RFI: The Absolute Worst Things About Moving

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So far it's pretty fucking shit. How much worse can it get?

― ENRQ (Enrique), Monday, 26 July 2004 10:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Argh. I hate moving. Sprained shoulders, thrown-out back, losing boxes of things that you loved, realising that you've left stuff behind and you'll possibly never see it again, boxes, oh god the boxes, oh don't get me started...

It's OK, though, if you move to a place that's actually better.

― Super-Masonic Black Hole (kate), Monday, 26 July 2004 10:23 (twenty-one years ago)

So far it's only at the putting down deposit stage. There's four weeks of grime, grease, and grousing before actually shipping out!

― ENRQ (Enrique), Monday, 26 July 2004 10:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh god, oh god, you're giving me flashbacks.

Actually, that said, most of my move was pretty alright. Or maybe it was just cause the breakup was so bad that I didn't notice how awful the move was.

― Super-Masonic Black Hole (kate), Monday, 26 July 2004 10:25 (twenty-one years ago)

Does the physical length of the move (c. 60 miles) make it worse? We shall see! Younger readers will appreciate the true horror of the concept 'parental guarantors'.

― ENRQ (Enrique), Monday, 26 July 2004 10:27 (twenty-one years ago)

The bit where the estate agent calls to tell you that there's this crucial form that you must sign by the end of the day, but you're in Waltamstow and you have to be in Harringay at 6pm and it's now 2pm and the estate agent is in Dulwich and you spend the next four hours on a number of increasingly unbearable forms of public transport in the height of summer, in order to spend less than 5 minutes signing something.

― alix (alix), Monday, 26 July 2004 10:28 (twenty-one years ago)

No, I don't think that length of move has anything to do with the badness. In fact, long-distance can be easier in some ways, because it's so out of your hands.

― Super-Masonic Black Hole (kate), Monday, 26 July 2004 10:28 (twenty-one years ago)

I found moving 50km last year pretty awful, but moving 1000km this year to be quite a bit easier because I took less stuff.

― edward o (edwardo), Monday, 26 July 2004 10:29 (twenty-one years ago)

much, wait until you get told that you can't complete on the house you want in time, have to move out of your current place and end up spending 1200 quid on a months rent after fees etc

― Porkpie (porkpie), Monday, 26 July 2004 10:29 (twenty-one years ago)

Aw mama! That sounds shit! Why oh why did I have to be born? At least I'm not buying, I guess.

― ENRQ (Enrique), Monday, 26 July 2004 10:30 (twenty-one years ago)

I like it when people try to charge you £200 to move stuff five minutes round the corner.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Monday, 26 July 2004 10:31 (twenty-one years ago)

They're charging you for your stupidity. Do it yourself.

― alix (alix), Monday, 26 July 2004 10:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Mortgage brokers, estate agents, solicitors, rental agents & removal men are the worst part of moving house! I have to move in the next 3 weeks regardless of whether or not we have a house to move to! I am dreading it. I hate the fact that you have to completely clean the house you are moving to before you move anything in & then completely clean the one you are moving out of.

― PinXor (Pinkpanther), Monday, 26 July 2004 10:34 (twenty-one years ago)

I knew that ~~learning to read~~ buying too many books was a stupid idea.

― ENRQ (Enrique), Monday, 26 July 2004 10:35 (twenty-one years ago)

We have the pleasure of having to lug far too many records & trainers!!

― PinXor (Pinkpanther), Monday, 26 July 2004 10:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Hmm, c/d those plastic window 'book' things for CDs/DVDs...

― ENRQ (Enrique), Monday, 26 July 2004 10:38 (twenty-one years ago)

I got two of them for this move. But only for promos and things that didn't have proper sleeves. For those, I had crates.

― Super-Masonic Black Hole (kate), Monday, 26 July 2004 10:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Where are you moving to?

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Monday, 26 July 2004 10:40 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm calling it Highgate.

― ENRQ (Enrique), Monday, 26 July 2004 10:40 (twenty-one years ago)

I moved from a third floor flat to a fourth floor flat once. I don't think it will ever be any worse (anywhere taller than four floors should have a lift is my theory).

The only problem is the increasing mass of records and books...

― ___ (___), Monday, 26 July 2004 10:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Don't matter what you are calling it, we need the postcode.

Where are all those threads we have on my anti-stuff philosophy. This is where the smugness kicks in.

― Pete (Pete), Monday, 26 July 2004 10:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Damn my stuff. Grr. I dunno the postcode!

