posted on April 26, 2005 08:39:25 PM new
A while back I was talking about all the stuff we have found in the house, while getting it ready for our move to Colorado. (So far we are up to 406 drinking glasses of every size and shape from jelly glasses to a whole set of Waterford!)
We have been rained out almost every weekend, but I think we are finally going to be able to sneak in a yard sale this Friday, Sat and Sunday. Wish us luck, we really need to clear this stuff outta here.
posted on April 26, 2005 08:52:19 PM new
Good luck to you! Moving to another state can be really hard on your energy levels. But. . . 406 glasses? How many kids do you HAVE?!
I'm reminded of something that happened to a woman I knew in another state who was the second wife of an M.D. specialist. His grown kids would come and visit for weeks at a time with no regard for the mess they were making.
One night my friend came home from work (she worked days in an office to get away from those grown children) and the house was utterly chaotic.
She went into the kitchen, picked up a dirty glass, and hurled it against the wall. Picked up another, and another, and another, then went for the dirty dishes. When she was through she left the house for two days.
I think of her sometimes. Not sure this story is appropriate here, but I just had to "share" it.
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posted on April 26, 2005 09:41:08 PM new
I've had some of those sales, 3 1000+ mile moves in the last 13 years. It's amazing how that crap builds up again. My last big move was in 2001, we sold and gave away so much, but it is ALL back and more!
posted on April 26, 2005 10:09:22 PM new
Ebayvet...I was in the moving business most of my life. I shouldn't let out this trade secret, but we roll out the red carpet for packrats like you
A $75.00 solid state device will always blow first to protect a 25 cent fuse ~ Murphy's Law
posted on April 27, 2005 06:19:35 AM new
Good Luck Louise and I hope you make a mint.
Roadsmith that is quite the story, but after awhile frustration sets in and she just let it go. I bet she felt better after that even if she had to clean up the mess.
posted on April 27, 2005 07:58:32 AM new
Louise good luck with your sale..... we moved to NH from Colorado in 2003 by such a long streach it was and is the hardest thing (save living through 2 teenagers) we have ever faced. Not the move so much as the loss of friends and the change in the "rythmn" of your life. Girl friends do I misssss my girl friends!!!!
I did a city wide garage sale in Boulder and 2 flea mkts in Denver AND donated a van full to my favorite thrift store. Stuff does build up BUT no missing socks were found!
posted on April 27, 2005 08:19:40 AM new
Libra: My friend did not clean up the mess, LOL. The rest of the family did, including those sloppy adult children.
Bjboswell: After living in Utah for 21 years, we decided to move near our cabin in the So. Calif. mountains 4 years ago. Friends have asked how we did, and I've told them you can make it IF you and your spouse or partner have a strong relationship. The first 6 months or so can be lonely, and you're thrown together with your spouse or family almost exclusively if you've moved somewhere where you don't know anyone. I missed my friends (still do, for some of them), but we've made new friends gradually.
The other thing, as we get older, is that we need to move when we still have the capacity to make new friends. That means we have to be able to get around AND we have to have no memory impairment. (Have to have a memory to make friends; what's their name, what's their story, how's their health and family, etc.) Big mistake we made was to move my mother from Arizona to Utah after she was demented enough not to be able to remember details about people.
All that said, the moving experience itself is horrendous, isn't it?! Books are easy to pack. Lampshades are a nightmare. Etc. I look back on the work we did 4 years ago and marvel that we had the stamina to do it.
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posted on April 27, 2005 09:15:08 AM new
Roadsmith - books are easy to pack but hauling the boxes are a pain!
Here's my special joy... packing the house of 2 potters, one of whom is also a photographer. Leaving three potters wheels and a kiln out of the equasion there is still a basement full of pieces that have to be sorted as to, what's to keep, what's to sell, what's to give to friends as gifts, what's to admit that the damn thing broke in the kiln so toss it and make a new one, and what still needs to be fired before it is packed. then there are 27 years of framed photographs in the storeroom that we are trying to convince the taker could be sold since they will not be hung again and he still has the original negatives.
Of course the other joy is the fact that this is just the pre-show pack. Everything that gets packed now goes into storage because this pack is just to prepare the house to show for sale... personally I think we should using the house showing as an opportunity to get rid of some of the photographs... we should just hang them all and attach price tags. Even if visitors don't buy the house, maybe they'll buy a few photos
~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~
If it's really "common" sense, why do so few people actually have it?
posted on April 27, 2005 01:46:27 PM new
Before you do the serious packing to move my advise to you is......
