I don’t think
I’ll need them, and every time we get there I need them and buy new ones.
Bedding; sheets, towels, blankets, pillows—these may or may not be provided for
you when you get to post, but chances are they will be weird, scratchy, and
unfamiliar. There’s nothing like sliding
into bed in your own sheets to make you feel at home. Toys—if you have kids this is a must. There is nothing worse than arriving to an
empty house, except arriving to an empty house with kids asking every two
seconds “what can I do?” Clothes—I would
bring as many seasons as will fit, I once packed only summer and fall clothes
because we were supposed to arrive at post in early summer and there would
really be no way it could take 6 months for our items to arrive… well we didn’t
get to post until late summer and by the time our shipment arrived it was late
fall and I was freezing!
Of course, every family is different and you are going to
have to make your own lists as to what you send by air. One way to do this is to make a list of
everything you use as you use it for a month, then pare this list down to the
essentials. Like getting rid of a pizza cutter when a knife will do, or instead
of 3 plates per person per day, one set of dishes for each person.
On packing day have your packers pack and weigh this
shipment first so that if you have extra space you can add to it, or if you are
overweight you can take things out before your entire house is packed up.
