Moving during all this

[audry80]

We are going to close on a house in the next couple of weeks. We are going to hold off as long as possible to move, but the longer we postpone, the longer we have to float two mortgages so we can’t do it long term.

So I need help planning how we do this if we need to proceed while SIP. We can move the boxes ourselves but will need help with the beds, couches, and large furniture. Do we hire movers or have family help? I don’t want to put anyone at risk but I am also immunocompromised so don’t want to bring germs into our house. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[wildrice]

Ugh this one is a hard one! We are moving next month too. We technically could wait until late June to do so (we are in an apartment and we're buying a home almost 2 full months before our lease is up) but I think our new place will be much better for our mental health - we won't be on top of each other as much, we'll have outdoor space, and we'll be out of the city which will give us more options for taking walks, being a little further away from other people, etc.

I think we are going to rent a Uhaul and do it ourselves. If you are not physically capable of doing that, I would probably go with family over movers, honestly. But I would only choose family who has been staying isolated and is not high risk for complications. And I'd be extra careful about staying isolated yourself. In theory if both you AND the people helping you have been staying away from others and being super careful, you are unlikely to infect each other.

I am not super comfortable hiring movers right now. Even though I'd love to provide them with business income, I don't know their standards of isolating themselves, and if they have been in and out of others' homes I would be worried about their exposure.

[loira]

Ugh, I'm sorry. I would probably find a way to do it yourselves or mostly yourselves. Could you manage to move all the smaller items and only have movers come for the large items? It's not ideal but it would limit the amount of time they spend in your existing home and the amount of things they'd touch.


@@
We're moving out of my parents'house into our new condo but the only furniture we're taking with us is my DD's. The rest we have to order anyway.

[nsl]

We are moving next week and due to the nature of our move (cross-country, military exiting-the-service) we pretty much have to use both packers and movers. We’re going to move everything out of the smallest bedroom, and the kids, pets, and I will hole up in there while the packers and movers are here. H will be masked and will stay as far as he can from the moving people while they’re in the house. He’ll also keep a bucket of cleaning supplies on hand to wipe down counters, bannisters, etc after they leave. It is very much not ideal, but we’re going to do what we can to minimize our exposure and our movers’. Oh, and we’ll be tipping very well!

[tarzanswife]

I have to move out by June 30th. I plan to pack everything myself and have it ready to go in my garage. I will have masks for myself, my family and the movers. Once we are moved and in place I will Lysol the crap out of everything and wipe down as much as I can. I found masks and lysol wipes at our local Persian market as every place else was sold out. I want to be as prepared as possible. Now to find boxes in the next month and start packing. I wanted to do a big clean out but no one is taking donations during this time so I feel like I will have to move all the excess crap with me until I can sell it at a later date.

[cleo29]

I have seen movers out and about and I am going to closings for people. I think just maybe move as much as you can, even renting a uhaul truck maybe and then leave the bare minimum for movers.

[tiki]

We were supposed to move (locally) last week. We don't have to be out of our current apartment until June 1, so we've been moving what we can using our car and plan to sleep on air mattresses at the new place for a while. Hopefully before June, the peak will have passed and we will feel more comfortable asking movers to be in our space / touch all our things.

[nessness]

If you're able to live without your large furniture for a few days, maybe have movers move that first, then wait a few days before moving the rest yourselves, so that the virus will have died? That would still require movers to be in your current house though, unless you and your DH can get the furniture to your garage/driveway on your own.

[isabel]

Apr 2, 2020 11:35:36 GMT -5 nessness said:

If you're able to live without your large furniture for a few days, maybe have movers move that first, then wait a few days before moving the rest yourselves, so that the virus will have died? That would still require movers to be in your current house though, unless you and your DH can get the furniture to your garage/driveway on your own.

This is what I was going to suggest. I would leave the house (even just sit in the backyard or something) and let the movers move everything you can’t. Then I’d wait several days before finishing the move into the new house. This virus, while very infectious, isn’t particularly robust, so it seems like it would die on surfaces within a few days. Plan to wear a mask/gloves and wipe down all commonly touched surfaces before/when you re-enter the home you’re moving out of.

[audry80]

Apr 2, 2020 11:58:27 GMT -5 isabel said:

Apr 2, 2020 11:35:36 GMT -5 nessness said:

If you're able to live without your large furniture for a few days, maybe have movers move that first, then wait a few days before moving the rest yourselves, so that the virus will have died? That would still require movers to be in your current house though, unless you and your DH can get the furniture to your garage/driveway on your own.

This is what I was going to suggest. I would leave the house (even just sit in the backyard or something) and let the movers move everything you can’t. Then I’d wait several days before finishing the move into the new house. This virus, while very infectious, isn’t particularly robust, so it seems like it would die on surfaces within a few days. Plan to wear a mask/gloves and wipe down all commonly touched surfaces before/when you re-enter the home you’re moving out of.

This is a great idea!! Thank you so much all!!

[janegold]

My friend just moved a couple weeks ago. They moved as much as they could themselves, and after the movers moved the rest, they had cleaners in to clean and disinfect the house and furniture. Of course, could just have ended up being 6 of one, half dozen of the other, but it's a tough situation.

ETA: this was before we had a SIP order here, so many cleaners aren’t an option in your area anyway. I know my cleaners cancelled all cleanings after our SIP was declared.