June 05, 2004

• huzzah for you!!! woo woo!!! congrats! i am one of the few people i know who LOVE moving. packing up, unpacking, arranging, hanging pictures, settling in. change is good! life is about moving on. as far as actually LIVING together, just be considerate. simple as that, really. be kind, considerate and gentle with one another. life outside your home can be tough; inside, make it a place of refuge. and enjoy one another!
• First thing to do when you get everything in the new place is set up the bed and put sheets on it. Also unpack at least two towels and some stuff for the shower. Then at the end of the night when you are exhausted and grimy and about to fall asleep standing up, you can take a shower and go to bed. Also put a jug of water in the fridge when you first get there so you'll have cold water throughout the day. Pizza is good for your helpers, and cold soda/beer in the fridge is good too. As for living together, I've yet to do that but the advice I've always heard is don't go to bed mad at each other. Congrats and good luck!
• Pizza and beer are generally considered adequate payment for good work. Just be sure there's plenty of both to go around. No packing/unpacking advice, save the obvious: box up according to room, mark the room and contents on the box, then put the boxes in the rooms where they need to go before you start unpacking. Also, be sure you know where your essentials are at all times. As to moving in with your love, be sure to get both plenty of time together and plenty apart. If you've not done it before, moving in is an adjustment -- spending the occasional afternoon in separate corners can be just as important as getting good "face time" (i.e., actual conversation with the TV off). And what SideDish said. This is a wonderful time of drunken love. Squeeze every last drop of joy out of it.
• A handcart is worth its weight in gold.
• Agree on pizza and drinks, that's always been the standard when I've helped move. I would say get a few more boxes than you need... it's the little odds & ends at the end that really accumulate, and by then you're running out of boxes. Agree with SideDish's overall philosophy on moving... I absolutely love it. The only thing that sucks is not knowing if your neighbors are going to be better or worse.
• I've found that beer is greatly appreciated. Several beers now, with pizza or sloppy joes (if you're poor)* then get 'em out when your stuff is finally all there so you have time to unpack the essentials. Play it cool, don't try to do it all at once. Preview: what Soooze said. Then when you're settled, invite your movers back. Have a few beers, wine, whatever, let them admire their work. Big round of thanks. They'll appreciate it, and be willing to help you again, if necessary. Or make it a housewarming, if you like bigger parties, and then introduce them. Next time you move, or for anyone about to move, I suggest prep work as much as possible. There are two types of movers--those that clean, sort, and box neatly, and those that just throw stuff in boxes higglidy-pigglidy. If you're a matched set one way or another, it makes life less stressful, but even so, having to sort out everything is a pain. Moving is a good time to re-evaluate your "stuff." Get rid of what you don't need, organize things that weren't organized at your last place, and clean/repair items you've been putting off doing before you put it away in your new home.(assuming you have time and inclination--otherwise, do you really need it?) Before you unpack, figure out spaces. Young love wants to meld everything together and live on top of each other. (ah, youth) When you've been married for eons, as I have, you may find you're happier with his space, her space, and our space. It's just nice to have a "get-away" without having to get away from each other. *Oh, and if they use their vehicles--pickups, whatever--give'em some gas money.
• Did I say beer? Yes, beer is good. Don't forget the beer. But not until your done, otherwise the drunken louts won't finish the job, and they drop stuff.
• The easiest move I ever made was when I actually RENTED a movin van large enough to take all my stuff at once, back right up to the front door, pull out the ramps, load up the hand trucks (as polychrome said) and just have at it. Plus the van is covered, so rain is not a problem. Neither is having things fly out of the back of a puckup because your friend put the bungee cords on wrong. Not that I'd know about that. Good luck, shawnj! Oh, and for god's sake don't pack your sense of humor, carry it on your person at all times.
• MovinG van, dammit!
• Hey, pass out some joints (yeah, after your done).
• Make sure the beer and soda are very cold. Try not to stress too much. It will be a few uncomfortable hours, but you'll get to see your friends and that will help. Good luck and have fun.
• God, but I hate moving. After nearly crippling a couple of my friends moving a piano, I've hired professionals ever since. If you have something that two good-sized guys with a hand truck can't handle, I urge you to do the same. Also, if you have pets, move them into the new place by yourself before all of your stormtrooper friends arrive. They're going to be freaked out enough as it is without the additional threat of a mob of strangers. Close them into a small room by themselves with food, water, and a litter box, then mark the door clearly so none of your friends opens the door.
