do you take everything (relocation, packing, movers, furniture)

[bgmv90]

I was wondering, do you use up all of your groceries, canned goods, cleaners, soaps, etc. before you move... or do you take them with you?

[M3 Mitch]

Well, ideally you would use up grocery items, but I have never seen anyone plan things out so efficiently.

One thing to think about is how valuable an item is versus how much damage it could cause if it broke open/leaked etc. For example things like bleach are probably not worth taking, give it away if you can't use it up. While laundry powder is not going to do anything drastic if the box breaks open.

To me, liquids are always suspect of not being worth packing/taking.

[RikkiTikki]

That should depend on if the material, labor and transportation cost exceeds the value of the item being moved. And the same rule should apply to all household goods items, not just perishables. That's one of the primary reasons that, for the last four years, the average shipment size for household goods movers has been shrinking.

For instance, the applicable tariff charges for most interstate household goods movers are based on a combination of weight and distance. If the cost to move a hundred pounds of 'stuff' 1000 miles is $132.00 per hundredweight (cwt), then the value of (or cost to replace) the food, personal effects or other items being moved for that price should exceed the cost of the time and material to collect, pack, prepare for transportation, unpack, sort, and store the item in the new destination.

During the Y2K scare, some people hoarded food and were completely willing to pay $10 for boxes, $20 for labor and $132.00/cwt to transport $15 worth of water-softener salt, $30 worth of rice, or $60 worth of green beans.

It's foolish to pay $132 to move an old, shaky IKEA bookshelf that cost $39.99 or especially since it probably won't survive the trip anyhow. Unless it has tremendous 'sentimental value' and/or is used quite often for 'personal pleasure', an old, worn-out 900 lb heirloom upright piano that's "been the family for six generations" will cost more to move than it is actually worth. And, like the bookshelf, it might not survive all the handling because of it's old construction.

Experienced folks involved in relocation planning prepare their meals and shopping lists based on what's in the pantry. They try to use everything before they leave. Everyday items that aren't valuable are sold or donated at origin and replaced, if necessary, at destination. That's one of the reasons that community bulletin boards like craigslist and freecycle are so popular in larger metropolitan areas.

It's often cheaper and easier to donate the IKEA bookshelf, old books, piano and unused food to a local family who lost everything in a fire or experienced an unavoidable home eviction because of the loss of employment than it is to move it. The personal satisfaction that results doesn't have a price.

[dmwlakewylie]

We are moving locally and will be moving ourselves (except for the heavy furniture) and I am planning on using up as many groceries as I can before the move. The less boxes I have to pick up the better for my back. And, I get to eat out more

[bgmv90]

Thanks. I'll try to use things up. I didn't think about stuff leaking. That is a good point.

[LinaJo76]

Next year we are moving to Florida and have decided that we aren't taking everything. So, we are thinking of a yard sale between this summer to next year (we are getting out of Arizona around Sept. 2011).

The bedroom furniture, couches, and other big furniture we are selling before we leave. We are just going to take the computer, our clothes, books, pots and pans, silverware, and canned goods with us. That's it. We just don't want to a lot of work this time, moving, like we did going from Phoenix to here. That was too much for me to handle. Light and easy this time.

[Coolhand68]

Canned and boxed goods I take with me so long as they haven't been opened. Anything that has been opened is left behind. Learned that the hard way with a bottle of maple syrup in my first cross country move.