I moved every four years or so in the CG...one Dity move (you get cash to move yourself) the rest by government contracted movers. Only took once trying to move myself to never do that again.

On movers...Ensure in the contract it states they unpack. It's generally in the tiny, tiny print and if given half a chance they will bail before they do it. Often they will argue even denying it. I generally only made them unpack the dishes and kitchen stuff (too many broken dishes). I didn't make them repack my dresser drawers with our clothes unless they were pricks. -WW

ps. Make sure you take out the trash or hide it...they will pack it with glee.

I moved out of the parents with a pillowcase and a paper shopping bag of cloths
6 months later after the G/F now wife moved in it took 3 truck loads to get out

My dad was in the Navy. We moved about every 2.5-3 years. That wasn't so bad, and even then, my parents managed to hang on to some of my stuff throughout. After dad passed away and mom retired and moved, she got rid of everything and I took some stuff. That life teaches you to live light, but my wife thinks that I hang on to too much stuff.

My 85 year old parents just moved from Az back to NOLA after 30 years in the desert. They literally took most of their clothes and some personal belongings but left everything else behind and bought all new stuff for the new house. Just wasnt worth it and nobody had the time to sort through everything. It worked out great!!!

I'm a minimalist. We've been here 11 years, and all I've accumulated new vs the last house are chainsaws and tools needed to keep the avocados healthy. My wife is a packrat (books, clothes, shoes, gadgets, you name it). Each year her stuff multiplies and spreads like metastatic cancer. We've moved twice in our 20 year marriage. Both times resulted in a big fight, even bigger dumpster, a nice purging, and two weeks of silent treatment. We're retiring to a much smaller house in Hilton Head in less than two years. That's going to be one hell of a fight, and a construction site dumpster.

Like I said when we were talking yesterday, I have the advantage of going from small to larger living space. I will be in your shoes in 2 weeks, cross town move, and am sure I will be doing inventory and getting rid of stuff.

I have the advantage of working in set dressing so I have access to 4 wheel dollys, Magliners and deckers. The deckers are going to be loaded with boxes and unbreakables for quick loading and unloading...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1500391030.jpg

Totally... Do a round of throwin stuff away, but after that, nope... I busted a shoulder to save $5000, I'd gladly have those 3 years it took it to heal back for the $...

brillant!!

personally, i limit the SUCK to only the boxing and unboxing. i hire a company to move it from place to place. i actually found a decent company on my last moves. really inexpensive. they were licensed and showed up in a big rental truck. they were so below our budget both times..we tipped handsomely.

the first two guys talked about it..and the second time, the crews begged to get our job. i'm a control freak..i still helped move boxes. i couldnt stand by and watch.

I have moved over a dozen times in my life. Half of them with family. It is a very good exercise for reducing clutter. The last move we did was best. It was a local move. House was empty and ready for move in for months and we could move slowly and deliberately, only taking what we deemed essential in single pickup truck loads. Before that move, every family move was work sponsored and it was more of a frantic scoop and unload, taking a lot of the unnecessary garbage.

It feels bad now, but once you are done, it will be a great achievement in de-cluttering and simplifying your life.

G

This move is probably opening your eyes, as you've been planted a while. One option you have on the other end is not unpacking some things, as you probably don't need or want half of what you have. Food for thought.

Drink lots of water, don't overdo it. You can always take another day, or more; or pay someone else to do it for you. The older I get, the less I feel obligated to do myself. I used to not have a limit to how hard I'd push myself physically, now I do. I also keep regular "office hours", so after 5:00, I'm off the clock. The sun always comes up the next day.

Good luck,
JR

I was real happy to drive a 914 in my younger days. Fewer friends ask you to help move when you have only a tiny car. I still got stuck with some sucky moves. One horrible move was a buddy that moved from one apartment to a different apartment in the same complex. We carried every single thing down the stairs, across the courtyard around the corner and up the stairs. The bastage only had Pabst Extra light beer and it was not even real cold. I never forgave him for that.

The champion horrible move was helping my aunt move. Her kids were 5 or 7 and had a full and extensive assortment of toys. We loaded up everything into a trailer, hauled it over in two loads to the house she just bought. We had just finished unloading the trailer and her real estate agent drove up in a panic. Something in the paperwork was not right and she advised my aunt to get everything out because the paperwork was delayed.

We moved everything out, and sat down to cool off and the real estate lady came over again and said it is all good now, you can move back. I almost cried but just cussed. We did not move back until the next day.

Moving for us is not an option, we have about 40 large/small animals on our farm along with the accumulated crap rom 22 years in the same spot. I have a 40x60 pole barn almsot full of equipment, and a 100x60 horse barn full of tack/equipment, and hay.

We finally moved completely. 2 days of moving pain, now I just have to figure out what the fcuk I'm going to do with everything. Lost two bedrooms, a bathroom and a family room. BUT the new place has an attic and tons of storage space. 20 years in the same place its amazing how much junk you accumulate. Post pics later, right now, I need to get off of my feet.

The good news is....you only have to unpack the stuff you need to use at your new place. Leave everything else in boxes in the garage, and if it hasn't been used after 1 year, get rid of it. That is truly the best way of downsizing.

I haven't moved for a while (13 years), but I moved several times just before that.

I had a 1750 sq foot house with walk in attic (about another 500 sq feet), basement and "shed". I knew I was moving for about 6 months (divorce) and spent a lot of weekends going through the junk stored boxes. I didn't get rid of enough.

Bought an apartment building with no storage. Third bedroom in my unit became the storage spot.

Moved to San Diego and it was a full corporate move. I literally left my place fully intact and someone else oversaw the dismantling. That was a mistake...I didn't downsize a thing.

My wife moved from Houston to San Diego and we dumped EVERYTHING of hers, except clothes and a TV.

Leaving San Diego for Houston, we went from 1400 sq feet to 3300. My master bedroom set stayed behind. Only one bedroom furniture moved with me, a single sofa, TV, etc. and we bought all new furniture in Texas. The bad news, the boxes of books, etc were all still packed and in the garage. Some of those boxes of records (dating back to the 1980's) are still packed in boxes...

good work. Take a break and relax.

You'll figure out what you want vs need over time. I bet you'll be unloading more and replacing some with different stuff once you settle in.

I had a nice big basement in my last place. I had no idea I was storing so much stuff until I had to move it. A friend needed some space to store whatever, sure! I found a deal on something, I have room. Costco coupon for 10000 roles of paper towels, why not? That adds up over ~12 yrs.

The best thing about moving is that the kitchen is usually ****ed up for a while, so it's easy to convince yourself to go out to dinner every night.

JR

It always amazes me when people put a bunch of stuff in a storage locker, "temporarily" and then basically forget about it except for sending the check in every month.
The stuff they store is probably worth 1/100 of what they spend in storage fees to keep it.

Here you! My fourth time in three years, Wife's second. Hopefully we are settling now! Definitely no more working in different countries...

I still have a box from 1983 to open and see what is inside of it. Time capsule, will be done with single malt at the ready. Expect to find strange things from the late 60's and through the 70's. My Mother packed it up and set in a closet with my name on it. Who else is voting for toys?

Have faith. Its full of rookie cards of all the long gone hall of famers, uncollected lotto tickets and stock certificates given to you as a youngster~