Moving Out!?

[GothicRhyme]

My boyfriend and I will be moving out this summer, so I decided to start this topic.

 

Answer any of the questions if you want.

 

What was your experience moving out?

What suggestions do you have for others who are moving out?

What funny thing happened when you moved out?

What gross thing happened when you moved out?

What creepy thing happened when you moved out?

Where is the best place to live?

Is a big house better, or a small one? Why?

Stay in the country or move out of it?

What complications have you had when you moved out?

What frustrating thing happened when you moved out?

 

I love hearing about other peoples' stories and experiences so please post so I can read and comment on them! Thanks

[octopi]

Oh my gosh I'm still living with my parents at the moment, but we've lived in like... five different houses/apartments, so I have a lot of experience with moving. I feel like if (er, when) I actually move out, this will probably happen. Even if I don't completely demolish the place, judging by the times I've been away from my parents for camps and things, it's going to be so cluttered only I'm going to be able to walk through it without injuring myself.

 

Have fun with that when it happens! Are you guys getting a house?

[GothicRhyme]

We aren't getting a house yet, that costs a lot more money. For now we have found apartments that are $700 a month that have a gym and swimming pool, and they also allow pets, which is awesome because I have two dwarf rabbits that are going wherever I do. (I told him it was a package deal. X3) But while we are in the apartments we are going to save for a house, yeah. We need a big yard though, because he wants to get a type of dog called a Russian Bear dog. It is HUGE!

[catstaff]

I've moved six times in the last 13 years (since my marriage), and I've moved a total of 15 times in my life... so far, anyway. I can picture at least a couple more moves before I hit retirement age, lol!

 

I've done DIY moves and I've used movers. The DIY moves mostly happened when I was younger and owned less stuff, although two of the last six were also done that way. The first time, the hubby and I thought we'd save money by just renting the U-Haul. Which we did, but our friends who'd promised to help with the heavy stuff flaked out on us, so we got stuck with just the two of us trying to wrestle a sleeper sofa up and down stairs. Not fun in the slightest. If you're going that route, make good and sure you've got reliable help for the heavy furniture.

 

If you use movers, do your own packing! That will save on the cost, as well as letting you organize your boxes in whatever way makes sense to you. Like, I packed some fragile knicknacks in with my crocheting project and spare yarn in order to cushion the breakables without wasting box space on bubble wrap. Label your boxes, at the very least with a general description of the contents and where it needs to end up, like "books, living room" or "dishes, kitchen" or even tape on an index card with a complete listing of what's in the box. Be creative in your packing, too. If you've got something like a cooler, that is essentially an empty box, use it as one of your packing crates. That's one less cardboard box to toss at the other end, and the cooler is sturdy and will help protect breakable items. As an example, I packed the cooler with my oil lamps, and my big water-bath canning kettle got loaded with all my jars of spices.

 

One thing to be aware of if you do use movers, with the growing bedbug problem, quite a few won't move mattress sets at all anymore. You may want to just plan to buy new wherever you're moving to. If it's a long-distance move (my most recent was New Hampshire to Georgia) you'll want to think about how long your things will be in transit and/or storage, and what sort of weather is supposed to happen along the way. I lost 65 books and half my daughter's collectible dolls in the last move because at some point along the way, the torrential rains that were happening found their way into the truck and some of my boxes. One box actually disintegrated and what the movers delivered was a mass of soaked and mildewed books bundled up in a movers' quilt.

 

As far as questions such as where is the best place to live, etc., that mostly depends on you. I personally prefer being out in the boonies, but the trade-off there is a long commute to where the majority of the jobs are. I think a smaller place is better in terms of what it costs for heating and cooling, but then there's the lack of space to consider. Small spaces can get cluttered faster, but they'll be easier to clean, too. The layout of the space makes a huge difference, too. A former house of mine had more square footage but less usable space than my current apartment, due to a poorly-organized layout.

[GothicRhyme]

Thank you for the helpful advice! I'll definitely be sure to pack valuables carefully. What would you suggest for jewelry, however? That's one big thing I've been wondering.

[MoonShark]

  Thank you for the helpful advice! I'll definitely be sure to pack valuables carefully. What would you suggest for jewelry, however? That's one big thing I've been wondering.

 

Jewelry should be packed either in a jewelry case or in tight-sealing tupperware. That way it won't fall out and get lost during transport. Necklaces, if you are worried about them getting tangled from tossing around, can be protected from that by threading pieces of drinking straw (cut off the straight end, then cut that to the necessary size) onto the chain before closing the clasp.

 

 

 

I have a lot of experience moving. Between moving from home to our summer cottage each year - and that involves a LOT of packing, because we take a lot of food/baking supplies/clothes/etc with us, moving back and forth between two states (NC and Maine) for two years while Mom was teaching down south (we also moved house twice - one from camper to house, then to a different house), and also the past couple years packing up and moving out during the summer from my college rental home (during my first year, my dorm).