― ENRQ (Enrique), Monday, 26 July 2004 10:53 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm moving in a week, my only recommendation is that if you can at all swing the money, pay for a maid service. It's only going to be $90 to have my three-bedroom place cleaned after we move everything out, and they do it in only two or three hours--well worth it due to how much I hate cleaning and how long it takes me.

― teeny (teeny), Monday, 26 July 2004 11:02 (twenty-one years ago)

I hate buying items in the new location that're exact duplicates of things that I left / decided not to bother bringing at the old one.

― j e r e m y (x Jeremy), Monday, 26 July 2004 11:12 (twenty-one years ago)

The whole 'how clean is your flat?' bit wrt the deposit and its return is one of the most... unusual aspects of my case. We don't mind cleaning really, mainly because the flat unavoidably looks like the hull of an oil tanker. In the winter the walls are black with mold. In the summer the mold goes, and the paint with it. It isn't really fit for human habitation. So in that sense I'm glad to be leaving.

― ENRQ (Enrique), Monday, 26 July 2004 12:39 (twenty-one years ago)

If you get your sdeposit back alls for the best. But long moves can be a bit of a pain.

By the way, are you calling it Highgate becuase
a) It is Highgate
b) It is Archway
c) It is Crouch End
d) It is South Finchley
e) It is Upper Holloway
f) It is none of those places, just somewhere with a rather high gate which will make it difficult to get in.

― Pete (Pete), Monday, 26 July 2004 14:25 (twenty-one years ago)

okay, it's (consults cotract) n6 , abt 90 seconds walk from highgate tube. so highgate-crouch end.

so far worst things, in order

1) needing to stump like a gazillion pounds deposit
2) sorting removal (now i wish i cd drive)
3) er, not having a job sorted!

― ENRQ (Enrique), Monday, 26 July 2004 14:31 (twenty-one years ago)

That's Internet Mentalist Central, that is. There are about four of them knocking round that area, including a couple about five minutes walk from you.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Monday, 26 July 2004 14:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Ah, moving. For me I grew up with it, Navy family and all, and while there's a lot of work to be done (and quite happily I've long since learned the value of packing well in advance), I actually enjoy the feeling of getting somewhere else, kinda fun.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 26 July 2004 14:34 (twenty-one years ago)

matt, yowser. 'shaun of the dead' territory i thought. there was even a pub called teh winchester. semi-familiar from famili past i guess. it coulda been kentish town (overlooking jon snow, no less), but this has better cat facilities.

i like ned's 'tude here. but already i have ground my teeth into stumps.

― ENRQ (Enrique), Monday, 26 July 2004 14:35 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm too busy packing and shipping things east to answer this

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Monday, 26 July 2004 14:36 (twenty-one years ago)

i'm moving august 1st.

this week = PACKING WEEK

― cutty (mcutt), Monday, 26 July 2004 14:37 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm moving in in the week before 16th august providing things that i have no control over (mortgage thingies) are all sorted. Either way I gotta be out!

― PinXor (Pinkpanther), Monday, 26 July 2004 14:39 (twenty-one years ago)

7/30 I move out of my apartment in Boston and to my parents house for two weeks.
8/04 I move all their stuff to the beach cottage.
8/13 I move to LA.

― itsa me, mario! (x Jeremy), Monday, 26 July 2004 14:42 (twenty-one years ago)

Elvis speaks some wisdom -- pack and ship well in advance if you can! Also, as he's been doing, rid yourself of things every time. Last move it was about half my book collection or so it seems, items I had but were never going to read or were never going to read again, mere status symbols. Been eighteen months now and I miss none of them. Currently I've been indulging in a slow but sure program of mp4ing discs and selling them back when similarly they were untouched or unneeded -- I still have the music in a much more compact form if I ever want it again, but there will be less to move next time. It's only a mere scraping of the surface so far, but it is a start, and I will probably do a further book cull here soon anyway. No immediate plans to move -- my lease runs out in December and they've already made noises about how there won't be much of an increase if any -- but should something strange happen it's good to be prepared.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 26 July 2004 14:43 (twenty-one years ago)

fuck, LA sounds about a million x cooler than this scraggy, crap-weathered hole. i think i will become an agent, like that ivansxtc guy. i only NEED about 4 books.

― ENRQ (Enrique), Monday, 26 July 2004 14:44 (twenty-one years ago)

mp4? are you from the future?

