Moving Day: 1 of 159

If you've ever lent me anything and you'd like to see it back, you should probably ask for it now. I've started packing for our big move in June. I know, who packs this far in advance, right? Well, given the convergence of events happening between February and June, I decided slow and steady was the best approach. I'll be doing a lot of writing, becoming the feral creature I knew I always would. I've got a semester to prepare for, though I am hoping to do minimal preparation given that it's my last semester and I'm teaching the Pop Culture class, which won't change from last semeter. I am also putting together applications for teaching gigs, which is a lot of work for probably very little reward, but at least I'll be getting my name out there.

The next couple of weeks of vacation will be dissertation heavy, but I will be packing a little bit each day. Mostly books. I started packing up kitchen things that I can live without, and today was about deciding which books will make the cut. I have reduced my necessary-have-to-have-around books to one Billy bookshelf. One shelf! Our goal during this vacation time was to do all the culling. We've gone through closets and separated out the things we want to sell or donate. That way, when crunch time happens, we can shove things in boxes without wondering whether or not they are important. At some point during moving, you just start randomly throwing things in boxes and tossing out stuff just because it doesn't fit.

I hate packing. I hate moving! The last time we did this was a July 4th weekend four years ago. The first weekend where temperatures got to 100 degrees and neither apartment had air conditioning. Nobody was available to help us move, so we basically had to do it ourselves. We had no money, but we rented a small U-Haul truck and filled it three times. Our landlord couldn't get the previous tenant out as quickly as he wanted, so the carpet was still wet from the cleaning service, and the caulking in the tub was not yet dry. But we were in. We used a bucket filled with ice and water to soak our feet and keep cool, and my dear future husband went out and got us Taco Bell tacos. We vowed then and there that we would never move without movers again. We, it had been decided, were "too old for this shit."

Yeah well, times change. Bank accounts dwindle. Basically, we're planning this move on a shoe string budget. We plan on selling a lot of stuff, mostly furniture. Any money we make from those little craigslist sales will go toward our cross-country trip. A trip of Motel 6s across this great land, because they take pets and we'll have both an angry kitty and a happy, but stir-crazy dog. We hope to rent a couple of those pods that you pack yourself and then they get picked up and shipped to your destination. Hopefully, we'll have friends and family in Philly who can help us unload!

Any tips for long distance moves would be nice. How did you go about getting jobs? What kind of moving service did you use? How many miles were you able to drive each day? Comment here, or email me!