If the Shoe Fits, Move It

By Scott Boone

Image courtesy of flickr

If you’re like most folks, when it comes time to move you will focus on the BIG things.  Stuff like furniture, major appliances and kitchenware are the first things to pop onto your radar when you start packing.  While handling these items is key to moving efficiency, it’s the little things that tend to get overlooked until the last minute.  One such forgotten subject are shoes.  Now I know that most men have 10 pairs of shoes or less.  As a result, the topic is something of a nonstarter.  However, when it comes to women, shoes are a big deal.  More importantly guys, if you live with a woman and you damage, destroy or lose your gal’s shoes during a move, you are cruising for a bruising. Take it from the man who has been there and done that.

Back in my salad days, I lived with a girlfriend who could practically have competed with Imelda Marcos to see who had the world’s largest shoe collection.  Donna was to shoes what Don Trump is to real estate.  She coveted shoes of all types.  Her shoe fetish got to the point where I was forced to turn oure linen closet into a storage area for her shoes, since the collection had outgrown her half of the bedroom closet.  To make a long story short, when I accepted a job in New Orleans, Donna and her shoe zoo were coming along for the ride.

After hiring a mover and spending the better part of a month packing up all our belongings, I put Donna and our dog in the car.  After arriving at our new home and waiting for the movers to unload the truck, Donna and I got down to the process of unpacking. 

“Oh my Lord!” I heard my girlfriend shriek from the bedroom.  Thinking that something fragile and expensive had been broken during the move, I rushed in to see what all the fuss was about. “Will you just look at this!  What did you DO?”

Image courtesy of flickr

Being a guy, I had simply taken the shoes that were warehoused in the linen closet and piled them into several cardboard boxes.  While I had used paper to wrap every shoe, the kind I had on hand at the time was newsprint.  To make matters worse, what I failed to do was to stuff each shoe with crumpled paper to help retain their shape.  As a result, some of Donna’s shoes were a little bent out of shape during the move, while a number of others were stained with newspaper ink. Needless to say, I was in the doghouse.

To help you avoid having your relationship similarly strained, I have come up with a few time-tested ways to safely pack shoes of all stripes.

      1.      Sort Them Out – Just as no two snowflakes are exactly alike, the same can be said for shoes.  Therefore, you only want to pack birds of a feather together.  By that, I mean you need to sort out your flipflops, sneakers and flats from boots and pumps.  If you have the boxes from which the shoes originated, keep them.  If not, I will show you how to organize and protect your shoes, so they won’t wind up folded, spindled or mutilated.

      2.      Prepare Them for Packing – Before you make the same mistake I made many moons ago, understand that shoes need to be wrapped and stuffed to keep them intact.  If you don’t wrap them, you risk scuffing them.  If you don’t stuff them to the top with packing paper, they can get crushed in transit.  While you can stuff flats into socks to keep them safe, doing this with high heels is a recipe for disaster, since it’s all too easy to snap a heel off a pair of pumps.  The best way to pack pumps is to nest them together sole to sole as you can see in the image at right.  (I suggest you stuff the space around the shoes with paper to keep them from rattling around in the back of the truck.)

      3.      Choosing the Best Box – If you have the original box that shoes were in when you bought them at the store, feel free to keep them in it provided that the shoes are first wrapped and stuffed.  Once this is done, try to find a box big enough to store a half dozen shoe boxes together. This makes moving them more efficient, plus it protects all the shoes far better than a single box ever could.  If you are going to move your shoes in their original boxes, make sure you tape or tie the lids shut.  Failing to do so runs the risk of the shoes popping out of the box to roll around the truck or the trunk of your car, which I guarantee will damage them.

Image courtesy of pinterest

      Plastic bins with lids are even better than cardboard boxes, since they are practically puncture proof and they are weathertight.  Just like cats, one thing shoes hate is getting wet.  Plastic trumps cardboard every time when it comes to keeping the rain out. Better yet, bins can easily be partitioned to house many shoes without damaging any of them. (see right for more details)

      4.      Pad the Box – Just as you wouldn’t consider loading a box with glassware or dishes without first padding them, the same should be done for your shoes.  A couple of layers of bubble wrap folded over on the bottom of a cardboard box is your best bet.

      5.      Partition the Box – By cutting 3-inch tall by a 1-foot-wide strips of cardboard, you can create partitions within a box or bin that will allow you to safely stow a number of shoes.  Once one tier of shoes has been laid out all neat in a row, simply cap the layer with a sheet of cardboard and you can add another level of partitions. 

      6.      How Low Can You Go? - Just as with high heels, all shoes with the exception of flipflops and boots fit together best if you pack them sole to sole with the heals facing in opposite directions.  Flipflops can simply be bound together with a piece of string or a rubber band.  Boots are a whole nother matter.  The first thing you should do with boots is stuff them full of packing paper.  Then wrap them either with paper, or stuff each one into a pillow case.  Find a box that allows you to lay the boot on its side with the toe facing inward.  Take the other boot and do the same on the opposite side of the box so the heels are as far apart as possible.  Top with cardboard.  (see video below)

      7.      Who’s on First? – When it comes to packing shoes, always start with the heaviest shoes on the bottom of the box and the lightest shoes on top.  Do the opposite and you risk crushing the shoes on the bottom of the box.

      8.      Don’t Overload – As I found out long ago, it’s better to use several medium-sized boxes as opposed to one big box when it comes to packing shoes.  The exception to the rule is where you are packing shoeboxes into a big box. 

      9.      Say NO to Plastic Bags – While you want to avoid moisture when it comes to anything made of leather, putting shoes in plastic bags is the worst way to accomplish this goal.  Since there can be a considerable temperature differential between the air inside and outside your home, if you wrap your shoes in plastic, condensation can occur.

Provided you take the time and trouble to properly pack footwear, you should have no trouble in getting all your shoes to their new home without mishap.  Get it wrong and you could wind up having to deal with how to get a heelprint off the seat of your trousers.

With over 5,000 moves, Scott's Discount Movers has handled moves of all sizes, including local and cross country. If you are looking to move your home or office, you can depend on Scott's Discount Movers to provide a stress-free relocation.