 

What was your experience moving out? It really varied depending on the place. When moving between houses down south, we always made sure to comb every room to make sure we didn't miss anything. Between the summer cottage and our home, we don't mind if we leave something behind, since we usually make a couple trips each summer. For the college rental (half a duplex), my housemates and I are careful to take all of our stuff and either put it in storage or drag it home for the summer, because the place is rented over the summer.

What suggestions do you have for others who are moving out? Always double, triple, quadruple check before you lock the door and leave. Have someone else look around too, they might catch something you missed. Check those cupboards and drawers one more time - under the bed if it's staying and there is a bedframe. Check closets, too.

 

Also, pack things carefully. Always wrap delicate stuff in your clothes, in newspaper, in bubblewrap... Whatever you have that will protect it. Things get knocked around a lot during moving. And if you're reusing cardboard boxes, ducktape the bottom and the corners as reinforcement. Nothing worse than a box breaking as you lift it and things tumbling everywhere - or even breaking.

 

Where is the best place to live? Depends on the person, really. I know people who are dying to move out of this small tourist town I live in for the school year and head for the cities. Me, I grew up on the forest and I don't want to have anything to do with a city. Even this town is a bit much for me sometimes, especially once the tourists return.

 

Is a big house better, or a small one? Why? Depends on how many people are living with you and whether you need a lot of space or not. My rental has two small bedrooms and a large bedroom and a bathroom upstairs, and a bathroom, kitchen and living room downstairs. Four people have lived there comfortably for the past two years - next year there will be a fifth person (my boyfriend), and things might get a little tight (we'll be sharing the small bedroom). Hopefully when my boyfriend and I are in our own apartment we'll have a separate room for him to game in - currently when I'm staying over at his house, and he stays up late gaming it can be hard to sleep with his cursing/loud music. So, in the case of my rental house, I wouldn't mind a bigger one. But if it's just me and my boyfriend, we could make do with a small kitchen/living room/bedroom set up.

 

Stay in the country or move out of it? My boyfriend and I plan on moving out after I complete a program here in the USA (I am required to work in my state a certain number of years in exchange for decreased student loans). Not sure where we will go yet, though.

 

What frustrating thing happened when you moved out? Last year, my housemates didn't have storage space and one of them flew home so I got stuck taking a lot of stuff home with me.... And we just didn't have room in my father's car/trailer to take it all, so a lot of stuff had to be stored over the summer in the basement, which I wasn't pleased about. I'm glad that we have storage this year, and that we are packing things up earlier.

[GothicRhyme]

Thanks for letting me know how to pack my jewelry! And also about quadruple checking your old house for stuff you might have left behind. Has that happened to you where you accidentally left something important behind when you moved? I sure hope I don't leave anything behind!

 

When we moved into the house we are living in right now, there were a few pieces of furniture left behind. I don't think it was an accident though, as the rocking chair was in the center of the living room. Maybe the people who lived there before us just didn't have room for it anymore and simply left it behind? Have you had a similar experience?

[Dawnwing]

I've just moved out of my parents' house, about two weeks ago, so it's a good time for this thread! It's my first time moving at all.

 

For jewelry, I highly recommend a bead case like this; you can find them at craft stores or presumably in craft sections of stores. That one is the one that I got and it has tiny little plastic cases that are meant for storing loose beads for jewelrymaking, but I've just put a necklace or some earrings in each one. Then it can't get tangled with other necklaces, and they're relatively nicely sorted.

 

What was your experience moving out?

Positive, overall. I love my parents, but it was really getting to the point where I needed some space, so I'm enjoying the solitude. I looked at a lot of apartments online first - some in town, some not - then did a Google search for apartments in my new town to find ones that didn't have websites, and tried calling pretty much all of them. When I ruled out the ones that I'm not eligible for - whether they were actually retirement homes, or low-income - that left only a few apartments. In the end I visited two and chose one. For the move itself, I went and cleaned the place really really thoroughly before I moved anything (vacuuming, dusting every surface, cleaning out the cupboards, every inch of the bathroom, etc), and then just took a carload each day when I went to work (my parents live an hour away from my work.) I would drop them off and/or unpack them in the evening, then go home and pack some more, and repeat the next day. I got everything fairly cheap: my parents told me to take my bedroom set, I bought a kitchen table/chairs and futon and tv stand from a college friend who was moving out the same week I was moving in, and I got a ton of stuff from garage sales. Also, my great-grandma recently died, so I was given some of her things. I know she'd be happy to know that I'm getting good use out of them.

 

What suggestions do you have for others who are moving out?

Pretty much what catstaff said about packing: use towels and other soft things to protect glass, and use every inch of space that you can. Label every box; that was really useful.

