With a lot of our “stuff” gone, it was time for our 16′ PODS container! It seemed a lot bigger in the warehouse than sitting on our driveway!

The container has 4 four foot sections which we used as a general guide.  Also, we put masking tape down on the garage floor and started “building” our container there to see how we could pack and stack furniture.

We’d seen a 60 Minutes TV episode on how Amazon stores stuff in their warehouses (by size – not by product or alphabet) so we tried to emulate their strategy by filling every nook and cranny.  You can actually get a lot of stuff in a pod if you pack carefully.

We were now under the gun.  We’d advertised the home for lease and had to be out by the middle of December. We had about 2 weeks to finalize all our remaining stuff and get it loaded up.  We made a lot of trips to the Salvation Army!

The stress level was increasing exponentially each day…

We had E.J. Harrison come and pick up our $2k mattress and haul it off; we were now sleeping on futons and air mattresses (which actually were very comfortable), “camping” out in the kitchen (dishes, pots and pans were packed) and trying to stay focused and organized.

A BIG saving grace – our daughter and her fiance had given us a generous gift card to Wood Ranch. We called in our order after working 12 hours and picked it up at their pick up location in the parking lot – the generous portions were great for lunch the next day.  This was a great life saving idea if you’re moving or know someone who’s moving!

Finally, Friday December 13th came – all to soon – we needed “one more” day.  We needed to turn over our home to our new friends that night because their movers were coming first thing the next morning.

It was almost a disaster…