The Packing Commences.

I have a lot to do! I thought I had a shipping company that I liked, but I am going to re-evaluate my options now that I have a better idea of how much we're taking. In order to get an estimate with a company, you have to tell them how much you are taking in cubic feet. Sounds simple enough, right? Okay, then you do it. It's not as easy as it sounds. A cubic foot is quite small. I needed to have a visual, something physical that I could look at and say "that is a cubic foot." What I came up with is my laptop. With the lid up, if you imagine the lid coming forward and down, that is approximately a cubic foot. That is freaking small! I have been to sites where you just plug in a number, other where you plug in how many of each size box you will need, I have measured and guessed.

So, you plug your number into the website and get an estimate. It is just an estimate. And my measurements are just estimates. That leaves a lot of leeway, and I like concrete facts. Because it is basically all guessing, not only do I have to compare the numbers side by side, but I also have to compare the price per cubic foot side by side. If you are under a certain square footage, the price per foot is higher. So if I overestimated and have less than I thought, I might end up paying the same as if I had more in the end. If I go over, how much are those fees, is insurance higher the larger my load?

Until everything is in a box, we don't know how much we have. But some of the companies have to pack it themselves in order to ship it with insurance. Other companies come and pick up what you've already packed. Those have different prices too. Is it worth it just to pay someone to do it for you and for the peace of mind that that brings? I'd say yes, but then where do we put all the stuff that is waiting to be packed? Until we collect it all together somewhere, we don't know how much we have and how much we are looking at spending.

I could go on and on, but it will not lead anywhere. Kind of like my search for a shipping company has not lead anywhere. It is our goal this week while the children are gone to work on sorting things out. We bought a VCR on e-bay and a cable to connect it to the computer. Nid has been busy converting his old tapes to digital so that we do not have a bunch of UK videos that will not play in the US. What a relief it is that it works and is fairly simple to do. I have sorted through all of our clothes and have a pile to get rid of now, a pile to wear until we move, then get rid of, a pile to pack up now that we won't be wearing between now and then and can be packed for shipping, and a pile that we will take with us on the plane. Whew, that's a lot of piles. The toss out pile is bigger than any of the others, so that's a relief at least.

Today is trash day and the bin is already full with more stuff sitting out next to in the yard. It is a great feeling to get rid of things we don't need anymore, but I hate looking out the window and seeing it. I just want it to be gone, already!