Do you know that feeling of standing at the airline baggage counter with a knot of tension in your belly thinking you’ll be over your allocated weight? If you do, imagine this compounded 20 fold while wondering if your goods will all fit inside your container. I had no idea that this is what the experience would feel like. I was immensely surprised at my almost comatose state as the crew came in and wrapped, packed and set aside box after box of our goods. Coming back after lunch to see the pile of things yet to be packed and a half-full container in the process of packing left me with a large feeling of impending doom as I was left in suspense as to if it would actually fit. As it turns out talking to one of the crew, that feeling is not misguided for some who don’t manage to fit into what they were quoted for and have more goods than they thought. Bummer indeed. I am exceedingly glad to report that it all fit!!!

Next time I know I want to be a lot more prepared. Seeing professional packers come in and zoom through rooms packing everything in site into boxes or wrapping up furniture, makes one question if everything did in fact need to go and I could have done with another week of sorting and culling. But hey, it’s done now and we’ve only got the unpacking on the other end to look forward to… It did make me reflect on our years of sending shipments as part of a charity – a 20ft HT (high top) container could hold so many precious items for people in such great need and for so many… and for us it held the contents of JUST our house. We could certainly live with less. (FYI we have the average contents for a 3 bed 2 bathroom house.)

At the end of today I have nothing but good things to say about Conroy Removals, the company we are using. Professional, great to deal with in each of the three steps thus far (quote, before uplift and packing day) and all the staff have been easy to talk to. Their price was competitive and we’re glad for all the experience they have on the NZ end where our goods will go through NZ customs.

Notes:

• prioritise what MUST go and what is less important – and let your removalists know these things before they begin packing (in case everything doesn’t fit, this means that the — you actually don’t care about at the back of the container doesn’t require a complete repacking to be removed).
• Cull. For God’s sake, if you’re thinking of moving at any time in the next 5 years cull now. Keep culling.
• Decide with your partner (if applicable) if your insurance will be on market rate replacement or as new replacement… turns out after sourcing our insurance we discovered our disagreement on this point!
• Try to time your move with council clean ups, make time for a garage sale, or like friends of ours did, hire a skip. You really won’t want to take everything.
• If you think your BBQ is clean, wash your hands and wipe them over it – if anything greasy comes off onto your hands it ain’t clean enough!
• Don’t let your kids see the toys you’ve put on the side of the road for others – very distressing!!!