St. Louis or Bust!

Soon, we will be moving from Texas to Missouri. The pottery collection is almost completely packed up, except for a few pieces we've left on display for when the house goes on the market. Packing the pottery wasn't all that difficult, but there was just SO MUCH!

Animal planters and figurines are a bit more fragile than jardinieres and pots, since the animals have ears and legs that can get broken off. But packing them wasn't too bad because I've been collecting (and purchasing) a bunch of smaller boxes. 6x6x6 boxes work well, holding medium-sized pieces by themselves, or holding multiple small pieces (cut up some cardboard and put it in between the pottery, then fill the extra space with corn starch packing peanuts). 12x9x6 were used for some of the larger planters, and a variety of other box sizes in between. The smaller boxes can then be packed into larger boxes so you don't have to keep up with several hundred tiny boxes.

I admit I overboard when packing the collection: I had the time, and thought I'd try to do a good job since we will probably rent for the first year we live in St. Louis, and they'll be moved at least three times before the entire collection comes out of storage (house to storage, storage to St. Louis rental, rental to house). Back when we were transporting pottery from home to antique mall, just wrapping them in paper or in Depend pads (you can often pick them up cheap at estate sales, and they're fantastic for protecting collectibles!) and piling them in boxes was sufficient. Anyway, packing pieces in smaller boxes and then into larger ones offers the fragile pieces more support, so you can actually stack the boxes higher than you would if they didn't have the extra cardboard.

Here are some tips I picked up while packing:

1. Measure all your odd-size expensive fragile things and make a list, then look in the yellow pages for a place that sells boxes: not just moving boxes, but all sorts of boxes (I went to a place called the Box Outlet in Ft. Worth). You will probably be able to find a box the right size to protect each piece. Smaller boxes will cost anywhere from $0.50 to $1.50 so only do this if the replacement price (or sentimental value) of the piece warrants it.

2. If you buy boxes in bulk, you may be able to get them cheaper. Wholesale prices are often less than half of retail for cardboard, so make sure you ask. This is good reason to go to a smaller, independent box store: they are probably more flexible.

3. I recommend the corn starch packing peanuts for most uses, since styrofoam is not the environment's friend. There are a couple of caveats though. They are water soluble (you can compost them when you're done!) so make sure you are not storing your stuff in a humid or wet environment. If you care enough to pack it well, you probably care enough to be careful where you store your stuff. The other caveat is that the corn starch peanuts may not work well for very heavy items (like giant stereo speakers), since they are much more compressible than the regular ones.

4. Smaller boxes don't fit neatly into larger ones. For example, you would think that an 18x12 box could hold six 6x6 boxes on each layer. Not true. I can't remember now if the printed measurement is the outside or the inside dimension, but either way they won't match up because of the thickness of the boxes. If you find large boxes that have odd measurements (like 16-3/8" on a side), they might have been designed to hold smaller boxes (two 8" boxes should fit in a 16-3/8" box).

5. Liquor stores are a GREAT source of boxes, and many of them are perfect for packing pottery and glass. I usually leave the dividers in the boxes. You can wrap smaller pieces in paper and put multiple ones in each cubbyhole, or they fit larger vases quite well and keep them from banging together. You can also stack more of these boxes since the dividers provide extra support and keep them from crushing. Since most of them originally held glass, they are strong. And they're free! They are also good for packing your kitchen glassware and barware, especially once you've priced dish packs at the local Container Store or Lowes.

6. One advantage of purchasing boxes is that you end up with a lot of boxes of identical size, which is good for stacking. When you have a bunch of odd-size boxes, you can end up with the corner of one box in the middle of the top of another, which is a good way to crush the contents or poke a hole in the bottom box when they are stacked high. Moving-size boxes range from about $1.50 each all the way up to several dollars apiece. Try to buy a bunch of your boxes at once so you can get them by the bundle and hopefully get the wholesale price.

7. Look for used boxes. Some of the places that sell new boxes also sell used ones. Used medium or large-size boxes are about $1.50 each (that's about 1/2 price for the larger ones). Since movers or businesses will sell back a bunch of boxes at once, you still have a good chance of finding a bunch of identical boxes so they stack and pack well. If they let you pick and choose the boxes yourself, I'd recommend it: condition varies widely. There are also places online that host classified ads for people buying and selling used moving boxes. Although some people get greedy and try to charge a lot for their boxes, I've seen them as low as $1 each.

8. If you plan to put stuff into storage for awhile, shop around. Where I live there are a ton of self-storage places so competition is tough, and prices vary a lot. Of course, climate controlled areas are a bit more expensive than those that are not, but if you have furniture, books, or other items that can get damaged by excessive heat and humidity it's well worth the price difference. Right now the going special in my area is half price on the first two months of storage. You should not have to sign a long-term lease (mine is month to month, even with the special).