The Big Move of 2018 is over.
I am settling in to the new digs.
I love my salmon-wall office. Except for hanging a few pictures, everything is in its place – including the critters and flowers.
I have to say that the move had very few mishaps, at least nothing that couldn’t be fixed or rectified or laughed over. The planning, organization, meetings and ongoing anxiety worked together to make last Wednesday a successful day.
Extremely busy day, but successful.
I also learned a number of things before, during and after the move that I thought would be of benefit to anyone also planning a move. I hope you find these tips helpful.
- Moving is a lot of work. It’s tiring. It’s exhausting. It’s a lot of work.
- Don’t get sick with the stomach flu four days before you move. That is not a good time to go on a diet and feel tired.
- If a friend offers you moving boxes from her work, take them. I thanked Natasha afterward as we used every.single.box in our collection, including the ones she gave me.
- It helps to not only mark what room the packed boxes go to, but also what’s in them. My bad.
- BTW, the stuffed bears and lions add that plastic bags are a little suffocating, so please pack them in a box. Thank you.
- Moving is a lot of work.
- Make sure you “purge” the junk before the move. We had a purging day at the end of December and ended up with many boxes of stuff to donate. Someone at Goodwill had a field day with used binders, assorted coffee cups and several flower vases.
- Habitat for Humanity/Restore will take your well-used furniture and file cabinets. They will NOT take cubicles. No one will take cubicles these days, except for Waste Management.
- Do not wait until the day of the move to find an electrician to cap off the wires leading to the cubicles. My bad again, but the boss made some calls and saved the day.
- Make sure you have a “team” willing to help with orchestrating the move, even though you are positive you can do everything yourself. I was glad to share duties and keep my sanity with two very helpful and energetic peers.
- On the day of the move, have food and beverage available. A potluck is nice. A landlord who provides breakfast is nice. Food is energy and power and yummy.
- Resolve to stop eating at your desk, especially after the embarrassment of finding out how many crumbs have been hiding under the keyboard and paper trays.
- Did I tell you that moving is a lot of work?
- If you’re the new landlord, make sure the vendor puts the security door on the right way. Oops, their bad.
- Appreciate the new place for all that it’s worth. Appreciate that you don’t have to cover the cracked bathroom window because the opaque coating has worn off. Appreciate you have a new landlord that will not allow such atrocities to occur.
- Never try to learn the new key card system at the end of moving day when you’re not braining. Nothing good can come of it (witness the three cards I screwed up on Friday). Ugh, my bad.
- Being a obsessive/compulsive before, during and after a move can be both good and bad. Bad is when your O/C co-worker asks you, “Does the shredder look good there,” then moves it six inches to the left and asks, “Or does it look better there?” I gave her the look, even though we are kindred spirits. She moved it back to the right and walked away.
- At the end of moving week, schedule a massage and game night with friends. And make sure you add an adult beverage into that schedule. It’s important.
- Although moving really is a lot of work, the benefits of a beautiful new place, a good landlord and the smiles of employees that are happy to be there are well worth all of that work.
Advertisements
I’m glad you made the move with relatively few scars!
Yes, no scars Cheryl! No bleeding or stubbed toes or reasons to sit on the floor and cry. It went well.
👏🏻💕
Good for you. It is superhard work. We went to our storage unit today that has had some of our stuff in it for years, and we are taking it out bit by bit even though we moved maybe eight months back and in theory it should be done. A lot of the stuff is decent, and I keep kidding myself that I will skim through it and give most of it away, or put it where it should go. It has not quite happened yet–
I have personal stuff in a storage unit and I know what you mean. Although I have to keep it there for now as I’m living in an apartment, but I’d like to go through some of the boxes and make decisions whether to keep things or toss them out. I moved so fast last time that I may have kept more than I needed.
I found that the last few times we moved it was a fast deal, like when my mother ditched the childhood home and I had to loot it all in order to keep it from the 1800gotjunk people who were coming. I am really glad that now there are lots of rummage sales and a free store in town, so I can move things along that are good enough for someone to use–we lived in NJ for a few years and there were NO rummage sales, NO resale stores near us, even though there were tons of elderly folks there.
I LOVE to shop the resale stores in the area. They helped to furnish my last apartment and I was especially fortunate to find a really nice dining room table and chairs at a very reasonable price. For anyone living on a budget or fixed income, these places are a godsend.
