Moving. Got Any Advice?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

So sorry to hear about your son Quasi. My sincere condolences to you and your family.

I second the advice to use professional movers. An across town move should be quick and easy. Give yourself some extra days if you can before or after the big move to carry your most treasured and personal possessions yourself or with the help of friends, and to get the old place cleaned up without rushing. The movers can do most of the packing if you can afford a little extra.

I dread moving again. Even if I won the lottery I’d buy a mansion somewhere else for all my new stuff and keep living here with my old stuff just so I wouldn’t have to move. I’m putting a large addition on my house right now, once it’s done we’ll move in there and refurb the old house, and I don’t even like the idea of moving all our stuff into from one side to the other when it’s done.

22

I don’t do boxes.

I went to WalMart and bought dozens of those large tubs or when they are on sale. They hold up better than boxes, stack better, are somewhat water and rodent proof, are just as cheap as the boxes you buy at Uhaul, and when your done with them, stack them inside each other and store them in your attic for the next move.

Finally, please share any stories of finding things you thought you lost years ago.

23

Second on this is a good opportunity to pare down.

Your idea of a couple of weekend sales is a good idea. Remember that you can put ads here in Marketplace, though of course local sales are easier than selling stuff on the internet. And there’s also ebay as well, so you can start selling stuff right away.

If you have a lot of stuff and really want to seriously get down to simple stuff I know a woman who does estate sales for a business – I can put you in touch with her if you like. Of course there would be a fee involved but just having one ginormous sale like that might be an easier way out for you. She has quite a following and would generate publicity and sales just by handling this for you. I talked to her recently about doing this for folks I know who are now in assisted living and need to clean out their house prior to sale and she told me “As you start to clear the house don’t throw anything out; you’d be surprised what people buy” She would know, she sells it! Just a thought.

Don’t be hesitant to ask for local help – neighbors, friends, members of your church (if you’re a churchgoer). Let people help you if they’re willing to be there on your behalf.

Good luck, dear Quasi, and all best to you and yours, always. I’m very sad to hear you have suffered a loss, my condolences to you and your family.

24

If people are helping you, make sure they don’t “help” by putting away dishes for you, unless they know exactly where you want them to be. Otherwise, you’ll have to find things and move them again. (This happened to a relative.)

My condolences on your son.

25

[QUOTE=Dendarii Dame]
If people are helping you, make sure they don’t “help” by putting away dishes for you, unless they know exactly where you want them to be.
[/QUOTE]

I got bamboozled on the front side of this. A friend came by to help, and I was a bit pained to discover a dozen boxes labeled “KITCHEN” - no idea if the contents were coffee mugs, utensils, or canned corn. :smack:

26

Tell your landlord you want new locks put in right away !

27

I was messing around when packing boxes and giving my future self an idea of contents by writing on them. So I wrote important documents, jewellery, banking, stocks and shares (I’m sooo poor) well the skanky dirtbag vanman and his slimy creeps robbed it, I actually really miss the spaghetti jar! Happy new home to you!

28

Remember that you have two opportunities to discard and donate: once when you pack and once when you unpack.

29

Just to re-emphasize - CULL EVERYTHING YOU POSSIBLY CAN! IMO You haven’t done a good enough job culling unless you eventually find yourself wishing you had kept something you got rid of! :wink:

My wife and I recently downsized - tho not as drastically as you. We had all manner of stuff we had been keeping “just in case.” Stuff from when our kids were small, old lamps, art which we would unlikely ever hang again, way too many linens, multiple sets of china… Turned out none of our kids wanted any of it. (Sorry for you loss. Don’t know if you have any other kids/family. But if you two aren’t going to be using it in the time you have left, you’d better be holding on to it for someone else close to you. If not, get rid of it.)

You are moving on to a new stage of your lives. Don’t go into it encumbered by your old possessions. Live your new life - don’t curate your old life. Anticipate a storage plan for your new apt. Moving from a house to an apt, you will find space to be at a premium. It will be worth investing in some stackable plastic bins or shelving units for your closets/garage/storage space.

Think hard whether you really expect to use each thing in your new lives. For example, in the kitchen. If you aren’t going to be hosting big parties, you can get rid of a bunch of serving dishes, utensils, etc. Go through your books ruthlessly. I went through ours, and other than a VERY few of sentimental value, I got rid of any that I did not intend to read again. If you aren’t going to be using a lamp or hanging art in your new place, get rid of it.

