I'm moving on Tuesday and I have nothing packed

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Every morning, I think to myself “I’ll start a box when I come home from work”, and then I come home tired from work and look at all the little knick knacks I’ve accumulated and put it off for another day. It’s going to be the second time I’m moving in three months. I had to move back in with my parents when my sister moved in with her fiance, right when I was scheduled to take a lengthy vacation. I got miffed, but then remembered that she was the one who took me in when I moved out towards the end of my college degree. It got so bad with my parents that I was living in a dingy room with awful roommates, going crazy from trying to do too much, and she told me to live with her for a while and she’ll cover the rent until I graduated and got a full time job. Somehow, I managed to move out of my parents with just a mattress, clothes, and a laptop but I moved back with six boxes full of stuff plus bags and bags of clothes.

Over the last three months, I’ve donated quite a bit of stuff, knowing I was going to move out again very shortly. I was planning on staying until May, just so I’d have a little more choice because the students would be leaving town then. But then in mid January, my dad had a crazy outburst and threw my cat outside because according to him, little fuzzy was being annoying. He’s a pudgy indoor cat who doesn’t know how to fend for himself, and I came home from work to find him shivering by the garbage cans. So, that was it… time to actively search and get the hell out. Found a place last week, paid the deposit, and move in date is February 1st. For the past week, my dad’s been stomping around, trying to pick fights over every little thing. Part of me wants to think that he’s acting this way because if I leave upset, it’ll be easier for him not to have me around again. The other part just screams “He’s an asshole! Just go and don’t think about it.”

Anyway, I have boxes, I have things to put in boxes, but looking at all the jewelery, make up, and DVDs I have to transport is kind of overwhelming. That, and I have a lot of things to get for my new place, like dishes, utensils, detergent, sponges, swiffer cloths, toilet brush, etc. Oh, and I have to figure out how I’ll wash my clothes because the new place doesn’t have a washing machine, and I loathe laundromats.

2

My god I’m going on vacation next Friday and I am already half packed.

I am by turns jealous and a little irritated by those who can wait til the last second to pack.

I would drive myself insane if I waited that long.

3

But but but… what if you need those things in the time between having them packed and leaving? Like if you wanted to bring a dress with you for your vacation, and then you have to go out and only that dress is appropriate. So you have to open it all up and dig around and then put it back it. If I pack early and that happens, then I just want to get a new dress instead of digging it out. Hmmm… I’m actually starting to understand how I wound up with so much stuff. :dubious:

4

Are you me?

I hate the whole process of moving. I just keep hoping that somehow the packing pixies will show up one night while I sleep, and voila, done.

5

It’s very simple. You pack in reverse order of needing-ness. For example, If I am going to the beach in January I pack my swimsuit first. Definitely not going to need that. Then undies & socks – I have plenty to where I wont need anything out of my bag. then clothes I definitely won’t wear, and the last few things the night before. I also pre-pack - put things in stacks of like items for later packing. IF I need an item, I use it and immediately return it to its stack.

You also have to resign yourself to a certain amount of inconvenience. If you want one certain dress and its packed… oh, well, you wear something else. Not the end of the world. The chances of having a social event for which only one very particular item will do, are actually virtually nil between today and monday.

As this applies to packing up your apartment, start with items you DEFINITELY will not need before monday, either because they are out of season or because you have multiples. The dvds are easy, because you’ll be so busy this weekend there is no chance of having time to watch one. Plus they are light and you can fit loads in a box. Perfect item to start on. If the thought of having no dvds available this weekend fills you with paralyzing anxiety, select two or three to keep out, and pack the rest.

Some times, when the job feels too big, it’s hard to get started. Don’t tell yourself you will “pack” tonight. Tell yourself, “tonight I will pack TWO (2) boxes, and when I have done that I can stop if I want to.” You can manage two boxes, right?

6

Hello Again, you make it sound so easy!!! Okay, when I get home from work, I’ll pack two (2) boxes, napping and going out for drinks be damned. Putting my Band Hero guitar back in its box with the unassembled drums count as a box, right?!?!

7

God, I’m another one who starts really early. I have packed up and moved at the last moment and it’s exhausting. Better to do some every single day and just deal with the stuff you need last. Pack up your kitchen and bathroom last.

8

Yay, kitchen and bathroom will be easy and take zero boxes. Well, maybe 1/8th of a box if I gather up my makeup from the bathroom.

9

How’s it going? Get your two (2) boxes packed?

10

Your dad is an asshole. Poor pudgy kitty!

I suck at packing and am always last minute. Make-up and all toiletries end up getting swept into a big sturdy plastic bag. Just make sure caps are on tight, and safety razors are kept separate, because those leetle plastic covers will come off and you will slice your fingers fishing around in the bag for stuff later.

Knickknacks would be wrapped up w/ underwear, stuffed into socks, and boxed.

