Moving Support Thread - Page 3

[Thalia]

Originally Posted by Kavita

Thalia, how do you get tapes transferred to digital?? DH has a million and five cassettes of music that will never be found again in the U.S., and our stereo doesn't even have a tape player!!!

I had a thread going about this in TAO:

Here's what I eventually found out. We still haven't decided which option we'll be going with. We don't have a tape player on our stereo, either!

Okay, I found a decent tutorial online on how to convert analog LPs and cassettes to digital format:

http://www.dak.com/reviews/Tutorial_LP.cfm

We still need to borrow a cassette deck, but I don't think that should be too hard to do.

If you are looking for something simpler, this site also advertises a hardware/software package to make the transfer easier. It costs about $78 with shipping included:

http://www.dak.com/reviews/2020story...e_to_mp3#cable

And if you have money to burn and want something REALLY easy, you can pay someone like these guys to do it all for you:
http://www.cassettes2cds.com/?gclid=...FRZsWAodHC2wKQ

And then later:

Tah-dah! Look what appeared in the NYT today:
The Sermon on the Tapes

[Nature]

Originally Posted by Kavita

Maybe you could transcribe it onto a piece of paper or cardboard or something--like put the paper against the wall and make the exact same markings for names and dates. And then take a few photos of it in the original. If you are feeling really fancy you could probably even do it on a piece of wood or a piece of drywall! If you have some paint from that wall you could paint the drywall the same so it looks like you *did* take the wall with you!

Oh thats a good idea! I'm thinking maybe a huge piece of wood, nice and long and skinny that we can paint up nicely and put the markings we have now on it... and use it for years to come.

[sparkprincess]

Our house is coming along nicely and should be done early to mid-June!! I can't wait. We are also completely done with all of our house-selling projects which is a big relief!

Now we just have to sell this house and that's the big anxiety producer now. We haven't had a single person come to look at it. Our agent said to be patient because most people won't be looking just yet as they want to wait a bit closer to the end of the school year...but STILL!! Argh the waiting is so hard!!

[UberMama]

Question: How are you all labeling boxes? Last time, we put the room it goes into (and if in my DS's room in the closet, we put that it went in their room in the closet), then we wrote some of what was in it (socks, underwear, or anything important).

I am wondering if there may be a better way. Someone suggested long ago to number the boxes and then keep a paper with the numbers and what numbers are what rooms. Eh, I'd rather write out the name of the person's room it goes into or write "family room" and such.

Ideas?

[ollineeba]

Originally Posted by ttcanother

Question: How are you all labeling boxes? Last time, we put the room it goes into (and if in my DS's room in the closet, we put that it went in their room in the closet), then we wrote some of what was in it (socks, underwear, or anything important).

I am wondering if there may be a better way. Someone suggested long ago to number the boxes and then keep a paper with the numbers and what numbers are what rooms. Eh, I'd rather write out the name of the person's room it goes into or write "family room" and such.

Ideas?

I was just planning to put the room name and contents. But I've never done this before, so I don't know what I'm doing

[ipfree]

I did it the master list way and then the list got packed and so there went that plan.
My favorite way is to label the box with the contents and location. Just like was suggested in previous post.
I also packed 2 weeks worth of clothing in suitcases separate and kept them in the car in case some boxes got delayed or something. Good to have two weeks worth of necessary items handy so you feel comfortable right away.
My favorite unpacking thing is to do my kitchen first, hang up my wall stuff and all that. I have a tradition of making a meal the first week in our new home and using the kitchen for the first time gives me that "home" feeling.
Good luck to you all. We are not packing boxes this time because we are giving everything we own away except what can fit in our car. It is harder than I thought!!!:

[ipfree]

Just had to say thanks again to Thalia. What great info on transferring tapes to digital. Great research.

[Tinas3muskateers]

update

We got our appraisal and it went better then expected woohoo! We are not using a realtor so that saves us a ton of money. Closing is or should near the 27 and we will be in our new home the first week of May. The painting is pretty much all done and the packing as started.

[ipfree]

about height chart transfer

If your hubby and you are handy it can be done. You can remove a part of the wall by sawing off a square of wall and then replacing it with drywall. First you have to figure out if it is a bearing wall (part of the structure) if it is not you can cut it out with hefty hardware. There will probably be wood behind there, and you just fill it back in when you have your slab. It will take a long time but it can be done. Then once removed you can paint it and varnish it and hang it in your new home, or frame it. We use the back of the door for height charts and then we take the door with us!
Still snowing in Vermont!!!

[ipfree]

Here's the link with some pictures to give you some idea of what I was talking about. Given all the effort you have to expend, I would use tracing paper and trace the height chart. But, I know how emotional I would be and I probably would take that part of the wall with me!
Modify the opening wall instructions for your purpose:

http://www.hometips.com/articles/openingwall.html

[sweetc]

How funny to find this thread tonight.... We move in 12 hours... tomorrow morning. I am taking a break in amongst all the boxes.

I'll post more about what we did to get the house ready to sell, to move, and how it all went in a day or two.

[ipfree]

How are you all doing with your moving plans?

[~Nikki~]

Originally Posted by ttcanother

Question: How are you all labeling boxes? Last time, we put the room it goes into (and if in my DS's room in the closet, we put that it went in their room in the closet), then we wrote some of what was in it (socks, underwear, or anything important).

I am wondering if there may be a better way. Someone suggested long ago to number the boxes and then keep a paper with the numbers and what numbers are what rooms. Eh, I'd rather write out the name of the person's room it goes into or write "family room" and such.

Ideas?

I've moved so many times that I've tried every single way. Numbering the boxes and keeping a master list isn't that great, imo. For starters, what if you lose the list? Secondly, if you have helpers, it's much easier to be very plain and blunt about where the boxes go.