 

What funny thing happened when you moved out?

Hmm, well, when we first brought the table from my friend's, we'd unattached the top from the base, which was basically a big thick wooden pole with four legs at the bottom. I kept tripping over the darned base of it. On the first night I'd stayed over, I was Skyping with some internet friends, and every little bit they'd hear me squawk about tripping over it.

 

What gross thing happened when you moved out?

I discovered very quickly that my apartment has ants. Big ones, like over half-an-inch long. Had to set out traps and, once I discovered where they were getting in, spray poison. Have hardly seen any since.

 

What creepy thing happened when you moved out?

I learned from another tenant that apparently one of the elderly tenants had followed a new tenant, a woman, and was real nosy and getting really agitated 'cause he didn't recognize her, and she just about had to pepper spray him. That's kinda scary. I haven't seen anything like that though, and a few days later an older guy asked me "Are you in apartment x?" "No..." "Oh, 'cause the other day there was this car I didn't recognized so I followed the woman and she took offense and I wanted to apologize."

 

Where is the best place to live?

Depends on the person. For me, I love the country, but I've been enjoying living in a small city. 5 minutes from work, nice small-town feel and very little crime. I also love being about 8 blocks from the library instead of 1/2 hour away. I like this particular apartment, too. It was built in 1965 and you can tell - the place definitely has character. It's right along the river, and I've seen gorgeous sunsets in the evening. My apartment in particular is on the south side, nice and sunny, with a lovely view of a tree-filled lot. I can't imagine being in an apartment complex and only seeing identical buildings. I definitely wouldn't want to live somewhere "boring" like that.

 

Is a big house better, or a small one? Why?

Depends on the person and who's living with them.

 

Stay in the country or move out of it?

Not sure if you mean "country" as in "countryside" or as in "big chunk of land in the world". Either way, depends on the person.

 

What complications have you had when you moved out?

Car repairs. I hit a deer with my car (part of the reason I didn't want to continue driving so far each day!) and had finally just gotten it repaired when my dad's truck - which we used to haul the big stuff - had to get the power steering fixed. Add to that the fact that my dad's been working 6 days a week, and it was hard to find time to get stuff moved over here.

 

What frustrating thing happened when you moved out?

I misplaced my camera and a couple other things, which was irritating. Still didn't find the camera even once I'd unpacked all the boxes. Turns out that it was in the car.

Edited June 7, 2014 by Dawnwing

[Rhynn Collins]

Another tip: if you're renting, after thoroughly cleaning the new place, take pictures of every room, from every angle. Take close-up shots of everything that's broken or not as it should be. If possible, make the camera embed the date and time on the picture.

 

That way you always have proof if something was already like that when you moved in, so nothing can be pinned on you by the owner if it wasn't actually something you did.

[King_Max_Cat]

Sooo, I'm guessing you mean moving out of your parent's place and into a place of your own.

 

So!

What was your experience moving out?

Positive. I was so happy to have a place of my own, and sorry - it sounds harsh - but I wasn't homesick at all. I was SO HAPPY to move out!

What suggestions do you have for others who are moving out?

Look for apartments/places in advance...like up to 2 months in advance. Don't get a long lease!! Only live there for around 8 months or 4 months BEFORE you decide you want a year-long lease. The place could be a sewer-hole for all you know.

Is a big house better, or a small one? Why?

Small. Especially considering it's just you and your BF. I'm really not into sharing apartment/living space with random people (just my BF or family or super close friends) so get yourself a 1 bedroom+den apartment. That's all you need, and plus it makes you divest yourself of unneeded stuff! After tripping over random, useless stuff you'll eventually work up the courage/grit to say "I don't need or want this" and get rid of it (I'm slightly minimalist with my decorating, lol)

 

Another note to other posters; yes, I've moved into a place with some small furniture pieces left behind and it was nice I got a free patio furniture set and a TV!!

[Spottedleaf]

Good luck with the move! my older sister who is 21 and her boyfriend will be moving out of her appartment she was sstaying in soon too. and I havent moved out except Ive moved houses before so not sure if I should answer any of the questions

Edited June 8, 2014 by Spottedleaf

[GothicRhyme]

I heard a story of a couple who moved into a house with their big dog. They documented everything before they moved in, but when they moved out the landlord tried suing them because their big dog ruined the yard. In actuality, however, the couple knew that big dogs tend to mess up yards pretty fast, so they were always sure to make the yard look extra nice. After showing the judge their documentation of the yard both before and after they lived there, the judge took their side because the after picture looked so much better. If they hadn't taken any pictures, they would have been screwed.

[Spottedleaf]

My sister who is moving out of her appartment to get a new appartment has 2 big dogs. One of them just turned 1 year old and the other one is still a puppy