They really are. There are some great ones near here, charity ones that undercharge so much that i give them extra–
I’m happy to hear that it went well. The little things you mention don’t sound like show-stoppers. It is a lot of work.
Nope, there were no show-stoppers. Thank God and good planning for that. The weather cooperated too!
I hope you have a great first week in your new digs.
Is the commute much different? The last time we moved, it was to the wrong side of the river for me.
I’m about a half mile or two minutes closer to work. We moved just down the road from the old place. It made running back and forth between the old building and the new building during the move much easier.
Congratulations on surviving the move m’lady! 🙂 I’m just about at the one-year mark in my new place and concur with EVERYTHING you say!
LOL! I remember when my niece showed up with about fifty cardboard boxes folded flat and I laughed and said, “What the hell do you think I’m moving, the whole city?”
By the time I was done I’d used over A HUNDRED and fifty!
Heh, and labeling what’s IN the boxes as well as what room they go to? Yep. Specially since your ideas about what’s going where and why and how may change before you get everything unpacked.
I did my move if five separate small truck trips spaced over the course of six weeks. I *still* made a dozen trips back to the old house to dig out stuff from various corners that I’d overlooked. Of course I’d lived there for 35 years, and it was a whole house rather than an apartment… but still, the idea of trying to do it in one day would have been absolute Armageddon!
Glad you survived! Enjoy the new place!
🙂
MJM
That was quite the move for you, Michael. I wish I would have counted all of the boxes that we used between all employees. There were about 40 people plus general office areas that required boxes. Makes me wonder…
Thankfully, we got all of the boxes unpacked and figured out where everything needed to go by the end of the day Friday.
I love how you decorated your bookshelf! Congrats on accomplishing the big move! It’s a lot of work – from the looks of it, you pulled it off well!!
Thanks Shelley. While I was arranging my office, I was thinking of you and your decorated shelves. Our new place could use a few of those!
In due time, shelves and special trinkets will appear! I look forward to updates as you tweak your surroundings! Take care and get some much deserved rest!
You survived!! Happy news!
I’ve moved so rarely that I don’t have a good idea of the work involved … but I can imagine.
Pour yourself a drink, put your feet up, and congratulation yourself on a job well done!
Happy news, happy days! Yes, I’m so glad we made it past the moving hump. Now, on to the next project!
Gah! There’s always a next project.
If I remember this was a work move, right? Did your other co-workers have their own nightmares? So glad you made it…and I’m ESPECIALLY happy to hear you scheduled a game night to relieve all the tension that was not necessarily right in front of your face. A pleasant workplace does for your psyche!
Yes, this was a work move and I don’t think there were any nightmares. We still have to replace some old office furniture, but nothing serious. This is most definitely a pleasant place to work. 🙂
Everyone deserves that!
It’s a cheerful office 🙂
I’m delighted you do not have a cubicle. I had one cubicle job waaaay back in the day, and it was a dimly lit hole of despair, lol! I was so happy when they moved me to half-wall room, I had a window and everything, whew! Far as I’m concerned, cubicles SHOULD go to waste management.
I am very pleased that at my job, we all eat at our desks, but that my office mate is also a bit with the OCD. For future reference, the shredder looks best to the right of the waste bin, where no one will see it until I roll it out. Shredders are eyesores. Unlike aloe and violets 🙂
Thank goodness, I’ve never had to work in a cubicle. I’ve worked in space without a window, but I can handle that if I’m not boxed in.
LOL on the shredder. I’ll tell my co-worker that she needs to hide it with the garbage can!
I still am eating at my desk…bananas and nut mix, but trying to eat lunch in the lunch room. Maybe I’ll find a few less crumbs when I clean up on retirement day.
Done and dusted, with scarcely a hair out of place.Of course. What else ?! XO
Yup, my hairspray did it’s duty! 😉
Yer an idiot. But one in a different place, now. [grin]
Never said I was normal, M-R :-p
well done Mary! I love the colour of the wall too – it’s a similar colour to one of my walls of my study back home ..
Thanks Susan. I wanted a cheerful color for the wall…something that would keep me awake during the 2 p.m. slump. 🙂
Mary, I know it was really hard to do the work, but, wow, your new office looks beautiful! It must make going to work a lot more enjoyable!
The new office is definitely putting a smile on my face and making it easier to tolerate craziness at work. 😃