My favorite method (when we had 8 friends helping us unload) was to label the boxes with "Kitchen" "Living Room" "Our Room" "DS's Room" "Bathroom 1" etc. We'd also add a little description (ie: clothing, cutlery, food, etc.) Then I'd tape up a piece of paper above the doorframe with the room names on them (because our helpers didn't have a clue which kid was getting which room, for example). Next time, I'd like to do this with the furniture, as well.

[MamaFern]

we are kind of at a standstill since we still dont know when we are moving. i know it will be after may, so probably closer to then ill really get into ear, for now im trying to just declutter and simplify..its going slowly

[cupofjojo]

DH will be looking for a new job come July so more than likely we will be moving in the Fall. We haven't fully unpacked from the last move/downsizing so I want to get through all our stuff before July.

We're having a yard sale in May so that is helping us to get through our boxes faster.

We know when we move again, we'd like it to be into a slightly smaller home. So as we go through stuff this time DH and I have been asking ourselves would we be able to keep it in a smaller house, and have we used it in this one.

Hopefully, we'll get rid of a lot of stuff to help ease the packing pain

[ima2simcha]

We're moving to Massachusetts from Olympia, WA in (I think) late Ocotber. Depending of course on when the house sells. I met with our realtor on Mon and got good news about how much she thinks we can get and she thinks it won't take more than 2 weeks to 30 days to sell. We've been in this town for 15 years and had very little when we came here so moving the 3000+ miles back will be an adventure.

We are getting rid of everything we don't love or need - we'll see how that goes.

The hardest part is leaving all of our friends and this town we love - but it's time to go back home - we are moving to be closer to family and because we can't imagine not raising our daughter in New England.

re: Labeling -- last time we moved we labeled just the room or room# and that was confusing I'm going to try and get more specific this time. In fact I am packing and putting boxes in the attic now so that the house isn't so cluttered when we go to sell. I doubt I'll remember them at all by the time we unpack them in November.

It's a long way to move -- any pointers from folks who've btdt?

Juli

[cupofjojo]

Originally Posted by ima2simcha

re: Labeling -- last time we moved we labeled just the room or room# and that was confusing I'm going to try and get more specific this time. In fact I am packing and putting boxes in the attic now so that the house isn't so cluttered when we go to sell. I doubt I'll remember them at all by the time we unpack them in November.

It's a long way to move -- any pointers from folks who've btdt?

Juli

After 6 moves, I have come up with a labeling system that works for me. It is a little time consuming but WELL worth it.

I write a list of everything going into the box either on a 4x6 index card or in a marble bound copybook. On each box I put a code i.e. LR#1, LR#2, 1BR#1.

The abbreviation is room (LR - Living Room, 1BR - first bedroom, etc.) the #1, #2 goes with the number of boxes I fill for that room.

That code then goes on the 4x6 card or the notebook page for the inventory of that box. This way I have an at hand inventory list so when we moved we knew exactly where things were. Boy it was nice to be able to find DS's swim suit only by looking at paper rather than opening 20 boxes. It was also great in finding the coffee maker This time I was smart enough to box the coffee maker, kettle, some tea & coffee, tea pot, coffee filters, mugs, and sugar all in one box. It was nice to have coffee or tea readily available while unpacking.

We also put color dots on each box for that room. Red kitchen, yellow, living room, green 1st bedroom, flourecent orange DS bedroom, etc. This was helpful because a number of boxes ended up on wrong rooms and you could tell just by the colored label.

The 4X6 index cards work well because then you can organize them by room after all boxes have been packd. When I used the notebook on move 5, I had to flip throug the pages every time to find each box.

As far as the distance, start using up all your liquids. We only had 8 days before moving from PA to CO and needless to say when unpacking the liquids were our biggest problem. Some had spilled, some broken, or leaked into other things. I'll never move cross country with syrups, dishwashing soaps, etc. Unless we pack them and put them in our car instead of the moving truck.

[ollineeba]

Just wanted to vent to people who might understand..
We went to look at a house today. Exactly in our price range- in the lower range, even. It was beautiful.. *sigh* so perfect for our family.
It was just listed this week and by the time we got there, it was already under contract
I want to cry.
I know what is meant to be will be, but it's still hard.
We weren't quite ready yet, anyway.. ours won't be up for sale for a few more weeks, but..:

[ipfree]

Sorry your dream home fell through. I can say something corny like there is something better 'round the corner or it wasn't meant to be yours etc. But I can hear you and feel your sadness
On another note, I've been house shopping before and it can be very exciting times. Maybe focus on the excitement? And it must be a nice area if a house was only on the market one week!

[cupofjojo]

Originally Posted by ttcanother

Question: Someone suggested long ago to number the boxes and then keep a paper with the numbers and what numbers are what rooms. Eh, I'd rather write out the name of the person's room it goes into or write "family room" and such.

Ideas?

I'm the one with what seems like a complicated system. However, if you are moving cross country or you items are going to be in storage for any part of that - having a packing list NOT on the box itself makes it a lot easier. You then only have to find the box number. We were 4 months before we got boxes unpacked and so a lot of boxes were in a storage unit. Sending DH to go find a box number was a lot easier than saying please find the box of DS that has his winter coat.

If you're only moving a short distance or and will unpack quickly then sure go for just labeling your box with the room and a generic contents list clothes, books, office supplies, etc. The thing that worked well for us on a short move was I did put red stickers on the boxes I knew I'd want right away - cleaning supplies, vacuum, plates & silverware, hardware to beds, and furniture, tools. If it didn't have a red sticker it didn't need to get unpacked in the first 48-72 hours.