Thursday 7 July 2011

Goal 29. Move - Part 1


Well, we've done it! We have left BC!! Wahoo!


We have moved out of our old apartment, left our jobs and journeyed east to deposit all of our possessions and find a house! Now we get to spend a week in our new hometown and look for a new place to put all of our possessions.

We decided to try to forgo storage and take advantage of our brother-in-law's unused loft space. We actually did end up using some storage, but a lot of it is crammed into his 1 bedroom apartment. It makes for tight living, especially when the 4 of us visiting all come over for dinner!

During this move I have learned a few things that I will now pass on to you:

1. Start packing before you think its necessary. I tried to hold off for as long as possible, thinking that I was avoiding chaos, but really we were in chaos long before we started packing boxes and then were in complete chaos the day of the move. We have already identified things that were packed incorrectly or we are unable to find. We were really lucky to have helper come over, or I don't know if we would have finished. As it was we only got 6 hours of sleep, before having to drive for 12 hours!

2. Get more boxes than you think are necessary. We got boxes from both of our workplaces, the liquor store and the grocery store, plus we bought over $200 worth of moving supplies from u-Haul and it was barely enough! We have even been keeping boxes over the past year and I was able to find many shoeboxes and specialty boxes that we had kept. u-Haul has a great deal where they will buy back any unused box or supply with a receipt. Next time we move I think I will buy at least 20 boxes, plus look for free ones around town. I also plan on keeping any boxes we can now, since we might only be staying for 2 years. Boxes of varying sizes are key, including little shoeboxes that can be packed into larger boxes, and extra-large and tall boxes to hold light and bulky items. Liquor store boxes are perfectly sized for textbooks we found.

3. Get as much help as possible and overestimate the time it will take you to pack. No one wants to be at your house packing at 10:30pm. But we had friends do it! Remember, that while the last few items are getting into the truck cleaning has to start. We thought that we would be able to pack in about 5 hours. It took us 12. Enough said.

All in all, moving is always a pain. But by knowing this and planning accordingly I think that moves can go relatively smoothly.

Now we are just waiting for Part 2 of our epic move, when we will move into our new apartment!

Do you have any tips for anyone who is moving?

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