Jan 01 2009
Thursday Thievery - Moving Nightmares
So, today, it’s thieving Thursday where I steal a comment I made somewhere and expand on it.
This week it was really no contest. On the charming Wit’s Bitch , Chat Blanc was explaining her antipathy toward moving . It’s very hard not to get completely in charity with that notion as I’ll explain later. I need to give snaps to JD’s blog (which really inspires so many good comments) from coming in second with my description of yet another remarkable friend I know. But, if I’d gone with that, I’d just have to acknowledge that I’m really the absolute least interesting person I know. And then I’d be depressed.
You will probably be stunned to know I hate moving. I hate moving with such passion that I’ve decided never to move again unless (a) a hurricane comes through and wipes my home off the map (Ike tried but failed) or (b) I become so suddenly wealthy that I can give the house and belongs to charity and just buy all new stuff at a new house.
Now, I know many of you can appreciate these sentiments. It doesn’t matter if you live in a one room efficiency or a 7 bedroom mansion, everyone owns too much stuff and, if for some reason, you don’t, you’re bound to find that depressing. I’d noted earlier (last week, when I mentioned that I’m not traveler) that I actually don’t collect stuff, or stash stuff. In my office, I read 90% documents on my screen (no problem) and just have to keep things organized electronically. Hardcopies handed to me get filed or tossed pretty regularly. But I’ve never moved from office to office without untold boxes of stuff. Well, that goes a thousandfold for home.
I once moved in the middle of the night (violent/armed husband I no longer have), leaving 100% of the kitchen stuff and almost everything else of value. We had eight people and six plus hours and it was a nightmare. I moved my daughter and I into a two bedroom apartment shortly after than, then into a three bedroom house. Even using the 90’s mindset of tossing (actually donating to charity) everything it turned out I didn’t need or ridding myself of everything that didn’t work any more, even poor as a churchmouse as I was through a three year divorce and the subsequent bankruptcy, I still managed to accumulate an ungodly amount of stuff somehow. I can’t blame the kids–not that they didn’t have stuff, especially my eldest–but I had a ridiculous amount of stuff myself and I have no idea why.
OK, I have some idea. First there were probably thirty or so boxes of books, even selling many to the half-price bookstore and just keeping the ones I loved best. And my (new) husband had a gillion kitchen gadgets, half of which we left behind. Much of our furniture we also didn’t keep because it was either from my previous household, had been completely ruined with one of the many kittens we’d fostered from the shelter, or was completely and utterly uncomfortable/ugly. We were leaving our functional but ancient fridge and washing machine. So, after a full day of hauling ridiculous numbers of boxes, furniture, and odds and end in the U-Haul (two trips!), we still had a full room full of small appliances, clothes, furniture other items that someone was picking up for charity. Nine months later, we were only down to 12 or so unopened boxes. And I still haven’t found about a dozen of my favorite books 
.
Now, I went and helped someone else move into a house from an apartment right before July 4th this year. I did this because, (a) I understand what a pain it is and she was in a tough spot and (b) my husband, friend and her kids were doing all the work and I was playing with a baby and a precocious four year old while they all worked to do the moving. And they did all the hard labor and transfer in one day. And how did my friend repay me? She had every single box unpacked within 24 hours and the new house cleaned (as well as the original apartment).
It was really unfair.
Tomorrow, by the way, you’re in luck because it will be “Ask Madame Know-It-All” and that means I can answer anything. Gratis! But I need input to decide who it will be next week. Answer my poll and let me know what you want!
If it makes you feel any better, my husband and I have been in our house for 4 1/2 years and still have boxes left unpacked in a room we never organized because we didn’t need it. :S
Wow. That midnight move sounds pretty harrowing. As much as I hate to move, I have been tempted just so I wouldn’t have to clean. “Can’t we just buy a new house?” I have often whined to my husband. But if I ever did somehow acquire a million dollars, you bet, I would just donate this entire house and its contents to charity and start all over.
Moving is the worst I do believe. I should have thrown away so many things. Isn’t funny as we look at things we own, we refuse to part with them even though they have not seen the light of day in years?
Actually, jenwhitten, that DOES make me feel better. When we moved to this, our “permanent” house, I had no excuse to leave anything in boxes. But I did.
Does anyone else understand why you go through a massive and crazy toss-everything-you-don’t-really-want period while you’re packing (if only because you don’t want to do it any more) and, when you move, you have to toss a huge amount more? I’ve unpacked countless things just to throw them away? Why does that happen? What’s wrong with my brain?
JD, I’d hold out for the million dollars before whining for a new house. A new house can be great, but moving is such a hassle. I had a friend, once, who lived in an apartment during the week since the house she shared with her wealthy husband was a two hour drive away. Her opinion was, why do laundry when you can just switch apartments and get all new clothes. She’s divorced now…
ettarose,
You’re right. My husband is worse than I am. He tends to collect broken on the notion that he can fix them. We tossed bunches of those when we left, but he has more now. He’s one of those “maybe-it-will-useful-someday” types. But I have clutter, too. I don’t even save stuff you’d expect a mom to save like my kids pictures and stuff. They each have ONE folder of things. But I do have stuff like you’re talking about. I still have like 15 movies on VHS that never came out on DVD. I even made Lee buy me a VCR so I could play them - two years ago. I haven’t removed the VCR from the box.
In that last comment it was broken electronics.
I’m an air force brat… moving was an ordinary part of life… and as we moved along we would accumulate more and more boxes that just didn’t ever get unpacked.
Wouldn’t surprise me if my Mom still had some of them - still all packed up, no doubt.
I knew some army people who whittled their households down to a handful of boxes once a year. I wouldn’t want to live that like that, but I think my husband did for years. He was a Navy brat.
I am definitely NOT a packrat, but over the past few years, my husband and I have honed down, more and more, what we have. The problem is, though our stuff is taking up less box space, our KIDS’ stuff is taking up more, and will until they finally move out of our house. And my daughter gets teary-eyed at the mere thought of losing any stuffed animal, even an Elmo doll she hasn’t touched in years.
I don’t mind the stuff, as long as it’s organized. Perhaps that should be something I concentrate on in the new year.
One can actually deal with a great deal of stuff organized, but it actually makes moving much harder. I didn’t have any idea I had so much stuff until I removed it from my organized areas and realized it took up boxes after box. Books are a good example. And I have at least twice as many bookcases as I used to have.
The thing is, once you’ve organized something, it’s even harder to throw it away. I mean you took the trouble to find a place for it. It must be useful for something. And, unfortunately, I buy stuff for function which makes it even harder to throw away even if I never use it or it stops functioning.
*Sigh* Maybe I am a packrat.