Go on, do it for kitty! Dad’s a jerk.

11

When I was a kid, my whole family was like a tribe of gypies. We never left town, or for that matter, rarely the same section of town. But every damn year somebody was moving, if not several of em. And they all had tons of crap. And the moves were always in the gawdawful summer heat.

To this day, whenever I see a moving van, or hints of someone moving, I think “Oh God, those poor people”. And I think it like I would think about somebody who had undergone a REAL tragedy.

12

Good grief! START START NOW!!! Or you’ll be so sorry! I’m still recovering from the psychological wounds from my recent move. I moved from Anchorage to Seattle and I had only 23 days from the time I found out I was hired for my new job, until I had to start work here.

I had to sell (a garage sale and a craigslist giveaway “sale” two different weekends), donate or pack everything I had accumulated over a 7 year period, rent out the condo I own, pack my truck and prep it to be shipped, get my animals vet-checked, find a place to live in Seattle, change all of my little things like utility companies and so on. And I started immediately upon finding out, but I didn’t put enough hours into it, so I ended up last-minute-ing stuff. Horrible!

I barely made it. I was up almost all night long before I flew out. A 4 am I’m cleaning the fridge and the last things that needed to be cleaned or packed before my tenant arrived, and at 8 am I’m loading my truck. I was still putting on finishing touches when my tenant arrived from Kenai, but he was kind enough to go get lunch while I finished up. And I got done maybe 10 minutes before I had to call a cab.

It was a mad, mad whirlwind. Don’t do that to yourself! :slight_smile:

13

And if you have friends coming over to help you move.

Remember they are there to help you move. Not to help you pack and move.

So start packing your shit now.

14

This, a thousand times over. My friends now know that no amount of beer or pizza will make up for roping me into going to the liquor store to pick up boxes or the dollar store to buy packing tape and Sharpies so that I can help them pack their stuff in addition to moving it. No sir, I don’t like it.

Good luck with the move, Grapefruit.

15

Thanks for the encouragement! And thanks for checking in Hello Again! I did end up packing those two boxes like I said I would… actually, I ended up packing around four boxes, excluding the aforementioned Band Hero box. My landlord actually ended calling me on Saturday and told me that the suite is available to be moved in on Sunday, so I moved some stuff in yesterday with a friend. She said she didn’t mind helping me pack, but by the time she got there, all the little knick knacks were in the boxes already. Mostly what is left is my tv, bed, blankets, and clothes. Oh, and the cat. It’s not quite so overwhelming anymore!

Funny thing with my dad though… he’s still stomping around and wouldn’t let me use his car, which is bigger and could fit my bed. So, my friend asked her dad if he could help next Sunday, and he said yes. And my dad overhead me telling my mom about his offer to help, and he started yelling about how it’s inappropriate to ask someone else’s dad to help when my dad was still alive. :rolleyes: I didn’t even want to get into it with him, so I just said “Her dad is younger” and kept moving things out the door…

16

Good for you, Grapefruit. I suspect you’ll get along with your dad a lot better when you aren’t under the same roof any longer.

My family and I are all in our forties and have enough money to hire moving companies - a couple of years ago we reached what I felt was an equal number of moves all around, so we have decided that we aren’t going to help with anyone’s future moves, and we hired movers for our last move a year and a half ago - friends and family didn’t have to lift a finger. What a sense of freedom! :slight_smile:

17

The hell with boxes - plastic bin bags are your friends - push comes to shove you can just pile everything into them. You’re doing the moving yourself right? Just be gentle.

18

Cat Whisperer, you are definitely right. When I moved out the first time, it was much easier to get along with my dad. In fact, the relationship improved so much that I was lulled into a false sense of security. When my mom told me to stay with them for a while, I was thinking “Well, I’ve grown up a whole lot more, and he’s acknowledged that I’m a self sufficient adult. So it’ll be better this time around.” Didn’t work out that way, but oh well. From now on, when he gets irritating, all I have to do is leave.

Bam Boo Gut… by plastic bin bags, do you mean garbage bags? If so, that’s actually how I “pack” my clothes. :smiley: Can’t do it with pointy knick knacks though…

So I’m only moved into my new place theoretically. I still have stuff to cart over and can’t do that until the weekend. Then, I will furniture shop. Yaaaaaay.

19

The last time we moved, the movers we hired were practically butt-kissingly grateful that all our stuff was already packed and they didn’t have to do anything but move it. I was floored; I thought that was just what you did. They, on the other hand, had stories of showing up somewhere and the entire household was still operating (books on the bookcases, dishes in the cabinet, stuff lying around…), usually accompanied by ludicrous expectations on the movee’s part about how long it would take to pack.

20

AND USE THE SMALLEST BOXES FOR YOUR BOOKS.

Can’t stress that enough. (ow.)