I had the questionable pleasure of moving 18 months ago. My nest is empty, but after 18 years in the same house, my husband and I had accumulated a lot of possessions. The last time we moved we had three elementary and younger children and I swore my next move would be to a nursing home! The experience was awful. Finding an old Victorian house to rehab/restore made me reconsider those words.
Times have changed and so have the options for moving. My ever resourceful husband set to work finding an easy but reasonably priced solution to this move. His answer: PODS (Portable On Demand Storage). I thought he was nuts, but went along with his choice. As the transaction fell into place, the PODS solution turned out to be a saving grace. We ended up being homeless for 7 days after the close on our old house and had to find temporary lodging and storage for our whole household of goods. Had we ordered a moving van or rented a truck, we would have paid a premium for those 7 extra days. The PODS, however, charge by the month for their storage. We had the first box delivered a week before closing and we leisurely put all the non-essential items in that storage unit. Once filled, the company truck came, very gently lifted the storage unit onto a flatbed, and hauled it off to their secure storage area to remain until the delivery day 3 days after possession of our new house. The second box came two days before closing and we filled that ¾ full until our final day in the house when the beds, chairs, and final kitchen ware were loaded. This PODS unit was picked up the morning of closing and hauled to its storage area until the day we took possession of our new place.
We closed on the old house, camped out in our son's spare room for 8 days, and the PODS arrived at our new house the day we arrived. We took a couple days to unload and the PODS were picked up, all within the 30 days rental time. It all went so smoothly that I'm thankful for my husband's research into this solution. We were able to pack and unpack over several days so as not to strain the bodies and emotions too much. Nothing was broken and we didn't have to deal with hauling our stuff to a storage place and then repacking a truck and hauling it to our new home a week later. I know the dilemma my clients face first hand when the sale and purchase closings don't coincide, but we found this to be a great solution to the problem of our delayed closing!
(c) Bonnie Erickson 2006
