It's large Movecube day!

[Guest]

Well the day has arrived. Took the advice to trial pack it in reverse in our spare bedroom and be conservative with measurements. Hopefully all fits! Our large items include a king sized mattress and bed frame, a child's bed (no mattress), coffee table and a very large antique rug if this helps anyone thinking about 'what may fit'.

Will add photos of our large game of Tetris plus any leanings if of interest.

[Guest]

Good luck with it all

We got similar sized items in, KS bed and frame, 2 sets of drawers, a chair, desk and about 30 or so boxes plus other stuff. Chucked in a bike and golf clubs at the last minute too  

We had worked out the measurements carefully in advance and knew it would all fit. Had to juggle a few things round but otherwise it was fine. No dramas and done well within the timeframe. 

 

[Guest]

Well. That, in a word, was amazing! We had a brilliant driver / loader (free as we took a large move cube) who assisted hugely not only in brawn but brains. These guys really know how to pack well. We managed to get in double the amount we thought we could. I mean that literally, double. We had 11 large Seven Seas boxes we had pre-arranged to be transferred to Australia separately as excess baggage - because of the amazing tetris skills, we now only have four to send separately.Saving us a lot of money.  It's definitely worth it having a 'nice to fit in if we can pile' if this happens to you too. Luckily we had already packed majority of the large excess boxes so it was just a case of entering it onto the itinerary and placing it into the movecube.

If anyone is interested, I can list some of the items we took - however, as mentioned, the larger ones were the king size mattress, bed frame, head and footboard, a very large heavy antique rug, child's bed, motorised child's car, tool box, two large bedside tables, a large flat screen TV, 11 large framed paintings ... the list goes on and on and on ( I definitely won't bore you with it!). 

We took out insurance with Letton Percival. We didn't realise the only payment they accept is bank transfer so had to hunt for the small card reader (calculator type thing) and had to make the transfer before the movecube had left our address. Luckily I had prepared most of the shipping insurance paperwork the night before so this wasn't too taxing but it was a bit of a race at the end when I needed to find the card reader! 

A few things that worked for us.

• The car and trailor take up at least two car spaces. Make sure you have adequate space on your driveway or have organised permits if necessary for this to be parked. The nearer to your house the better of course.
• If you have a helper (official driver/loader) they are only allowed to take items from your front door - not up and down steps etc.
• Mark out the height, length and depth of the movecube on the carpet/wall for the size you are intending on taking for your trial run.
• As someone in this forum (Kevans?) had suggested, do a trial of what you think the movecube should be packed like - perhaps clear a spare room to do it in (we did and it was great to have a whole room as a 'packing room'). Pack it 'back to front' so that when you go to take the first items into the movecube you're packing the far end first.
• Take photos of the pre-packed area if you need for reference. We took apart our 'tetris' as we're first floor and I was worried about all that weight in one section of the room. We then put the photos up on a laptop this morning so we could easier see what went where.
• Make sure heaviest things are in the middle of the movecube. This is because they use a forklift to move your cube and if it's not balanced properly it could fall off.
• We itemised everything as each box was packed and wrote it on a post it note which we stuck on the top. We also numbered everything as it was much easier when having to hand write the itemised list for customs
• Ours took 2 hours to load. With a coffee break.
• Make sure you have tea/coffee and biscuits on hand and explain in advance to a distraught toddler that 'the man is not taking our stuff" that we will see it again (hopefully all in one piece) in Australia :-)

That's all I can think of for now. May have other things to  add if of interest.

Hope this has helped someone. I'm not great when it comes to trying to envisage things so photos really helped me.

Oh, and when clearing out your cupboards, I'm sure the local food banks would be delighted to receive your items - plus any new clothes with tags on.

 

Edited July 20, 2017 by Guest

[Guest]

Also meant to add, take a photo of your itemised paperwork - you don't get to retain a copy otherwise.

[Har00n]

Interesting... thanks for the update Ozzie. 

I've ordered a large movecube for the other route - Australia to Uk, but looking at the photos it might be overkill for us. 

We're not moving any furniture, just boxes of stuff (clothes, decorations, books etc), and looking at the photos you provided i think we might have ordered too big a box. 
will finish packing the boxes today, will have to measure up again in the space in  our thatre room, i had marked out the space, and thought wer'd fit it all in, but i think ill have to measure again. 

Good luck with your move down! 

[Guest]

Good luck to you too @Har00n

I think, but do double check, if you order a smaller Movecube and it turns out you need a larger one the driver can physically extend the box there and then. Obviously invoice would increase. 

[kevsan]

Good stuff.

I really like your idea of a ' nice to fit in if we can pile ' - that was my biggest regret. despite measuring and planning, i still had space left over and ending up running around trying to find more things to throw in. I shudder to think of all the stuff that i had got rid of/sold/gave away that could have fitted and i've had to buy again here.

Hey ho. - good luck, it will all go pretty quick from here!