Packed away 23 years of memories (and stuff) in less than 6 weeks

So, turns out I’ve been neglecting my English blog a fair bit, since my last post was all the way back in October. COVID pandemic aside, heaps have happened since then. One of which was that we sold our family home of 23 years.

The intention was to sell the house at Auction — which meant we would’ve had about a month until the Auction plus another one or two months settlement time to completely clear the house… or so we optimistically thought. Turns out life never happens the way you plan it — the house sold after the first open home! And after much back and forth with the buyers and solicitors, mum agreed for the settlement to be moved forward to Christmas Eve since the solicitors have Christmas office closures until mid-Jan.

This meant instead of the casual 2+ month we thought we had, Po and I had less than 6 weeks to clear 20+ years of stuff out of a 4 bedroom family home and sell whatever furniture we can. Mission Impossible? It certainly felt like it.

To increase the difficulty level, my family were overseas, unable get seats to fly back to Brisbane due to good old COVID limiting the flights to two per month. This also meant everything my mum and sister owns has to go into storage.

So, it was really just me and Po trying to pack and sort through 23 years of our family’s hoarding for storage.

Thank God/Buddha/All Them Deities (G/B/ATD) up there for my bro-in-law (who got left behind by my sister lol). He helped bubble wrap the heavy furniture and moving and communicating with the lawyer while my brain ceased functioning.

Thank G/B/ATD for Po’s friend who made the 40 mins train trip (one way) almost every day to help us pack away the fragile items.

Thank G/B/ATD for all my friends who jumped in to help me with packing, moving and cleaning despite their own busy lives.

And thank G/B/ATD for Po, it was a roller coaster ride where I was super stressed every day, had very little sleep and food and was struggling to make decisions about what to keep or throw. Po was my rock who showered me with TLC and made sure I ate. Po and I still had recurring nightmares about packing up until February. But thankfully they’ve stopped now.

The positive thing that came out of the whole ordeal was that I did heaps of heavy lifting and lost 3kgs in the process — better than any diet I’ve ever done haha.

Anyway, here’s what I’ve learnt from the insane moving event, hope it’ll help you too.

Useful tips for house moving

1. Don’t skimp — Get good quality cardboard boxes & packaging tape.
   Our removalist told us horror stories where clients put heavy items in thin/used cardboard boxes with minimal tape, and was surprised everything proceeded to fall out the bottom of the box.
   We were being extra careful and got double corrugated cardboard boxes (even the owner of the cardboard factory said that’s a bit excessive lol). We double taped the box as well, so mum’s prized collections don’t fall out from the bottom of the box.
   
2. Go Big or Go home (for skip bins) — always go one or two sizes up than what you think. We ended ordering THREE 3mx3m skips (yes we had that much stuff to get rid of) which ended up costing much more than if we had just got a bigger one to begin with.
   Additional tip is to get a skip with a flat top, so it’s easier to move stuff around and maximise the space inside the skip.
3. Gumtree/Facebook Marketplace is a God-send for selling furniture/white goods
   My trick is to research prices of similar items first then list it for $50 less.
   • If you are patient, there are genuine buyers out there that will pay your listed price (or close to). Ignore the lowball offers (you’ll definitely get some).
   • Last resort (if you’re pressed for time) — List it for free- everybody loves a freebie — people will travel far and wide to pick up free furniture. I had 40 people messaging me for a free office chair as soon as the listing went live.
4. Loose items — If you have loose items that aren’t fragile and doesn’t need to be stored, just chuck it in laundry baskets. It’ll be easy to carry, and you don’t have to waste time trying to make everything fit nicely in a cardboard box.
5. Catalog— For the extreme OCDS like Po, she cataloged items by taking photos, so she knew exactly what’s in the box. Her trick was to –
   • Number the box first
   • Take a photo of said box
   • Take a photo of every single item that goes in
   • Once full, seal the box and take a final photo of the numbered box.
   • So yeah, Em’s a lot more organised than I am. I just chucked everything in a box and labelled it ‘Kitchen Surprise’ lol

Brisbane Moving Resources

So if you are in Brisbane and need to move, below are some resources we found extremely useful.

Boxes

After nearly going through the 30 cardboard boxes after the first two days. I made the executive decision to bulk buy directly from the BoxFactory.

Nick (the owner of the business) and his staff were absolutely wonderful. I ended up buying about 150 boxes from them (yes we had that much stuff). They have boxes of all shapes and sizes that’s top quality, you can even custom order sizes for your needs.

Packaging Tape/fragile tape

Never thought I’d become a packaging tape expert (yeah I’ll chuck that on my resume). After taping 150+ boxes and going through 30+ rolls of tape from different places, I’d say the tape we got from National Storage was the best for cardboard boxes.

Don’t forget to grab a fragile tape — super useful for the removalist to identify which boxes need TLC.

Bubble wrap/Butchers paper

I bought a giant roll from BoxFactory that was my height (150 cm lol). It’s great for wrapping antique furniture for storage. If you only need some bubble wrap/butchers paper — Bunnings is a good go to place. Po’s trick is to wrap the fragile items with a layer of butchers papers then proceed with bubble wrap.

Moving company

Brisk Transport– 1300 427 475

If you are moving house — you can’t go wrong with Brisk Transport!

The removalist were professional and amazing at their job. Mum had heaps of antique/difficult furniture which they tackled like a boss. Yes, they are pricier, but trust me it’s worth every dollar if you have heaps of things to move.

Skip

Jumbo Skip – 1800 458 626

We found Jumbo skips to be great as it has a flat top which makes it easier for us to maximise the space used. Their pricing is pretty competitive too.

Side Note: I’ve actually been writing this blog post on and off for about three months now, but trying to remember the details of the move brought me straight back to that stressful period. All the unresolved stress/emotions that I didn’t get time to deal came rushing back every time. By finally finishing and publishing this blog post I hope it helps in concluding that particular chapter of my life.