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 26 July 2004 14:45 (twenty-one years ago)

mp4, AAC, whatever the hell Apple is calling its 'cooler than mp3' format these days. I just like it because it takes up less file space for similar quality.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 26 July 2004 14:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Actually, I just thought again. The worst thing about moving is having to find a new place in a rush.

That said, I wasn't in that much of a rush this time, it just felt like such a rush because the events forcing me to move were so traumatic.

I mean, the other worst thing is housemate roulette. But I lucked out this time, I really did.

― Super-Masonic Black Hole (kate), Monday, 26 July 2004 14:45 (twenty-one years ago)

shame I never got the chance to meet my ILX neighbour! But good luck with the move, anyway!

― MarkH (MarkH), Monday, 26 July 2004 14:46 (twenty-one years ago)

THE FUTURE IS NOW. (mp4 exists)

― cutty (mcutt), Monday, 26 July 2004 14:46 (twenty-one years ago)

The worst thing about moving is having to find a new place in a rush.

Very. My last move was compelled by the fact that the house had been sold and given my December vacation plans I had essentially three weeks, if that, to get everything together and get out. Oh fun.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 26 July 2004 14:50 (twenty-one years ago)

A no expense spared move (i.e. employer paying for it) is as stress free as it gets. I moved 500 miles and all I did was sign a form and everything was waiting for me when I got to my new place.

The hiring-a-van-getting-all-your-mates-to-muck-in thing is more hassle but you appreciate the beer more at the end.

I find the worse thing is the few days after the move when you discover all the crap that's wrong with your "move in condition" house.

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Monday, 26 July 2004 14:50 (twenty-one years ago)

The Winchester is that Winchester but it was not filmed there (The Shepherd's, the initial choice of pub in Shaun of The Dead has become the Boogaloo).

Its about time we had a proper Crouch End FAP.

― Pete (Pete), Monday, 26 July 2004 14:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Mark--seen. I am still being a weird fucker abt this but probably this move will shake that out a bit, hoping so -- may do a Ft thing one day. Also the next Cambridge FAP.

One estate agent alluded to the 'clubs' in Crouch End? Is this right?

― ENRQ (Enrique), Monday, 26 July 2004 14:55 (twenty-one years ago)

More clubs per sq mile than the West End, and Bournemouth.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Monday, 26 July 2004 14:56 (twenty-one years ago)

Kate on the mark, she's seen the place we had to take in a hurry!

― PinXor (Pinkpanther), Monday, 26 July 2004 14:57 (twenty-one years ago)

wow, am pretty psyched abt moving to the clubbing capitx0l of teh north london.

― ENRQ (Enrique), Monday, 26 July 2004 15:01 (twenty-one years ago)

Moving out sucks. Moving in is wonderful, though. The blank slate, arranging, planning, picking rooms -- I love that crap.

― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Monday, 26 July 2004 15:02 (twenty-one years ago)

Hmm. There are a few pubs/bar that stay open to one. Er, that's it. The pubs aren't bad. Restaurants a go go. Hills. Disused railway lines.

Clubs might be pushing it. Andy Kershaws restaurant is about it.

― Pete (Pete), Monday, 26 July 2004 15:03 (twenty-one years ago)

It would be a lie to say that I've clubbed, if that's the right expression, more recently than 1999. This agent was generally a bullshitter though.

― ENRQ (Enrique), Monday, 26 July 2004 15:05 (twenty-one years ago)

So far it's only at the putting down deposit stage. There's four weeks of grime, grease, and grousing before actually shipping out!

I'm at the exact same stage. But this time we're hiring people to do the actual moving. The packing and unpacking is enough for me. I don't care what it costs, I'm getting too old for this shit. (Especially since the moving-out part entails taking everything down 4 flights of stairs.)

Speaking of which, anybody have any Manhattan moving companies to recommend? I just need someone to safely cart our stuff 25 blocks.

― spittle (spittle), Monday, 26 July 2004 15:07 (twenty-one years ago)

maybe i shd move to LA/NYC/wherever and that way not have to take ANYTHING except my guitar.

― ENRQ (Enrique), Monday, 26 July 2004 15:08 (twenty-one years ago)

three weeks pass...

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

― ENRQ (Enrique), Thursday, 19 August 2004 09:33 (twenty-one years ago)

K THANX BYE INTERWEB NOW HERE'S WHERE THINGS GET FUCKED AND COLD

― ENRQ (Enrique), Thursday, 19 August 2004 15:01 (twenty-one years ago)

― teeny (teeny), Thursday, 19 August 2004 23:56 (twenty-one years ago)

how much of an ordeal is it to get your driver's license trasnferred over?

