This was what my living room looked like yesterday…
And this is what it looks like right now…
Ben, Freddy, and Tony will be coming back tomorrow to finish packing and load our things onto a truck.
When I asked Mr Ben (the most outgoing of the three) what he would like for lunch tomorrow he said.
“Ma’am. Please don’t take this the wrong way – because lunch today was wonderful – but please…
anything BUT Pizza would be great… “
“OH! I’m SO SORRY!
I thought it would be something quick and easy that just about anyone would like!”
He smiled.
“It’s ok Ma’am. It’s just that everyone thinks the exact same thing!”
…
What have your Movers taught you about Packing day?
Tomorrow we’re going to have a large platter of veggies, fruit, cheese, sausage and crackers for lunch!
May 9, 2012 at 7:03 pm
LOL! My movers are here today, too and said they would rather eat anything than pizza
May 9, 2012 at 7:17 pm
LOL. We got our Movers Whataburger for lunch in Texas and 5 Guys in Maryland. I don’t like pizza, so I get burgers.
katie recently posted..AAAAARrraiNy DayS RulE!
May 9, 2012 at 7:22 pm
We always give them a choice… List the five or so closest restaurants that we are willing to purchase from and let them choose and give us an order and we run and get it. They usually choose subway or another deli because so many people use McDonald’s or Burger King and get them fast food and they’d really like to have something not greasy by the time they get to our house. We also keep a cooler of bottled water on ice for them to get all day as they need it.
May 9, 2012 at 7:23 pm
Huh. We ALWAYS get them pizza. This is a good reminder!
Chantal recently posted..Obsessed
May 9, 2012 at 8:39 pm
Ha! I always get pizza one day and Jimmy Johns (if it’s available) the next. Oops. Maybe I’ll have to revise that one. We also do a cooler full of water and other drinks.
ruthie recently posted..past in picture: march, 2004
May 9, 2012 at 9:41 pm
When we moved from Germany, to keep my babies occupied and out of the house I walked into our town and picked up chicken and buns from the chicken man for the movers. And when the arrived in the AM I had McDonald’s breakfast sandwiches waiting. I wanted to make them happy for a simple move!
May 9, 2012 at 11:52 pm
hmm, when we had movers and offered food they said they were not allowed to take it
But i will definitely remember this for our very near future, no pizza 
May 10, 2012 at 12:43 am
We never had movers that wanted food…just beer and coke…lol
Julie recently posted..Dr. Bizer’s Vision World Value Vision Visit and Review
May 10, 2012 at 2:22 am
I learned one of my most important timesaver tips from a mover…unfortunately not til the 18th move! That was to put any drawer stuff into one big zip lock bag. Ie all my silverware sorted by type into separate zip locks, the stuff in bathroom or bedroom drawers. Rather than all folded up into white paper like the movers had all done..where you couldn’t see right away what was there and it would all fall out. This way I all had to do at unpacking was put the zip lock bag into the drawer at the new place and really organize it later, or simply empty the ziplock…already organized. Although I learned many other things the hard way over the years, I could have saved myself the trouble if Sandee Payne’s book This Military House: Move it, Organize it, decorate it had been out earlier on. I STILL learned new things from her for my 19th and 20th moves!
and always had bottled water and sodas ready.
Kathie Hightower recently posted..If I were the First Lady…
May 10, 2012 at 5:03 pm
Ziploc Bags! It seems so obvious now… Thank you!
Phoenix Rising recently posted..A Series of Perfectly Normal Texts Between Sisters
May 15, 2012 at 8:55 pm
When talking about movers, it is not really an easy thing to do especially when the numbers of family members are big. It really requires a great plan and and an effort in order to move safely.
Kate Brown recently posted..vimax patches review
May 10, 2012 at 4:11 am
Good to know, my gf just PCS’d and she mentioned getting brotchen and cheese/meats for them to make sandwiches. Also she said they loved American Soda. lol go figure…
JennyO recently posted..White Balance Edits
May 10, 2012 at 5:39 am
Was digging thru my drawers and found my stash of old ziploc bags too! I sort all legos, junk drawers, silverware…just about anything in a drawer into ziploc bags…love them!
May 10, 2012 at 6:46 am
Thanks for this! Ziplocks – check. No pizza – check. Getting ready to move in July:)
May 10, 2012 at 7:29 am
It’s really great when get movers, eating delicious pizza.. LOL
jennifer recently posted..http://www.cheapcalls.com
May 10, 2012 at 7:48 am
We totally did the sandwich thing. They loved it because it wasn’t pizza! Funny how movers say the same thing! Luckily, they’re men, and men will eat anything! HA!!
