Managing the Moving Chaos
A sponsored post by TNT Moving Systems:
My friend has been house-hunting for months. She texted me the other day with five happy words: “We found our dream house.”
The next morning we settled in for coffee and a chat that revolved around the upcoming move. The irony in finding this perfect home is that they’d been looking all over, and the home of their dreams is just one subdivision away, less than a half-mile from where she is living now.
“This will be the easiest move we’ll ever make,” she said. “No movers! We’ll do it all piecemeal.”
I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I had to tell her. In 28 years of marriage, my husband and I have moved nine times. Several of those were moves of 1,000 miles or more. And by far the hardest, most tedious move was when we literally moved around the corner.
I remember the day we found our little around-the-corner dream house. I was a veteran of the big move and I was excited about the opportunity to take it slow. In our other moves, we set a moving date and worked in a frenzied pace until moving day. With the house around the corner, we allowed ourselves a month to get everything moved. We decided that we’d pack a few boxes, move them the next night after work, then repeat the process. We’d arrange as we moved, eliminating rooms stacked with boxes and disarray everywhere. It would be neat, more efficient, and totally smooth.
The idea seemed like such a good one, but here’s what reality looked like:
First, most of us just need deadlines. Deadlines propel us. They give us structure. On Aug. 30, Oct. 1 seems like all the time in the world away. In previous moves, I usually had 10 days to two weeks before the movers came. Yes, the house was a mess of cardboard and tape and packing material. But I was up against it, and I just trudged on. Dinner was usually takeout or a can of soup. But it all got done, because it had to.
When we have a lot of time, most of us tend to procrastinate. On my around-the-corner move, the idea was to drop last night’s packed boxes by the new house, unload them and bring them back home for repacking. The cycle would repeat every day. The reality was that life happened. Some nights it just didn’t get done or only half of it did. The first couple of weeks, friends came by to help us by taking a load over. That was great, but when we got to the new house, everyone wanted a tour and we’d end up doing more talking than unpacking. We lost a lot of time that way.
About halfway through, it just got depressing. Now, instead of one house in temporary disarray, I had two in a state of chaos. Half of our stuff was around the corner, and Murphy’s Law being what it is, the one thing I needed was at the old house -or the new house! After a while, I just couldn’t keep it straight anymore.
And those friends who wanted to help out? They were as naïve as we were. We have a lot of books and two guys who worked with me offered to move our books. “If you pack them, we’ll carry the boxes,” one told me. I packed and stacked them and they start making the trips back and forth. Carrying multiple boxes of books out the door, around the corner and five houses down doesn’t sound too taxing but these strong guys were sweating after about five trips. I had plenty of ice water for them but it was a big job. And of course, I felt that I was taking advantage of them.
By the last day, we were exhausted. And of course that was the day we moved the “big stuff.” Friends helped out and I was a nervous wreck as they trudged down the street with our furniture. And of course, when a friend who is lending a hand accidentally nicks the wall with your dresser, all you can do is smile and say, “That’s OK!”
Thinking back on that move, I realized that it might have been the most expensive one we ever made, in terms of time. We spent more than four weeks going back and forth. It would have been much easier to just plunge in, pack it up and move it in a long weekend.
I shared my tale of horror and my friend just shook her head, took a swig of coffee and said, “Can you recommend a mover?” “Yes, as a matter of fact I can!” “Why don’t you call TNT Moving?” They are a Charlotte-based business with ties to the local Charlotte, NC community. They understand “moving chaos even if it’s around the corner!”
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Jayne Cannon is a Charlotte writer whose articles have appeared in newspapers, magazines and also in various blogs. Her wide range topics include small business, family and lifestyles. Most recently she wrote about her personal local moving experience!
This is a sponsored guest post on behalf of TNT Moving.
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