Has Anybody Done their Own Packing?

Hi everybody,
Has anyone here done their own packing of belongings to go into shipping container? We are awaiting to be visited by a shipping surveyor to be given a quote after checking out how much we'll be taking but I'm dreading the actual packing price as I have SO much stuff! (Including a small mountain of textiles/fabrics, beads, vintage jewellery collection, crafts materials and equipment etc). Would I be able to pack my jewellery etc myself? It would take hours to do!
I realise that it's harder to get insurance if you do your own but I'm about to contact the recommended Percival company to ask for a quote.
Any advice would be much aprreciated as usual! :icon_biggrin:
Thankyou in advance
Deb

Hi Deb,

We?ve always done our own packing, but it wasn?t from the UK to NZ. When we last moved countries with hubster?s work, it was the first time we?d had to pack up a whole house, as previously we?d only had about 50 boxes of belongings and no furniture. It took us a fair bit of time to pack up but, at the end of it, only one glass was broken. Our shippers wouldn?t insure us for breakages, just for total loss. Having moved several times, we had some idea of what happens to our boxes and how roughly they are treated, so we packed accordingly.

My theory was, if I banged an item on the table and could hear a dull clunk, then it wasn?t wrapped well enough and I put on another layer of bubble wrap or a few more layers of paper. It?s not just items being bumped from outside the box, they can also rattle or grind against each other inside it, so there needs to be good padding between them. With larger objects, like clay pots, that could be easily broken, we stuffed cushions or bedding etc. between the pot and the wall of the box and a good thickness of polystyrene in the bottom in case the box was dropped heavily. The boxes should be filled to the top, even if it?s only with paper to prevent stuff moving about if the boxes are tilted or turned. You need to imagine your boxes being turned over and over (we saw ours handled like this as they went into the container), kicked in the side, dropped and shaken about. Prepare for the worst scenario and you?ve done your best.

Here?s a link to a previous thread on packing.

Perhaps, if you ask the shippers for quotes for packing and shipping, partial packing and shipping (you pack personal and smaller stuff), leaving them to pack the furniture and finally a quote for just shipping your self-packed items and you can see the difference in price and make a decision as to whether it?s worth the hassle of packing yourself. Ask their advice about packing for a humid long distance journey and see what help they can offer. If they don?t come up with anything, I?d give them a wide berth as it could mean they aren?t used to handling this sort of thing.

Hi Mother Bear,

Thankyou again for your ever-helpful advice in your replies. Lots of info that will help there,
Bye for now, Deb