Taking moths on house move

[eleanorm]

We currently live in an old apartment that is plagued with many beasts - one being moths. These are both the kitchen and clothes type. In about 1 month we are moving to a brand new house (can't wait..!) and I want to make sure that I do not import these moths to the new place.

The kitchen ones I am not concerned about as I probably won't be taking any open food stuff from here. The clothes ones are another matter. My MIL said that I need to wash every piece of clothing immediately after moving and before storing them in the new wardrobes to make sure all moths and eggs have been removed. But this raises some issues for me;

* I will be so busy around the time of the move that I am not sure if I will get all clothes washed quickly enough to make this effective. Starting the washing now may be an option, but I am not sure I could pack them in such a way to ensure that they stay moth free over the coming weeks.
* This seems like a serious waste of money/energy as many of the clothes are already 'clean' - not to mention the large number that would have to be sent out to the drycleaners.
* Does this mean I should also wash all linens as well - now that would be hell as I have no dryer at the moment!?
* Before the winter I (hand) cleaned all our woollens and packed them away in plastic boxes (not totally air tight ones). With the exception of one sweater they all seemed unaffected when we recently opened the boxes. Do you think these are 'safe' or should they all be washed again?

Has anyone got any tips or experiences for me? I am willing to put considerable effort into keeping our new house moth free....

[slacker_mom]

I would probably try to do a little more research on moth control before committing to such a project, but assuming I wanted to get all of the clothes and linens washed while we were moving, I would set aside whatever I would need for 2-3 days, then 2 days before the move I would drop off everything else at a laundromat to have it cleaned, dried, and folded. As we were moving, I would go to the laundromat and pick everything up and take it directly to the new place. Then I would wash the 2-3 days worth of clothes as soon as I got to the new place. That would be a small enough amount to handle while unpacking.

I recognize this would be expensive. I don't have a washer or a dryer, so I have to pay $2.50 for every load anyway. There's a place in my neighborhood that will do the wash for 85 cents per pound, and when we are really busy, it is worth every penny.

[opally]

We had problems with pantry moths, and I found a fairly quick & easy, though gross fix - a moth trap at Lowes. It doesn't use chemicals, it is a sticky trap with a little phermone lure. It's a triangular piece of cardboard, sticky on the insides, with a little red square you toss in on the sticky part. It's really effective, though a bit sad to see the dead stuck moths...

[mightymoo]

Is there anywhere you could temporarily store the clothes like a family member or friends house? If you did that then you could start washing now, as they are clean put them in the friends house and then move them to the new house from there.

I would also think that you could find a way to keep them airtight - Ziploc makes some XL bags now that would do the trick - wash the clothes (maybe at a laundromat if you don't have a dryer) and seal them up in the ziploc bags - this way you can do this before the move. the idea of moths bothers me so much *I* would be inclined to double bag them.

I don't know anything about moths, but I would think that putting the clothes through a dryer would be a good idea because manhy insects in general are very intolerant of being dried out and you'd be sure that no eggs would survive.

[MommyDOK]

I think freezing clothes for 3-4 days will kill them too. May be easier for you???

[eleanorm]

Thanks everyone for your helpful suggestions but I have to live with some limitations;

1) I live on a 3rd floor apartment with no car so carrying lots of laundry out is not an option with a 19 month old on my hip (being carried down very, very steep Dutch stairs).
2) Our regular fridge/freezer is broken (and has been for months - along with half the other electrical applicances in the place, including the dryer) and we are managing with a tiny one. The most I could fit in that freezer would be a pair of socks

However I have made some headway with the in-house washing and hanging stuff over the rads. MIL also took a few boxes to do at her place! I am also hanging things overnight on the balcony, although I am not sure if it is quite cold enough yet. I also decided that the wollens that I had packed in plastic boxes for the last 6 months don't need further work. I see no signs of attack there, and I guess there would be by now.

I guess I will do the best I can and anything left will stay in closed boxes in the new place until I get to wash or freeze them there. I'll let you know how successful I am with keeping the pests out of the new house .....