Moving Day: Apocalypse Now

Moving Day: Notes from The Edge

Moving Day. It’s been a little over a week since now and I’m just beginning to get my bearings back, but I’ve got some helpful notes to consider BEFORE you move, ie., these are the mistakes I made and ones you can avoid. Hey, I’ve done it so you don’t have to.

If you use U-Haul, make sure to call them right after you make your reservations.

I realize that Classics, Organic Structures and Smart Structures are not going to make this mistake, but I thought, hey I’ve got an order number, I’m good. I wasn’t good. The guy couldn’t get a hold of me because my phone kept dying and he thought my email looked suspicious. So when I called him the Monday before the move he wasn’t sure about taking the job. YIKES! So I was desperate and begged him to do it. He acquiesced but wanted to do it over two days because his guys weren’t used to doing 8 hour moving days. Yeah, so that should have been a red flag. U-Haul mover guys aren’t used to doing real moves. That said, it was 2/3’s cheaper than professional movers so lesson learned. You get what you pay for. Also there are a lot of U-Haul moving help companies that WERE available I later learned.

I taped my boxes the right way.

I asked the moving guy and he said I’d done it instinctively right: one across the middle and two on either side of it. Now that said, remember these aren’t real moving guys! But none of my boxes fell apart. But the tape that I got from the U-Haul was the best. It was as strong as packing tape but you could tear it like painter’s tape. I’d never seen it before and was stoked. It made packing that much easier and EASIER is one of our mottos. So get packing tape from U-Haul, even if you get your boxes somewhere else.

It sucks that the kitchen is the last place to pack.

Because by that time I was exhausted and so sick of packing. The two day move DID give me a small reprieve, an extra day, but my oldest daughter’s still hadn’t finished packing and I was roped into finishing both their rooms, PLUS all the Elfa closets. So I let my 12 year old and my husband finish the kitchen. BIG MISTAKE. I’m still missing a box a week later. Luckily the guys we hired to help us settle into our house ALSO are helping fix up our old house now that we’re not living in it. Best thing we got from our last house was the contracters/handymen! So even if you’re bone tired, make sure there’s nothing left to pack the night before BUT the kitchen stuff you use every day!

Make sure they put together your beds and tables before they leave.

The last time we moved we didn’t have a lot of money and a mover friend did the move for us for cost so it didn’t feel right asking them to put together the beds before they headed pack to New York City after a very long 48 hours. My husband and I had grabbed about 4 hours in a hotel but they just powered through. So after they had emptied the truck I just let them go. Definitely make sure the U-Haul helpers put your beds together! Mine did, but I’m not sure they would have if I hadn’t made sure and it’s not something I’d ever want to live through again. Sleeping on a mattress until I could afford to hire a handyman after the age of 30 is not something I ever want to live through again!

Lastly, don’t let them just “stage” boxes in a corner.

I’ve done this a lot. Moving that is. But even with all my experience, I made the mistake of letting them decide how they were going to bring boxes into my home. Big mistake. Basically ended up having to pay two of them to come the next day and move the boxes around the house. The only thing is that I changed my mind about where to put my storage boxes. Originally I was going to put them in the attic, but then like the too nice Organic that I am, felt bad for making them take them up two sets of stairs and ended up not making them do it. So on the THIRD moving day I made them take them all up to the attic. Payback is a bitch.

So I’m almost finished unpacking the first and second floor and just have to help the big girls UNPACK the way I helped them PACK. And then all that’s left is the basement. Which looks exactly like it did a week ago when the movers took half the stuff up to the attic. Next week you’ll get my primer on unpacking no matter what your personality type!