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So I'm moving halfway across the country (San Jose > Austin) in a couple weeks and I'd love to hear from you all about how you've moved all your gear. Good stories, bad stories, things you did that ruled, things you ducked up, non-gear-specific stuff, etc.

I'll be packing myself a "relo-cube" (essentially a 5'x'7 box) and getting that shipped over there, while I drive out in my wagon with the most delicate/expensive items.


Moving sucks, but maybe you all can help me make it suck less.

Last January we moved from Salinas, CA (not too far away) to Youngstown, OH. In our case, we were moving a whole house and family. We knew we were going to buy a house somewhere (we even kept driving out of state and looking at other areas on the table), so we just had all our stuff packed up and then shipped out when we bought our house. So we packed up personal effects in suitcases and carry-ons and took with us on our flight and we packed up blankets, pots pans and other smallish stuff for living in an apartment and had my folks ship it to us when we got a temporary place to live while house hunting.

I keep almost all original packaging for everything I buy. So I put almost everything back in those. Things that I didn't have that for or were too big, I wrapped up in cardboard and packing blankets or made boxes for. We cheaped out on A LOT of stuff while moving, but paid top dollar to have all our stuff packed up, stored and shipped. I've also been making my own boxes and custom fitting packing material for gear I sell for over a decade and did shipping/receiving for large breakable items as part of my job for a long time, so I'm probably not a great case study.

When it comes to gear, I'd strong suggesting having everything packed up as professionally and thoroughly as possible and fully insuring it. It's worth spending on, if you care about it. None of my stuff arrived with any sort of damage at all.

Don't go overboard boxing music stuff up. It's typically all pretty heavy and usually the boxes that contain it shift around etc.. I'm just saying give it space and wrap stuff with newspaper if you don't have packaging. I've had overfull boxes break open etc

Good ideas all. I have a shitload of moving paper so I can wrap stuff up nicely. Worked well last time I moved on my dishes and glasses so I'll be using it where I can on my gear.

I defaulted to gear related stuff because I don't care about most of my other belongings. But I'll give the rest a whirl

Try to load your moving truck in such a way as that it's reverse order of what y need at the new home first. So like clothes and lamps and stuff are the first to come out so you can process the rest at a reasonable pace and you're not dealing with rooting through boxes to find stuff. Phone chargers and traveling food also a must here.

Clearly labeling the sides of all boxes is a must of course. I also recommend spending the extra 2$ or whatever and getting the Gorilla brand packing tape. It's bananas. Buying boxes sucks of course, but probably not as bad as shit boxes that break and/or misshapen and non uniformly sized boxes that don't stack. You may end up regretting saving some money on boxes on the end.

I've had the misfortune of moving everything I owned twice in under 2 years as I got divorced and finished school.

BetterOffShred wrote: Buying boxes sucks of course, but probably not as bad as shit boxes that break and/or misshapen and non uniformly sized boxes that don't stack. You may end up regretting saving some money on boxes on the end.

I always go around on the evening before recycling day and take the boxes that businesses are recyling.

Yeah, they may not always be uniform in size, but they don't cost me anything save for my time.

I agree, often boxes sold by storage and/or shipping pod companies are really flimsy. That's why I'm choosy when it comes to picking boxes from the recycling.

Chank, the picky dumpster diver.

Moving boxes for free?

I think I will take some.

Uhaul boxes are dope. Cheap too.

BetterOffShred wrote:Uhaul boxes are dope. Cheap too.

This is my go-to for boxes for sure.

My moving tip is to buy really small boxes and use more of them. If you have helpers, it’s easier to have boxes that anyone, especially kids, can help with

JonnyAngle wrote:My moving tip

I’ve done cross country moves a couple of times. My advice is to downsize as much as possible. I’ve always moved with just my car: loaded everything into it (and maybe a roof box), and drove away. Doing it multiple times has made me really conscientious about how much stuff I actually use, as opposed to how much I actually own.

01010111 wrote:I’ve done cross country moves a couple of times. My advice is to downsize as much as possible. I’ve always moved with just my car: loaded everything into it (and maybe a roof box), and drove away. Doing it multiple times has made me really conscientious about how much stuff I actually use, as opposed to how much I actually own.

Totally agree. Took four car loads of stuff to goodwill just this past summer last time we moved. Pretty much ditching all my furniture as part of this move too. Feels good for sure.