h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Wait, no it isn't .

If you're not up to date on our plans, the kids and I are still with Mom until James can find a place for us. Thing is, Mom just bought a house (20 miles into the middle of nowhere in northern Idaho ) so in effect we're having ot move twice in one month. Good times .

But it's fun to come across crap you forgot you had.

Making something to eat was fun, since mom selectively moved some of the kitchen contents. The only proper sized mug I could find was a horrible musical thing, which James had taped over and put the word 'No' on because people kept inadvertently pulling out and being horrified by the tinny, happy music. Why mom hasn't trashed it is beyond me. But yeah, I'm reduced to drinking my hot beverage out of an oversized awkward mug that reads 'Jesus is the Reason for the Season.'

Tomorrow afternoon is most likely the last day I'll have nifty cable internet. I'll most likely be back online on Monday, but on dial-up so at really odd hours . Oh well, if things go nicely, it should be that long.

Oh man, I so *want* one of those mugs. I could add it to my collection or trash from round the world...

Last time I moved, I ended up eating nothing but chocolate for two days, because I couldn't find *any* kitchen stuff and the local takeaway places were all shut for some strange reason. Nothing against chocolate, mind, but it's not exactly a balanced diet...

Good luck!

Last time I moved I just carried everything across the hall - don't think I even packed one box (moved the dishes, pot & pans, etc over in my laundry basket). Oh wait, you probably don't want to hear this . . .

Moving is hell! I just got lucky that one time.

az

Nyss, can't you use this as a practice run? Chuck out as much stuff as you can the first time, then again the second time, and you'll have enough to fit in one suitcase.

At least try not to unpack anything after the first move.

Here's a few rules I laid down for my mother a few weeks ago, when I was trying to get her to clean out one of the three sheds at her place:

If in doubt - throw it out.

If you're not sure what the thing is - throw it out.

If it looks even a bit dodgy and defective - throw it out.

If you haven't used it in more than a decade and you haven't missed it - throw it out.(Exceptions apply for items of sentimental value.)

Follow that lot, and you should end up with a nice manageable heap of things that are worth keeping. That's the theory, anyway.

Ivan.

If you have the time to really go through everything, there's a tried and true way to do this:

Go through stuff with 3 boxes at your side, labeled Keep, Give Away and Trash. Obviously it's going to take more than 3 boxes to go through all your stuff, but do this with just those 3 at a time - it'll be more manageable that way. (You can line the Trash and Give Away boxes with a trash bag, since you know you're getting rid of the stuff in those anyway, and you can just pull the bag out as it gets full. So you don't lose your box of trash bags in the sorting shuffle, stick the rest of the box of bags in the bottoms of the boxes - *under* the bag you're going to fill. That way when you pull out a full bag, there will be a new one right were you need it.)

Deciding which box it goes in shouldn't be too difficult.

~If it's something you really need, it goes in Keep. (Although if you don't even like it, do you really want to move it across an ocean? If you can possibly afford it, wouldn't you rather just get a new one you really *do* like after you move?) If it makes you happy, makes you smile when you look at it, it goes in Keep.

The Keep box stuff may need to be further sorted for packing (or more specifically for logical unpacking when you arrive at your destination), but at least you've decided which stuff you really want to keep and take with you.

~If it's still in *very* good condition, but you don't *really* need it, don't *really* want it, or it doesn't make you smile, it goes in Give Away. If it's something you haven't used in the past 6 months (sorry, Ivan, a decade leaves far too much stuff) and don't expect to use in the next 6 months, it goes in Give Away. A year ought to be enough time to know if you actually use something or if it's just taking up space in your home and your life. If it's something that was a gift and you feel bad getting rid of it, you need to understand that you're under no obligation to keep *anything* that doesn't make you happy, no matter what it is or who gave it to you.

The Give Away box stuff goes straight to Goodwill or another local charity that accepts used items in good condition. As soon as that box is full, you can pull the bag out, tie it off and stick it in the trunk of the car to drop off at their collection center next time you're out. If you have enough stuff to give away, you might even be able to get them to come pick up all that stuff and save yourself a trip.

~If it's junk, past it's prime for usefulness, broken, torn, or in some other way not nearly perfect condition into the trash it goes.

The trash box is easy - as soon as it's full, you can toss it in the dumpster, or drag it to the curb or whatever you do to dispose of trash where you live.

Another thing you want to do is to limit how long you work on this at a time, so you don't suffer burn-out and become unable to make good decisions about what to do with the stuff. Set a kitchen timer for 15 minutes, work as fast as you can those 15 minutes, but when it goes off, go do something fun for 15 minutes to refresh you. Then set the timer again and work on sorting for 15 minutes, take a 15 minute break, etc. I know, it sounds like you're "wasting" a lot of valuable time with all those breaks, but it won't be nearly as draining this way and you'll accomplish a lot more in the course of a day than you would if you just worked straight through for a few hours with no real breaks. You'll be a lot less worn out too, because all those breaks really are refreshing.