• Oh wow, nice save Goetter! Yes, take care of the fur-persons ahead of time. If you have cats, especially, and are moving to an apartment or small place where you can't shut them in away from the fuss, then kennel them in a Vari-Kennel, put them in a corner, and toss a blanket over it if you have to. Your local shelter might have one to loan you if you don't own one. Small dogs can get pretty upset, too. Most dogs just want to supervise and get in the way. PatB: Good advice. Yes! You'll need that sense of humor. Not a moving horror story, but weird. When the pros came in to pack us for overseas, I had already packed nearly everything portable, LABELED, and sorted it into two piles--take and store. I'd heard some horror stories, and wasn't taking chances. The packers were all hinkey about the liability stuff until I told them I ran a packaging service for two years, and actually unpacked a box of fragile stuff so that they could see it was done right. Anyway, professionals pack fast, they pack EVERYTHING, and they load in a frenzy, so ya' gotta watch 'em. Many's the story of personnel getting overseas and finding that their storage stuff came with them, and their household goods were deep in a warehouse somewhere. I watched like a hawk and made 'em undo screw-ups as I saw them, so everything was ok that way, but one small thing escaped me. At the start, I lined 'em up, pointed to the old, delapidated entry rug, and told 'em, "Please wipe your feet since you'll be tracking in and out and it's been muddy. When you leave, I will THROW THIS RUG AWAY." Sure enough, when we got back to the US and pulled stuff out of storage, there was the entry rug, carefully rolled up to keep the mud from being lost.
• My sister, who was a military wife, tells me tht the military moveres wlll pack your garbage and deliver it. So, just remember to throw out the trash.
• I've recently been forcibly evicted from my place of residence and am temporarily couch surfing until I can move to my new apartment. This will be my fourth move in the past month and a half. I am in hell.
• And craigslist your moving man. Mine ran my furniture from 49th and ninth to 181 and amsterdam, loaded and unloaded and even drove me back to 50th street to work for a hundred bucks. Tough to beat.
• >>I've recently been forcibly evicted from my place of residence forks! do tell! why??
• Serious, Forks? Sure hope you have friends who can loan you a bed.
• Sucks, forks. Good luck finding something more permanent and less stressful.
• Ok Shawnj, we'll be waiting for your report!
• Okay, phase one of the move went really well. We had four large cars, seven people, and one flight of staris. Got all of that done in two hours, fed them pizza and soda. Phase two was getting stuff out of storage yesterday and a chair off of a friend(I have a much larger space than I am used to) and getting all of that upstairs. Phase three, and the toughest part, starts today. Nine people, unloading a trailer of my girlfriend's stuff, and going and getting the bulky stuff from my old place. Stress level is medium, because of some minor stuff with the apartment. So far, I love the place. You can't go wrong with moving into an apartment building that has a dragon and a Buddha statue next to the entranceway.
• I've moved once a year for the past seven years and there are some things that I've found to be absolutely critical to a smooth moving experience: 1) Budget permitting, hire actual movers, budget permitting. In-town moves generally run $300-$400 here in LA, and it has been worth. every. penny. (Also, hiring movers often serves to exempt you from having to haul other people.) 2) Have everything packed before the movers or your friends get there. There's nothing worse than helping someone move and they're still throwing shit in boxes when you get there. Keep toiletries, sheets, and clothes for a couple days in your car where you have access to them. 3) Make sure all the utilities are turned on at the new place. That means gas, electricity, and appointments for cable (and internet!) ready to go. 4) I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to make the bed with clean sheets before you really dig in. You're going to crap out at some point, and you're not going to want to have to deal with making the bed when you hit the point of no return. You will thank me (and Sooooz of course) if you do even this one thing. As for the friends who help you, have lots of cold water available at both places. Beer and pizza are good rewards (but beer dehydrates and it's summer so water is better during the actual move). Energy bars are a good thing to have around too. It's important to realize that if someone helps you move, it's mandatory to help them move later. Skimping on return help is super lame.
• uhm. Did i mention the budget permitting part? Because that's important. Budget permitting.
• Shawnj: a dragon and a Buddha statue next to the entranceway WAAAAAAAAAAY KOOOOL!!!! Post a digi-pic, please! There's nothing worse than helping someone move and they're still throwing shit in boxes when you get there. OH DOGS, YES!! Makes me just wanna SMACK 'em upside the head. How rude.
• Shawnj, you've got plenty of awesome moving tips above. I'll give you a "living with a girl" tip. One day you might come home a little earlier than usual, and you'll catch her doing something in the bathroom that requires odd products to be smeared somewhere on her body, and it may look or smell quite horrifying. It's possible that she'll scream and slam the bathroom door shut. Do not panic. This is normal. Those first few months it's hard to find time to go through the beauty process with a man in the place, so don't approach a closed bathroom door until she's ready to come out. Give her space.
• Treat the first year as a practice run. Mistakes are forgiven, errors in communication are fixed, and everything is taken with a grain of salt. And please, for the love of [deity], don't expect your girlfriend to pick up for dirty socks! /voice of experience
• Picture of the entrance way There's also a picture of my living room decorations in that moblog as well.