If there is something to be grateful about our situation is that we had a lot of advance and we could start planning on how to tackle the moving your belongings or what George Carlin defined as ” your pile of stuff.”
Warning, whatever you plan and think you have set with the precision of a swiss watch, will not stand but a week. Just deciding the pros and cons of which way we were going to move our stuff took us 2 weeks to decide, about a dozen Youtube videos and finally a talk with a customer rep who settle my fears about taking the pile of stuff I wanted to take with less restrictions than anybody else (They did frown on cars and corpses for some reason). Deciding what goes, what gets donated and what goes to the dump? Hell, we have been fighting that one since day one and still are making last minute changes. More on that on a future post.
One of the things we were going to do this year was some serious internal renovations. One room was all done and was to be my wife’s “she-shed” with minefield included so I wouldn’t go in, but instead it has become the mock up container: If the pile stuff we want fits in there, it will fit in the happy travel box which has its dimensions properly explained in the company’s website. The Customer service Rep was surprised when I gave him dimensions and volume of objects we have so far and helped him help us with the selection of happy travel box.
Your millage will vary, but the best pricing on moving supplies was amazingly from Home Depot. And here comes another admonition: Stick to the boxes they sell and do not go hunting for thrown shit in the back of supermarkets. Standardized sizes will fit in the happy travel box much easier and without a waste of space. If you have experience playing Tetris, it will be even better for packing stuff in the boxes and then placing the boxes in and orderly fashion. My wife is in awe at how I can pack 75 odd shaped objects in Home Depot Medium box, stuffing included.
IMPORTANT TIP: Keep a log of every single item in every single box. The moment you say “We won’t need this before we go” you can rest assured you will 5 days later, and you better remember which box has it or have it logged to avoid the missus hating you even more.
There is always a magic object that will save your day and in my case it has been the plastic shrink wrap. Enough of that crap will keep a box from bursting out when you have already stuffed it with vacuum-packed garments and find too late a couple of bags had leaks. And be generous with is usage.
Back to planning: we initially thought about leaving and begin our travel north when the house was sold and the company came to pick up the happy travel box, but that also died. We were going to have the inside of the house fully painted but the Real State Agent strongly suggested to have all floors (all tile) and bathrooms professionally steamed clean after that. That means an empty house will be the cheapest and fastest way to get both done and also means we will have to leave the house but not leaving just yet. And I am sure you understand what that means for my sleeping cycle.
The only piece of good news is that thanks to the pandemic, all the real state signings can be done remotely which means we can begin travels as soon as the house is ready for viewing and finalize the transactions via Zoom and other electronic ways.
Does it feel I am kinda all over the place? You betcha! But if you have moved before, you understand.
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