I've moved often enough over the years that I have it down to a science. ( well, sort of...) The things you'll need as soon as you arrive, like the most needed kitchen items (basic dishes, basic pots and pans - the things you use every day) should be packed separately from everything else and the box should be clearly marked with the contents and directions to open that one first. I always tried to move all this stuff myself even if we had a moving company, so I used kitchen towels to pad the breakables. Wrap each glass or mug in a towel, stuffing the excess down inside the item. You'll need a layer of towel between every plate or bowl, with at least one more layer of towel around the outside of a stack of like-sized items. When I ran out of the kitchen towels, , I started using bath towels, wash cloths, and hand towels to pad kitchen items (since I always needed bath towels immediately upon arrival too).(If only DNA knew how useful towels were for moving! )

I've never had anything break when I wrapped it this way, but then the stuff that I packed wasn't being moved professionally, and I certainly wasn't moving internationally, so you may not be able to do it this way at all. If a glass item wrapped in a bath towel shatters in transit, you may not want to risk ever using that bath towel again. On the few occasions when we were moved professionally though, there were items that broke, but I personally think it was because the paper that the pros wrap everything in just doesn't pad as well as a towel does.

If you have the pros pack all your stuff for moving, you should know that they will pack *everything* that's not nailed down (including your trash if you haven't emptied the trash cans before they start packing! ). They're good at making efficient use of box space ( except for the reams of packing paper they go through), but in order to pack "efficiently", they totally ignore all logic for which items should be placed together.

I tried to circumvent this one time by gathering up all the decorative knick knacks in the house and putting them together on a table with a sign that said "pack the items on this table together in a box labeled Knick Knacks", and all the framed pictures, wall hangings and such stuff on a different table with a sign that said "pack these items together in a box labeled Pictures". The idea was that these were the things that I would open last, because they're the last things you need to make your new house a home.

Well... they didn't quite do what they were asked to do... They had two boxes with those labels on them, but when I opened them at our new home, the one box had a bunch of other random stuff on top of what was supposed to be in it (they had seriously overestimated the size box they needed), and the other box didn't have everything in it that was supposed to go in it, and the rest of the knick knacks were stuck in other random boxes. Some of those boxes had needed everyday items *under* the knick knacks, but I didn't know that - I thought I had just found another box of knick knacks that wasn't labeled! What a mess!!!

Remind me to steal that mug for you before I go, sharky

Chocolate for 2 days? I did have the foresight to buy a good supply of Luna Bars. *is feeding herself lazy meal replacement atm, actually* I also finally drug my depressed ass to the post office to get my amended passport . *refrains from going into tirade over how they didn't bother using the 15 dollar express mailer I sent with it with my address printed on it for them and everything * But yeah..it seems that next Wednesday I will be able to file for Visas!

Hmm..I have been a little lazy. Also, I had crap spread out in 2 towns, and everything is going to converge on my Mom's new garage . I did sort through clothes, but I need to do a much better job, because I still have bags and bags and bags of it .

I like Ivan's and Lady's advice. You two should collaborate on a guide entry. I'm still tempted by the option of renting a garbage truck, chucking everything but the kids and their blankies in and watching everything be smashed up to hell, and walking through immigration at Heathrow naked and unencumbered. Ahhhhh...

Lovely as that image is it would probably end up being naked, unencumbered and arrested!

Good luck with the migration.
N

Well, there's that. And if I had all just in linen gowns or something we'd never make in on the plane in the first place. Wierdos with no baggage are very dangerous you know

The last time we moved was in 1996, and there are still boxes we haven't unpacked... I hate to move!
Also, we had to move all of Empty Sky's stuff here - it's in boxes in the hallway. Does any one want a job lot of LPs and a turntable and can pay freight on them? (Yeah, fat chance I know. But it doesn't hurt to ask...)

There *is* actually a market out there for old fashioned records in good condition.

There are record collectors shows locally - you might want to check online to see if there's one in your area. Or perhaps you could put the albums up for sale on Ebay.

Of course the rarer the record, the more it will be worth. Even something so minor as a misprinted label or jacket with one alternative photo on the back can increase the value. If you happen to have an original Beatles butcher block album (I don't remember what the actual title of that album was), it could be worth a small fortune.


... And of course they'll be needing something to *play* those records on too, so don't just toss out that old record player either!

Thanks for the advice... I really should do something about advertising them soon, and seriously! I have just had a hard time getting past all the other stuff..
There's some good stuff! (Mostly 'old' as you'd expect for LPs... Elvis, Neil Diamond and Bill Haley. Empty Sky liked '60s stuff, though he was a child then.)

They *do* need to be in good to mint condition to be worth anything, with at least the cover intact, preferably with the original paper (inner) sleeve also. Otherwise, you probably shouldn't waste the time to try to sell them unless you have some very rare editions in the collection.

They are all in good condition - (the ones that aren't, I am keeping for family reasons.)
There are some gems, from our point of view, anyway. No Stock, Aitken Waterman!

Hey lady! Try Real Groovy... I'm pretty sure there's one on Queen St. Probably a couple more somewhere in Aucks. If they don't want the LPs and records themselves they'll know who does.
Else try trademe.co.nz

Real Groovy - of course! How dim am I? There is one on Queen Street, and all... Thanks.