Fun & Famous
6 X STUPID THINGS YOU HAVE TO DO WHEN YOU MOVE
The big move is on the agenda. I remain an outsider, no worries. But I'm looking a bit further north by the end of this year. I counted my moves together with Elke, there were thirteen in total. This does not include favors for family slash friends. A decent score in almost thirty years. But there are always those (annoying) little jobs that you never enjoy. Like these.
1. Say goodbye to your house
If all goes well, you leave in peace, but you do share some love and sometimes a bit of sorrow with a house. I said goodbye to quite a few rooms, little houses, and studios in my living career. With every farewell, I took a deep breath, ignored the hauling companions, and looked around with nostalgia. That house saw and heard more than intended, so saying goodbye respectfully is the least you can do. In the current house I lived together for the first time in my life, a brick came through my window AND I had a grown-up kitchen. Those are memorable moments that you should cherish.
2. The box
A little about moving boxes. Those things are expensive, ridiculous. It's just a piece of cardboard, nothing glamorous about it. You pay ten euros for five boxes. I find that quite a lot for old paper. And they tear, no matter how hard they promise not to. Nothing to reuse, just thrown in the big pile after a moving adventure. But you also don't want a house full of Curver boxes after your move, so off to the hardware store to stock up. Rip-offs.
“I bought a notepad titled ‘get shit done.’”
3. Cancel things you forget to cancel
I always forget, but always, to cancel something. A birthday sports subscription, a parking spot in the center (so unnecessary when you get a different residence) or an internet arrangement with housemates. New residents of a casa get my newspaper for a week as a gift. My beloved now forces me to make lists of things not to forget to forget. I'm on the mend, because I bought a notepad titled ‘get shit done.’ That's half the work, right?
4. Cleaning and patching
As you are pulling all those lists off the wall, a huge Swiss cheese of holes appears. I have the tip, you know. Of course, it's wise to get to work with wall filler, but you don't always have that on hand. Toothpaste works fine until the first coat of paint from the new residents. You obviously didn't hear that from me. And another thing, cleaning. When I move into a fresh place, I clean about a thousand times. And that always haunts my mind when I'm mopping an empty shack.
5. The moving notice
My first independent moving attempt took place in the postcard era. Changing online was a back-to-the-future story, sending that thing in the mail. So I'm a grateful user of that online convenience, but about a month after the move. You still stay a bit in touch with the old neighborhood.
6. Sort and more
I suspect we only need to move half of our belongings because my boyfriend has started a decluttering that could rival a sale. The big sorting aka out with that junk. By the way, this move is a plausible reason to sort out my paperwork again, but I'm not overly excited about it yet. I prefer to shove everything in a box and do it there, but I have a strong suspicion that I won't get away with that this time.