Only pack what is truely cherished and important. Then pack all other important household items you must need in the new house.
Get a storage unit and put all the good stuff in it and get it away from you while you deal with the rest of the stuff.
You'll realze how unimportant those 400+ glasses become or at least half of them.
Then watch 3-4 episodes of CLEAN SWEEP. It is enlightening, inspirational and LIBERATING.
In the last 6 years I have made 6 (yes 6) moves of 1,000 miles or more. Before the 5th move I was dealing with crates of stuff I thought was important but HADN'T EVEN OPENED IN THE PRIOR 3 MOVES.
So before the 5th move.......some of the long time "AuctionWatch" members may remember my thread with an open invitation to come to my house for FREE STUFF! some friend of a regular poster came by and scored a 20 inch color TV, varous shelving units, a coffee table, some lamps and whatever else he wanted. Then I had everyone from the restaurant I worked at the time come and get all of our small appliances, inexpensive kitchen items, clothes, trinkets and all of my beloved plants etc etc.
All the rest of the unimportant stuff got donated to the Goodwill.
If you are hiring PROFESSIONAL MOVERS remember they ship BY WEIGHT and from the many movers I have talked to over the years have an industry standard rated ending up as roughly 50 cents a pound.....
posted on April 27, 2005 02:28:04 PM new
Lovepotions: You said "Then watch 3-4 episodes of CLEAN SWEEP. It is enlightening, inspirational and LIBERATING."
AMEN to that! I've been pushing that show on everyone I know. When that fellow (I forget his name) leans over to the homeowner and reminds her that having a "precious family heirloom" stored in a box in the garage isn't honoring that family memory, I couldn't agree more. We moved here 4 years ago, and we still have 3 large boxes full of vintage paperback books my husband just couldn't let go of. Unopened since the move, of course. The other day he finally agreed that he's willing to let most of them go. It was a Major Breakthrough!
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posted on April 27, 2005 03:35:31 PM new
Thanks for all the good wishes. Looks like we're going to be rained out again this weekend. Can't wait to get to the sunshine.
We are going to use PODS to move the stuff. Once we fill it up, they haul it for us. A moving van is like $2.00 a pound, this time of year!!
There are so many glasses because there are all sorts of stemmed shapes and sizes, over 40 beer mugs from a party 30 years ago besides all the swanky swigs and things that were won at the church carnivals at the coin toss (real- real carnival glass LOL).
And being in NY they discovered termites today - just another hurdle.
posted on April 27, 2005 06:02:13 PM new
We're not moving anytime soon unfortunately. Our house is bulging at the seams with stuff. We have a 972 sq. ft house with about 2000 sq. ft of stuff. Bad thing is the majority of it is NOT mine. It's my fiances. He likes to collect--Hot Wheels, Die Cast Models, Plastic car models, Old GI Joe stuff, car magazines, car model magazines and too much more to mention. Our dining room looks like a hobby shop right now. We had to put his 54 Chevy truck in the garage and all the plastic models he had in the garage had to come in the house. We have a 1 car garage so we had no choice. I have my craft room/office and the rest of the house is pretty much his collectibles. I told him today he really needs to downsize. Not only do I not want to move all this when we do move but I am tired of feeling claustrophobic. He is such a pack rat and he is reliving his childhood.
I watch that Designed to Sell on HGTV and keep hinting to him that when we do go to sell our house it can't look like it does. Clean Sweep is a great one too but he would kill the hosts before he would let them get rid of any of his things.
posted on April 27, 2005 08:26:53 PM new
On the 5th move I had we did use the PODS but I don't remember the name of the company.
We had 2 of them. One half of one was devoted to my merchandise so between the 2 of us we had 1 1/2 pods to use.
So you are moving from NY to Colorado....
Insurance or not be prepared for some breakage.
Get unemotional because those pods are put on a flat bed truck with a fork lift and driven cross country........then a fork lift to a storage unit then back on the truck before delivery to your new home. Make sure the stuff you care about is packed well cuz its gonna be a bumpy ride.......
The cheap everyday glassware you got get rid of it...... you'll be happy to get all new cheap glassware for your new home. We all have cheap everyday glassware lol I get a brand new set every time I move.
