How to pack clothing, misc items in shipping container (movecube)?

[Guest]

Hi all

 

We are looking at getting the small Movecube from Sevenseas to ship our belongings later this year and I am just after some advice in relation to how to pack certain items (I know its early but I wanted to try to start packing shortly so we can work out how much space we do/dont have and if we need to upgrade to the medium sized one or not).

 

With clothing (and a couple of larger blankets) what would be the better option:

 

(a) fold and pack in plastic containers; or

(b) use vacuum storage bags to shrink clothing/blankets and then pack in plastic containers?

 

I also remember reading somewhere that people added those moisture absorbing sachets when packing clothes - I think that's a good idea but I cannot remember what they are called and where would be the best place to order them from?

 

Do shoes need to be thoroughly cleaned in order to avoid issues with quarantine? (I know this sounds like a silly question given shoes go in suitcases all the time and there are no issues, but I wasnt sure if shipping them would be different to taking them in your luggage especially as things with dirt/grass residue etc need to be thoroughly cleaned - I have a few heavier ones that I dont wear frequently but want to ship for the cooler months in Adelaide and I dont want to waste luggage weight on them).

 

Its likely that we will pack things in plastic containers as opposed to boxes just for the durability and "jigsaw" effect so we can stack them a bit easier (plus we have lots around the house already so we dont have to invest in too many) but is it ok to leave a few of the bigger items loose in the movecube or should everything be packed into something?

 

And finally (sorry!) what happens if we dont use all of the space? Is it recommended that we make sure we use it all and stuff it with blankets or bubble wrap rolls to stop the items from shifting in transit or is it ok to leave space?

 

Cheers

 

A

[Guest]

Vacuum pack and box up clothes. Silica gel sachets are what you chuck in. Look up online, they are cheap.

 

Yes, shoes have to be cleaned well. They checked our 2 boxes of footwear.

 

I'd use cardboard packing boxes over plastic tub tbh. They fit well into a Movecube and you can order in specific sizes and stack and plan them well.

 

Large items are fine loose but will need to be well packed to avoid them falling and getting damaged. We filled our cube to the brim and used 2 sizes of packing box, furniture and objects. All well packed, stacked in carefully and bubble wrapped if needed.

[fifi69]

Good question. We used a large movecube.

 

vac pack a great thing. We brought a fridge/freezer and packed that with clothes.

 

yes clean, clean then clean again. Make sure the first thing customs get when opening your movecube is the smell of zoflora.

 

I know daft, when we sent a movecube, everthing cleaned to a hilt, but were then able to spend our stopover in Hong Kong walking around getting all sorts on our shoes, entering WA with lots of dirty stuff in our cases and no one batting an eyelid.

 

but containers are different!! Just make sure that everything at the front is in top notch condition, smells of cleaning fluid and you will be ok. Our movecube wasnt touched at all.

[Guest]

Thanks Snifter and Fifi69.....appreciate the responses and sharing of your experiences. Its always good to hear how other people have done things - gives me a few ideas for our own stuff as well as making me feel a little better about some of my decisions.

 

Cheers

[Savitar]

You will be amazed how much you can actually fit in the cube, take a look at my review here :

 

http://www.pomsinoz.com/forum/transport-shipping/213441-movecube-real-life-experience-worth-reading-if-you-looking-using-them.html

 

A few pictures to show how we built up the cube and how we packed it. Using plastic containers rather than boxes can work for sure, just make sure they are perfectly square (many are larger at the top than the bottom so you lose all that room) otherwise you will lose quite a bit of space. The beauty of boxes is they are strong and have almost no volume. As you will see from ours, we had lots of different shapes and sizes of boxes and just spend a few days playing a game of tetris beforehand.

 

As for leaving space, I would not recommended it for just the reason you say, if you find you can't fill it, just put in blankets, pillows etc and you will be fine.

 

As others have said, you need to clean your shoes completely, then clean them again. Customs WILL open up your shoes box so the tip there is to put anything that customers will open (shoes, food, Xmas decorations) at the front of the cube so that there is minimal disruption when they do open and go through things.

