Moving Day, Part Deux

Our second moving project in 3 weeks. My brother said it best--if anyone else moves in the next 30-60 days, that's it--anyone else moving after that who requires help is on their own!

That said, we helped twin #2 (aka Pink Avenger) move yesterday. In some ways this was a little easier than her twin's move just 3 weeks ago. Okay, maybe the only thing easier was that it wasn't pushing 100 degrees. The hardest part was 3 flights of stairs--they have moved into a townhouse that is essentially on 3 floors. First floor is the garage, which came in handy because we decided to leave most of the boxes in the garage to save climbing one to 2 flights of stairs. Some of us have back and knee issues, and climbing all those stairs got to be too much. Second floor is the main living area, third floor is the bedrooms, full bathroom, and laundry room. They don't own a washer and dryer yet, but I pity the poor guys who will have to take those up three flights of stairs. Don is quite the trooper, though. In spite of his own back, shoulder and knee problems, he hung in there and did most of the work. Drove the U-Haul truck, did a lot of moving, put the table and two beds together, and who knows what else he did. My brother was also a hard-worker, and he has his own physical issues to deal with. He mentioned several times that all the years he was a smoker has affected his stamina and lung capacity, and he has asthma. His inhaler was his best friend yesterday. His wife has major back issues, and did very little of the moving, but excelled in packing and unpacking.

I think I have it down now, should we have to move ever again. (1). Weed out the stuff you don't want or need anymore. That can be done anytime, doesn't have to wait for the move. (2). Start packing early. Label the boxes with what's in them, and what room they go to (in the case of things like books, dvds/videos, etc.). Pack everything that isn't needed and store somewhere like a garage (if you have one). (3). Try to have everything packed when your helpers come. No one likes to do a moving project that turns into a packing project, too. (4). If at all possible, move a little at a time. You'd have to have access to the new digs early to do this, and Pink Avenger wasn't able to pick up their key until that morning. And if you can do this, you can be on the way to unpacking, too. Example: Dishes and kitchen things that you can get by without for a few days before you move. (5). Take a good look at your cupboard/drawer space in your new kitchen. Decide ahead of time where you want to put things as you unpack. If you have someone helping unpack, be sure they are aware of how you want your kitchen set up. Then you don't have to re-do it later on. (6). Take a good look at the room layouts, so that you know ahead of time where things should go (aka TV, couch, bed, dressers, etc.).

During Esre's move, Marvin (brother) told about an episode of an old "Honeymooners" TV show he had watched. For those who are too young to remember this, this was an early TV show starring Jackie Gleason and Art Carney. They were moving a dresser, without any luck (too heavy). One of them, I think it was Art Carney's character, noticed that the drawers were still in the dresser, so they took them out, stacked them on top, and were able to move the dresser. One trick we've used in moves over the years is to take the dresser drawers out of the dresser, move them separately as if they were boxes, and then move the rest of the dresser. At the new home, put the drawers back and that's it for unpacking/packing the dresser.

On another note, Don has decided we won't sell our house and move anytime soon. I don't think he wants to go through this ever again in his lifetime.