Bring almost nothing when you move

[dayna]

My daughter is 16 and has had an easy transistion. Myself and my husband have also had an easy time. We're friendly easy going folks and found that there are about the same amount of nice folks and the same amount of jerks here as anywhere else!

Dayna

www.E-Z-Caps.com

[microage97]

Hi Dayna, That is awesome! Is the horrors of mold as bad as people make it out to be? I am wanting to bring over 10-15 good boxes of books.

[dayna]

Yes, all my books are moldy. I'm sure there is some way around that but I am lazy.

Dayna

www.E-Z-Caps.com

[Carey]

We have all of our good books in the plastic boxes that seal shut, along with a little pin-pricked baggie (or some people use coffee filters that they seal up) with a scoop of crystal kitty litter (unused, of course!) When we fist moved, they still sold a plastic bag for veggies that had little pin-pricks that we used for the kitty litter (you can also buy commercial desiccant bags... but I use these things for a lot of my storables...so... make my own...) These are in all of our file drawers, too - even clothes drawers & linen boxes... also good in the tool box, as rust also happens here!

When we rented the place had an old glass fronted bookcase w/lights.. the owner told us to keep the light on to keep the mold down... we use the bags there instead, but that is also how our church kept their expensive papers & envelopes dry.... & all envelopes that have moisture glues will need to be kept dry, or they seal up.

We have also reworked our whole house, eliminating mold/mildew places...all of the house wood frame (most of the house is aluminum framed, so this is not the huge job that it sounds like) has been treated with mold/mildew killer, allowed to dry & then treated with a wood preservative with mold & mildew inhibitor... the wallboard has been replaced with mold resistant wall board (mostly HardiPanel...pain to work with, but will not "melt"...) - first thing I recommend is to eliminate carpeting here, if mold & mildew effect you...

[csgray]

We did the whole sell or give away everything, but in retrospect there are things we should have kept: ALL our tools because they were very expensive to replace and often the quality was lower, all our breaker bars and extension cords were expensive to replace too. We shipped over my good stainless steel kitchenware but I should have brought all my pyrex over, same with kitchen hand utensils, serving spoons, knives, and table ware, bed linens and towels were expensive to replace.

Other than those things we don't regret selling all the household goods, furniture or books, but it was wrenching to sell a lifetime collection of books, many were out of print and irreplaceable.

Carol

[microage97]

I have a almost complete set of Stephen King novels / writings in almost pristine condition. Maybe I should box those up and keep them State side until I figure out what to do with them. My wife was told that we need to keep one room as a drier room with a dehumidifier going in there and keep all of these types of things in there. Is this good advice?

We are getting rid of almost all of the furniture as the kids have torn it up and time for some new stuff anyways. We are bringing one child's bed set, tools and other house hold items + 2 cars our paid for minivan and my jeep wrangler. Thanks for all the advice!

[Carey]

If you are mailing your belongings like we did, those heavy tools & flatware are great to place in the priority flat rate boxes....you can fit enough in that you have to monitor the weight to make sure you do not go over-limit (plus side, they pick up & deliver the priority boxes!)

We pared down sooo much (the books were hard to let go...but I realized that donating some of the very rare ones would allow many more to enjoy...plus side, at least 2 were electronically copied, & I still get to enjoy them...anywhere I am!

Dumb thing I decided NOT to bring - was my moms awesome hand juicer....go to citrus mecca without the juicer...DUHHH!!! luckily there is ebay....have found many (and have shared many with friends here) that were very inexpensive...

and there is always Amazon with free shipping... and going to rummage sales & such have even found exact replacements for some of my other favorite pieces... so not all is lost....

When shipping things, think of soft things like clothing & linens as potential packing (obviously not the good stuff, but even socks make good protectors!) also use those plastic containers...that way you will have them here to use....& when shipping your items, always remember that unless they are being shipped on a plane, they are going to be on a boat....movement will happen & cool, dark & damp can happen....

ADDEDehumidifiers do work, but they also use electricity....sometimes looking at how to increase air flow & light (even our closet doors are vented with light through...and we replaced the solid closet ceiling with translucent panels to allow more light in.... )

Those Steven Kings can easily be boxed up with the proper care (desiccants & such)....also make sure the things you do box up are fairly clean...any gunk on the storage items will grow ucky things....

[csgray]

The cost of electricity here is prohibitive, keeping one room closed and running dehumidifiers will be very expensive. We shipped our stuff over in those big blue rubbermaid containers which we duct tapped close. Everything arrived intact, but it took anywhere from 1 to 6 weeks. There was no rhyme or reason to which stuff took so long, we took them all to the same PO and mailed them the same day.

Carol

[dayna]

One thing that has helped is my husband installed a solar fan in the square that accesses the attic. The fan sucks air from the house and blows it up into the attic. It really keeps the air moving through the house and the only cost was the fan and solar panel.

Dayna

www.E-Z-Caps.com

[PaulW]

Easy: don't bring books. No point bringing ones you have already read, life is too short. If you have ones you haven't read yet then there is probably a good reason for that.