May 10, 2012 at 3:11 pm
Haha! I can definitely see that. When I was in college every event tried to lure you in with a promise of “free food” and trust me, we were all broke college students so we were hardly ones to complain, but on week 3 of freshman year the lure of free pizza was no longer quite as strong. It took me a whole year off of pizza altogether before I started thinking that it sounded tasty again.
Adrienne May recently posted..Military Spouse Notified of Her Husband’s Death on Facebook
May 10, 2012 at 3:21 pm
I learned this from my dear friend Suzee Spencer when she left Germany so I did the same when we left Germany in ’99. I made a huge pot of taco soup and served it with chips and cheese, and hoagie sandwiches on the side. It was a big hit with the guys. And none of our stuff was broken when we got stateside, including a huge mirror and six dish barrels of Polish Pottery. Just saying
May 10, 2012 at 3:44 pm
I’m not military (but sure appreciate y’all) .. I had 5 moves with United Van Lines and for each move I gave the movers a choice of 2-3 nearby restaurants .. and usually I found a philly steak sandwich place because that’s what I wanted .. and at one of my unload moves I had an in-ground pool in the back yard .. and when I offered .. they jumped in .. to cool off !!!
May 10, 2012 at 6:21 pm
I cleaned out the freezer one time, and offered the movers meatballs sandwiches. They loved it! (bag of frozen meatballs, tomato sauce, buns, cheese, done)
May 10, 2012 at 9:20 pm
When we moved over here, we had donuts for them and water, they brought their own lunch so they passed on our offer to get them lunch.
When our stuff was delivered here in Germany they had already had breakfast, but did drink the pop/soda, and we offered lunch and they said it was against their company’s policy, and they ate lunch in their truck cab.
When the dreadful day comes that we have to leave Germany, I plan on getting sub sandwiches from the commissary (ours call them Patriot sandwiches and they’re huge and only $5.00…one can feed 5 in my family) then I’ll have some chips, and cokes.
A friend of mine does the ziplock thing. We have tons of footlockers and I intend on packing all our towels and clothing in them and labeling each (each for my kids). We have enough footlockers we will hopefully have very minimal cardboard boxes to be used.
May 11, 2012 at 1:14 am
we learned coffee and doughnuts to start off the day and pop throughout the day goes a long way.
Nolie recently posted..Super Moon (Wordless Wednesday)
May 11, 2012 at 1:36 am
If {and hopefully not} something gets broken or lost report it right away. Our last PCS move they broke our bed and we were given a card with a number to call. I should have called it that day but waited and called a few days after we got settled. It took almost two months [and sleeping on a mattress and box spring} before we finally got are bed fixed
Cassie recently posted..Wordless Wednesday!
May 11, 2012 at 3:42 am
I always buy lots of lunch meats, some great bread, cheeses and condiments and the movers always love it. And for some reason BBQ chips are always a hit too! They love building great big wonderful sandwiches!
Julanne Kowalski recently posted..Siesta
May 11, 2012 at 6:08 am
We’re PCSing for the first time on the 21st & I’m so glad I read this! Our movers are coming next Friday, and I did NOT know we were supposed to provide them lunch. Thank you!
May 12, 2012 at 9:52 pm
Wow I feel horrible now because I have never offered professional movers anything for lunch, except when we move ourselves and have friends help.
Andrea Merrigan recently posted..Fitness Friday 4.27.12
May 13, 2012 at 6:31 pm
We are moving soon (our 9th in 15 years) and are thinking what to feed the packers. Our first and second moves we had little disposable income so they got the $5 pizzas, now there is a Subway near our house that I will get the first day. Our problem now is we have so much stuff they have scheduled 3 days to pack and load on 4th, so 4 days of lunches!!
May 21, 2012 at 10:43 pm
I have a couple of go-to “Meals.” I get the trays of Stouffer’s lasagna, a couple bags of salad and froze garlic bread for lunch one day, for lunch the second day, I do the Stouffer’s Mac N Cheese and the pre-made tubs of pulled pork with salad. The third day we do subway because I’m cleaning the house by then! For breakfasts, I grab a couple of tubs of refrigerated cinnamon rolls and disposable foil pans for easy clean up. It sounds like a lot, but I promise, I can buy all those groceries for less than a fast food run on day one!
July 12, 2012 at 9:36 pm
We are getting ready for our 23rd military move. I use zip locks for all little items. I use plastic bags to empty dresser drawers (label who’s & what drawer) then movers are not touching all our items. they just box them up and on the other end I know right where everything goes. I have 30 footlockers. I keep christmas decorations in some. camping gear in others, scuba in another, scrapbooks and keepsakes in others. each child had one that they packed with their treasures. The footlockers were great for storing the items and keeping things together. Mover never had to unpack them.
it is usually hard to find time to go out and pick up food for movers…so always plan ahead. I have rolls and lunch meat in disposable containers with fast food packets of condiments. Most movers prefer water. so have disposible cups and water availible