Count Down to Moving Day…

As if I don’t have enough on my plate, our moving day is set for Monday with completion Wednesday of this coming week. I’m excited, of course, however I really don’t like moving. To clarify, I’m not moving into my “Little House in the Valley.” No, we’ve decided to continue renting for a few more years, but in a nicer neighborhood and in an apartment instead of the rental house we’ve been in for these past few years.

Oh how I don’t like moving, let me count the ways…

1. Packing – Box after box I realize how much crap I’ve accumulated and I don’t consider myself a pack rat!
2. Lifting – To be honest, I don’t lift most of the heavy items, but even the small ones begin to add up. My wrists can only take so much!
3. Disorganization – I try to organize my desk, work, clothing into carefully labeled boxes. Of course even the best laid plans crumble beneath a truck-load of non-distinct brown boxes.
4. Back and forth and back and forth – This is the worst part of moving. I haven’t been able to fit all of my things or organize my move into just one day, as hard as I’ve tried. So each day is scheduled for a different part of the move; boxes, furniture, left-over out door/garage items. If I were moving hundreds of miles away, I guess I’d have no choice but to fit the move into one day, but a mere 4 miles gives me plenty of excuses to do it bit-by-bit.
5. Down Time – Being disconnected technologically for part of a week makes me incredibly nervous. Of course, I always have access to computers at work or I can temporarily use my phone as a modem on my laptop, but the speed is greatly reduced.
6. Expense – Even though I don’t book professional residential movers, renting the U-Haul truck and paying a few laborers (yes, I have no problem paying helpful laborers to help me lift things I just can’t lift), adds up. When all is said and done will have easily spent a few hundred dollars moving.

Moving is never fun, but the benefits I’m receiving out-weight the inconvenience. Some benefits to making the move include:

• Saving money on everyday repairs – as a renter in a rental home, there’s constantly something that needs to be repaired. The landlord should be the one repairing and paying for these, but sometimes it’s more of a hassle when one individual owns the rental unit versus an apartment complex with a management team.
• A nicer, cleaner environment – I’m tired of the mold in the bathrooms (not due to my negligence, but due to limited ventilation) and the curled up vinyl flooring in the kitchen. No matter how clean I’m able to get it, it never looks clean due to the fact it’s 15 years old!
• No more dead lawn – Three times we’ve gotten the lawn to a beautiful, lush green and three times it’s died. Though I won’t have the same outdoor experience, I’m thinking that I won’t be missing it as much either…especially the dead lawn part.
• Save money on utilities – I was shocked when I went from living in an apartment to living in a house at the increase in our utilities; it literally increased by 3 times the amount! I’m definitely looking forward to saving money on utilities (it evens out the increase in rent I’ll be experiencing!)
• A beautiful environment to come home to – Most people don’t cherish the time when they lived in an apartment, but the apartment complex I’ve chosen is one of the most beautiful complexes I’ve ever seen – fountains throughout the courtyard, beautiful pergolas top the balconies, and an interior to match.

Next week you’ll hear a little less from me as I’ll be physically moving. But I should be up and running by week’s end….stay tuned.