 

As for vac pac or not, the thing you need to be careful of is that after you have vac packed things, they are not efficient to then pack into another container (suitcase, plastic box etc) so you can end up not packing as much as you think. We used suit cases to pack and carefully laid things down so that they were all flat and then kept packing till that suitcase was within an inch of its life. The total weight of each of our suitcases, with just clothes, was well over 30KG....

 

As for small Vs Medium, mark out the space on the floor in a room and see just how little different there is. Now depending on your boxes it might make sense to go with the medium as the configuration might allow better for your boxes,but when we did the drawing out it was clear that it was not worth the extra money for the very little additional space (in our view anyway)....

 

Hope this helps.

[Guest]

Fwiw vaccum packing clothes, we put them in the bag and then the bag in the box, then sucked the air out. We kept the shape well that way and fitted 3 in a box that way. Clothing wise non vaccum packed we would only have gotten 1.5 bags worth in. We then packed loose items/bedding on top to use all the space up. Worked really well and we only used 2 sizes of boxes.

[Guest]

Thanks Savitar....I have read your thread previously but did another read now just to refresh my memory. Its all good information for me to keep and think over.

 

I like your point about the plastic containers and possibly being bigger on the top than bottom so wasting space - I never thought of that before. We have a few plastic containers around the house so that is why I was planning on using them instead of buying boxes. Plus I figured it would be easier for customs/quarantine etc to open the plastic containers as opposed to boxes if they needed to (especially boxes that have been heavily taped down). I think we will probably end up doing a combination of both - things likely to be opened and investigated go into plastic containers and the rest can go into cardboard boxes (plus my partners game consoles etc will go in plastic containers for the added security and strength just in case).

 

I also agree about the difference in size between small and medium - its ridiculously little and we have done a rough plan of how much we want to take and marked out the space but we wont start actually packing stuff up until we get the visa approval (wish it would hurry up!!!!!) and have a leaving date, so have a bit of time to play around with the size we want and what we want to take still.

 

Thanks Snifter for the heads up about vacuuming the bags inside boxes so they keep the shape and can be packed easier - its a good tip. I am undecided if we are going to pack the vacuum bags in boxes or pack them into spare suitcases (or cheap ones bought for that purpose). Between the four of us we could probably fit all our excess clothes into one maybe two suitcases (if they are in the vacuum bags) and that might be easier than trying to fit them into multiple boxes or plastic containers. I will be keeping your tip in the back of my mind though.

 

I have come to the conclusion that I am going to say stuff the weight and pack my shoes into my suitcase (or maybe one of the kiddies cases given they have less crap than me ) - its less hassle than putting them in the movecube if they are going to be inspected. I will just make sure they are relatively clean when they go in the suitcase (dont want to be bringing any nasties home with me).

[Guest]

Savitar you mentioned that you bought a lot of toiletries (cheaper in UK than in Oz) and I was thinking of doing the same thing..........did you have any issue with customs/quarantine with these? Obviously no packing of aerosols but did you pack things like shampoo/conditioner/bodywash/makeup/face creams etc? What about perfume/cologne?

 

I vaguely recall reading somewhere that customs will charge you for perfume/cologne - did you have an experience with that?

 

I want to stack up and save us some money on the other end but just wondering if it will be worth it or whether customs will charge us and quarantine will remove stuff.

[Guest]

Savitar you mentioned that you bought a lot of toiletries (cheaper in UK than in Oz) and I was thinking of doing the same thing..........did you have any issue with customs/quarantine with these? Obviously no packing of aerosols but did you pack things like shampoo/conditioner/bodywash/makeup/face creams etc? What about perfume/cologne?

 

I vaguely recall reading somewhere that customs will charge you for perfume/cologne - did you have an experience with that?

 

I want to stack up and save us some money on the other end but just wondering if it will be worth it or whether customs will charge us and quarantine will remove stuff.

 

Toiletries are fine. Shampoo, body wash and stuff. Honestly though I don't know it's a massive saving given you have a 2-3 month wait and buy toiletries till the container arrives. Also I've found my shampoo brand on special lots of times and so stock up when it's $4 a bottle and it last ages. Works out no more expensive than in the UK really.

 

I'd not buy excess perfume just to ship it though.