As you get rid of things, realize that most things are likely to be worth A LOT LESS to anyone else, than you think they should. If money is really tight and you have the time, a moving sale might make sense. But we ended up just taking a ton of stuff to Goodwill and taking the tax write off.

I urge you to think about budgeting for pros to move your heaviest/priciest items. Just a “2 men and a truck” deal. You are not as young as you used to be. Your friends are not insured. You don’t want them injuring themselves moving a dresser. Pros will move dressers while full - saving you the need of emptying/packing/unpacking/refilling them. And it only takes one good bang to damage something exceeding the “savings” from a DIY move.

Final small point - make sure if the new apt has any regulations about moving - need to reserve a freight elevator, parking, etc.

Good luck.

30

Write on the boxes what’s in the boxes.

31

I’ve done this, only with scale cutouts on graph paper.

Measure each room in the new place, draw the outlines of each room to scale on a sheet of graph paper, then draw outlines of your furniture to the same scale, cut them out, and move the pieces of furniture around on the graph paper until you’re happy with where everything goes.

It involves a lot less paper, and you don’t have to carry big pieces of paper from room to room to figure out where they ought to be.

32

Yeah, we’ve done this for many years, and keep them all in a folder. Very helpful when considering rearranging furniture, or potential new purchases.

We recently repurposed a 3-season room, buying a rug, couch, and coffee table. My wife used an online tool that did the same thing and was very easy to use, but I never asked the name. Allowed her to save and print out various floor plans with the furniture situated differently. A lot easier than moving it around over and over (tho I suspect there will be some of that nevertheless! ;))

33

If it stays in the garage for that long, you don’t really need it, and out it goes.

34

Thanks, my good friend, for all your kind words! You always seem to know just the right words for the situation, and I always enjoy hearing from you. I hope you see this soon.

Your Friend

Quasi (Bill)

35

Being that we live in a University town, I wrote an e-mail to their “College and Community” office and asked for some help on 9.30 at about 10 am. I sure hope it works out. It would be great to see 10-15 kids from my Alma Mater in my front yard on that Saturday.

For that date, I’m renting a U-Haul for $30.00+0.99 cents a mile. I can deal with that, for sure, it being a 17 foot truck. A 2.5 mile trip, one way, I don’t expect it being more expensive. And no, we’re not buying boxes, blankets or anything peripheral. We’re going to just tie everything and pad everything with old sheets/blankets, etc.

Dondra’s putting green post-its on all the furniture and other heavy stuff that is to go. No green sticker? Come and ask to be sure.

Oh yeah, plenty of soft drinks and chips to be had for the kiddos.

Thanks to all of you for your kind assistance.

Quasi

36

:smiley: Heh-Heh… “Dondra’s putting green”… I wrote that!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

ahem

Quasi

37

My in-laws did a similar move about 4 years back. They took a few small items over every day - e.g. clothing, dishes, breakables, and then hired professional movers for the Big Day.

Doing a bit yourself every day gives you a chance to go through and decide on things you want to get rid of.

If you can afford it, having someone to do the packing as well as moving can be a big help (once you’ve sorted out what you truly don’t want). We did that with our last move, 15 years ago now, as we simply did not have the time or energy to pack, and it was the best money we ever spent.

38

Don’t know how much advice I have, but I just wanted to say it is VERY VERY VERY good to see you. I never know where/when you will turn up!
HUGS

I’m also sorry to hear of your loss, my friend… drop me a line. I love you!

39

:eek:Hey, Janis! Good seeing you as well and thank you. Love you as well. HUGS Back!

Mama Z. This move is on a shoestring, my friend. We’re on a fixed income and were recently struck very hard in the wallet.:eek: I am hoping my alumni association comes through for me and brings me some volunteer kids on the 30th.

Had a little mishap today as well, taking down my drum kit. I had just taken one of my cymbals off its stand, put it under my right arm, turned to leave the music room, started to walk and next thing I knew I was on the floor. My right leg had just buckled out from under me, the cymbal cut into my right chest area (not far - no stitches - hurts to take a deep breath, though), laceration to the under part of my pinky (2 stitches) and a swollen knee. All is well, but we lost 3.5 hours of moving time. We’ll make that up tomorrow, np AND… My cymbal’s gonna be just fine!:rolleyes:

Thanks

Q

40

OW! Glad you weren’t hurt (too) badly… If it leaves a scar though…

*“How did that happen?”

“Drumming accident” *

LOL