Jun 13 2008
Moving Tips for Brillig!
Hi, I’m Jen of a2eatwrite. I’m a long fan of Brillig’s, and despite the fact that I have many years on her, I wish I could be her when I grow up.
For my guest post today, I thought I’d come up with some moving tips for Brillig:
I have moved many times in my life. I’m not sure I’ve moved as many times as Brillig has. If you read her “About Brillig” section, you’ll see that not only has she moved many times, but she’s moved to and from all kinds of interesting places.
Nevertheless, I’m seeing fit to give Brillig moving tips because obviously she really needs to hear this from me, a much less experienced mover.
Be that as it may, I really have moved a number of times, and I can prove it from my mortgage application. In said application (completed two moves ago), I was asked to list all places of residence for the previous seven years.
I listed ten.
For each of these places, I had a system down. Do it all myself, and what I couldn’t do myself, I bribed big, burly friends to do. I’ve found that pizza and beer is a good bribe when you want household stuff done. There’s a current commercial by McFastFood’s that says that Sweet Tea is the proper bribe. Not. So. Beer, pizza or diamonds. Trust me on that one.
By the time I married D., I could fit all my worldly goods, including furniture, into the back of a Dodge Omni. For those of you who don’t remember this gem of engineering, it was a VW Rabbit knock-off. For those who don’t remember the Rabbit… think Golf, only smaller. In terms of “furniture” this included a futon frame and said futon, folding chairs and card table, and various knicknacks to make it all pretty. I usually bought a couple of other things at used places and then sold them back to used places when I moved.
Then, as I said, I married D. D never met an object he didn’t think he could eventually find a use for. D’s parents had about 1500 square feet of basement filled with glass jars, stacks of newspaper, scrap metal, etc., etc., in case it “came in handy.” My in-laws are the most wonderful folks in the world, but they survived the Depression and are Yankees from Vermont.
‘Nuff said.
So by the time D and I were ready for our first move together, I knew the Omni wasn’t going to figure into it. Maybe for the contents of his desk drawers, but no more than that.
Now, I should also mention that D had a bad back in those days, and couldn’t really lift heavy objects. (And all of his objects were heavy, because “useful” objects always seem to be). I also had background as a theater technician and had spent many, many hours loading and unloading trucks and carrying objects that seemed to be three times my weight or more. So guess who was in charge of moving?
And yup, the pizza and beer trick worked again, too.
Our move across country, however, was into yet another apartment. This apartment served us very well until I was about 7 months pregnant and decided that going down three flights of stairs and through two locked doors every time I wanted to do laundry would be a bit much. Especially while carrying said laundry AND the baby. So as pregnant women can sometimes do, I convinced harangued, threatened and pleaded shamelessly D that maybe this would be a good time to buy our first house.
Then my OB stepped in. Lift things? Moi? BAD idea. She wanted it all done for me.
Voila.
Now I knew the secret to moving. So I sat there, eating pizza (no beer for the pregnant lady, obviously), while various friends (and D, whose back miraculously healed upon learning I was pregnant) lifted and grunted and placed things, and I sat like a princess.
Brillig, Dear, I know you have your hands full and probably don’t need any pitter patters of more feet just at this moment, but think… just think… about packing a pillow. After all, Mr. Brillig hasn’t seen you for awhile, right?
Just sayin…
Hello Jen!
I didn’t get the cute pillow reference at the end. Guess I’m kinda lost.
Once I heard a man on a radio talking about stupid stuff people safe “just in case.” He said his mother has a box marked, “String Too Short To Use.”
I’ve moved a LOT. In fact, in the three years my boyfriend has knowns me, I’ve moved ten times. I was 45 when we met. So before that… yeah… lots.
The key definitely is to let other more capable people do the bulk of the “moving.” You must do the unpacking and deciding where everything goes. Not to mention the job of cleaning up the “clean” place you’re moving into, because it’s not usually QUITE right. And lining of shelves.
Truly, a woman has plenty to do in a new place. She doesn’t need to be doing all that moving, too. Men do need to feel important!
Also, a moving company is INVALUABLE and not too expensive.
There. My fourteen cents worth.
Fun post. You’re clearly very gifted at meeting big, burly men wherever you go.
p.s. Love “Mr. Brillig”. That pillow would be a hilarious Father’s Day surprise. Or Not.
Okay, that cracked me up so hugely! Especially as I moved four times in a year and was pregnant/nursing a newborn during the entirety of it. Easiest moves ever!
Hahaha. You are hilarious.
You realize that just by suggesting a baby, you might will Brillig pregnant right?? Hahaha TAKE IT BACK!!
Just kidding. This really is fun and I’m going to consider it strongly for my next move!
Enjoyed your tips Jen! Now I’m ready to move….LOL
Thanks, one and all! This was great fun to both write and to remember. I was feeling worried about what to write here and then this resurfaced. Good times!
Excellent strategy! Served me well on our move from Minnesota to Michigan!
Hey there! I couldn’t find Brill’s email address so I thought I would drop this here for the Soap Opera Sundays. Sorry, Iam in a rush. Going on Vacation in 15 minutes!
http://mommas-world.blogspot.com/2008/06/transitions.html
Next time I move, I’m taking Jen’s advice and find me some burly men who I can bribe with beer and pizza.
haha YES!!
That’s great you got to move but didnt have to do any of the work!! Awesome.. It’s true though, beer and Pizza will always get stuff done..
And if you’re Mormon, (as I believe Brillig is) and said burly guys (the elders quorum) are too you only have to buy pizza! Even better.
I’m so confused. Dang it. I put up a lengthy comment earlier today and it’s gone. I mean it never showed up. It showed when I did it and then it was gone. ??
Anyway, good to see y’all.
This brings back memories. I’ve moved 13 times in the last 12 years. An yes, Pizza is the king of all bribes!
hmm a good and humorous article, but why pizza why not macdonald’s hamburger as a bribe lol…anyways thanks for sharing with us.
I am home from vacation now…forgive me if my typing or wording is off. I came home today and have been awake for the past 32 hours.
I moved two years ago. I still cannot find all of my real silverware nor all of my photo albums (just figured out I am missing one).
I clearly marked each box with the name of the room it came out of (in red perm. marker) and the name of the room of the new house that it should go in (in blue perm. marker). Unfortunately, I only know English, Old Irish and a little bit of sign language. My moving company only had one person who spoke and read English and the rest of the crew had an advantage over me…they spoke and read Spanish. Only.
For this reason I wish I would have written numbers on the boxes. That way I would have noticed if a box was not accounted for before they left my house. Yes, it did take two weeks and two moving companies to move me but I am still going a bit stir crazy trying to figure out where my silver flat ware is and that missing album….and anything else I might have forgotten I had. If there were a gap in the numbers on the boxes I would have a clue what happened to them. If there were not the same number of boxes that would also have helped me immediately. It is important to number the boxes as they leave the front door. It is almost impossible to be at the front door when each box leaves but make sure to write on your moving contract that each box must be inspected by you before it is loaded on the truck. You do not need to look in the box but at least you can put a number on it!