How good is the post office, generally, with forwarding mail? And how good are the credit card companies about respecting those 'address change' forms?

What's a good big bank with free checking?

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Friday, 20 August 2004 00:01 (twenty-one years ago)

dunno about the license, that's state-to-state.

PO is v. good in my experience, as are credit card companies (and if they don't get you in time, the PO will).

I would highly recommend your local credit union over a big bank, but I understand the desire for convenience.

― teeny (teeny), Friday, 20 August 2004 17:43 (twenty-one years ago)

MOVING SUX

― ())(())()()()(()(LASER)()()()LA(Z)E(R)()()()((L)()()(A)(S(E)R()()()) (ex machina, Friday, 20 August 2004 18:00 (twenty-one years ago)

everything about moving is the worst thing, pretty much. there's a feeling of excitement and liberation in deciding to pick up and go, but the actual process sucks.

― lauren (laurenp), Friday, 20 August 2004 18:10 (twenty-one years ago)

moving heavy furniture that hasn't been moved in years, and finding the consequent years of grit, dust bunnies, and crap that has accumulated behind it. also, having to look at everything you own, most of it worth trinkets, and realizing how much money you've wasted.

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 20 August 2004 18:23 (twenty-one years ago)

exactly

i was mortified when i moved the dressers because i expected to find at least $5 in change, but there were only pennies.

That's right, mortified.

I have about $16 to my name

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Friday, 20 August 2004 18:39 (twenty-one years ago)

when the lorry you've rented only takes diesel and is overheating, and it is raining, and your back has gone out a bit, and the signs from the police you put up saying DON'T PARK HERE have been ignored, and you've got far too many books, and then you get to your new flat and it hasn't been even cleaned, let alone painted, and the previous tenants had a dog and the smell won't come out of the carpet, and the rental company are a bunch of clowns, and it takes three days to clean and paint while you stay on a friend's couch.

― mookieproof (mookieproof), Friday, 20 August 2004 19:20 (twenty-one years ago)

moving sale tomorrow! oh Lord PLEASE let people buy this shit and take it away!

― Lt. Kingfish Del Pickles (Kingfish), Friday, 20 August 2004 19:41 (twenty-one years ago)

one month passes...

leaving it late to start packing. I only really need to take some books, my laptop and my clothes I guess.

― cºzen (Cozen), Sunday, 26 September 2004 15:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Label the boxes. With exactly what is in them, not just vague descriptions like 'kitchen stuff'. It only takes 20 secs and saves hours and hours.

I moved 6 weeks ago and I still have boxes in the hall that say 'cheesy novels, kite, wellies, tent, curry spices' om the label so I know I don't have to unpack them yet. Or, indeed, ever.

― badger Kitten (badger Kitten), Sunday, 26 September 2004 16:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Where are you going cozen?

― jel -- (jel), Sunday, 26 September 2004 16:31 (twenty-one years ago)

aberdeen, jel.

― cºzen (Cozen), Sunday, 26 September 2004 17:26 (twenty-one years ago)

The address you sent me, is that still good? I'm posting those komeit cds this week.

― jel -- (jel), Sunday, 26 September 2004 17:32 (twenty-one years ago)

yup tht address is fine, the cd'll find its way to me eventually.

― cºzen (Cozen), Sunday, 26 September 2004 17:38 (twenty-one years ago)

A while ago I helped one of my best friends to move house here in my hometown -- TWICE IN approx. ONE YEAR!

The first time it was from a second floor flat to a third floor flat
(yeh I helped to carry-heave-drag-&-wotnot, together with other three pals, all his stuff 'down' and then 'up')

The second time it was from that third-floor flat -- that had been his late parents' abode, so there was now much more stuff & things & wotnot to move away -- to a li'l one room flat.
That meant an entire day, from early morn til dark, of just heaving-dragging-carrying-&-wot(s)notting heavily...

Boy, my back starts aching from merely thinking about that.

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Monday, 27 September 2004 08:10 (twenty-one years ago)

I spent most of Saturday helping my mate Ems move. I feel pretty good, considering (lots of wine helped with the de-aching) but I've got all kinds of strange bruises in odd places. Oh dear!

― Danger Whore (kate), Monday, 27 September 2004 08:13 (twenty-one years ago)

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