The 2 dozen heavy glass jar candles you got at wal-mart for $5 each get rid of them. Don't try to argue that you don't have any cheap jar candles CUZ WE ALL DO! lol
I never liked boxes so I have over 30 of those folding lid plastic crates. Uniform size and they stack and carry easily.
posted on April 27, 2005 08:33:01 PM new
Meowmix: Designed to Sell is the other really good home show I tend to watch on TV. Wish I'd been familiar with it when we listed our house 4 years ago. What I know now would have helped jack up the price a bit.
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posted on April 27, 2005 08:58:25 PM new
Lovepotions...When properly loaded, the lift vans are as safe as an air ride van. This is the standard method moving companies use on international moves. I've shipped over a million pounds of household goods in them and the damage rate is no more than blanket wrap van service. The one thing you want to watch out for is water. Make sure there is no water left in the steam iron or the washing machine. Dry out the refrigerator a couple days before loading and pay special attention to the icemaker. One teaspoon of water and 1 mildew spore inside one of those containers can cause you to lose all your clothing and upholstered furniture if it's warm weather. The period before school lets out is the slowest time in the moving industry. It's worth considering hiring a couple of professionals on their days off to load them for you. If you move during the summer, though, anyone who knows how to properly load them will be too busy working 60 hour weeks to help you out.
A $75.00 solid state device will always blow first to protect a 25 cent fuse ~ Murphy's Law
posted on April 27, 2005 10:28:29 PM new
Herbs, Fenix's suggestion about having items priced while showing the house is a good one. I did it on my last 2 moves and sold some of my large antique pieces, bookshelves, etc for good money to people who looked at the house.
I probably could not have received 50% of the sale price at a yard sale.
Also, the new buyers on both houses bought many of my things without haggling. It was great not to have to move them or worry about selling them.
Do give it a try. The house shoppers feel like they are getting the real treasures before the yard sale. Also, if they want to haggle, you can just tell them you will sell it in the yard sale,they will buy it really quickly.
[ edited by LtRay on Apr 27, 2005 10:29 PM ]
posted on April 28, 2005 05:40:18 AM new
What a great idea about pricing stuff while we are selling the house. Unfortunately it has been sold for a month already, so it is too late for us.
What a nightmare selling a house here too. I sold RE in NM for many ears and it was nothing like this complicated, attorney driven mess. The gray hair I have has doubled in the last month from the hassle of dealing with attorneys including ours. ANd to make matter worse the buyer is one too. HE is the reason there are lawyer jokes.
The CO house buying is gong so smoothly Thanks God.
posted on April 28, 2005 06:36:44 AM new
HERB VERY IMPORTANT!!!!(GOOGLE ABF...ITS CALLED U-PACK) Check out ABF American Bulk Frieght. If you travel the highways you see their trucks. The deal is you pack your stuff and their truck. They bring it to you and park it. They drive the truck to your destination. We used them. I called and received rates from EVERY mode of transport between Denver and northern New Hampshire.The rate from all the big co.s was in the neighborhood of $9000 to $12000. ABF cost us $5000. They have bulk heads so if you need 1 full truck and 20ft thats what you pay for. We had friends help us load the truck and I paid a crew to help unload into storage an addition $500. BUT that is still lots less than United and all of the movers. Do take the advise of really using the experience to heave the unnecessary bulk in your life. I still have boxes that are unpacked. I know it is stuff I love but I haven't seen it in 3 years do I REALLY love and need it??? ABF was terrific polite and professional... I would use them again in a heart beat! Good luck.... where are you headed in Colorado?
posted on April 28, 2005 07:54:02 AM new
We bought a house in Colorado Springs 2 miles from my son and 7 month old grandson.
Thanks for the ABF idea, I will definately persue it. Loading here is not a problem unloading in CO could be. We were going to use a moving company for the furniture and PODS for the boxes. But this puts a new twist on that.
Louise
[ edited by HerbsCraftsGifts on Apr 28, 2005 08:00 AM ]
posted on April 28, 2005 11:25:18 AM new
Boy is that the truth. This guy made us wait 2 1/2 hours before he came to sign the contract. Then the cashiers check he brought was printed uside down and was valueless.
Every day that passes and we get closer to closing I thank my lucky stars. But sure as I am sitting in this chair, I know he will pull other stunts that we will have to either tolerate or else void the contract, and he knows we aren't going to do that.
