Logistics of a 2300 Mile Move

As self centered as I can sometimes be, I have to say I'm a little disappointed. After spending almost 8 years in Louisville (holy crap has it really been that long!) I was really expecting to have made very close connections. I was expecting to have friends who upon hearing the news would start asking me questions.

When are you leaving?
Where will you live?
Do you have a job lined up?
How will you get your stuff there?
Do you need help?
WHEN CAN I COME VISIT?

If I'd heard my friend was moving quite literally across the country, I'd like to think I would be asking those questions. Aside from my sister and 1 or 2 people I honestly haven't known for very long, nobody really seems to be asking anything. That makes me sad because in my sensitivity and dramatics, it comes off as not caring. I mean, surely they don't have anything going on in their lives that could need more attention than my move right? *I'm being dramatic here, I know people have important things going on and probably don't want to stress me or themselves out worse than we already are. Work with me.

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I'm really into logistics which makes me assume I'd ask way too many questions about someone's impending move which would likely stress them to the max. Nonetheless, I love to make things happen, especially if they're things that shouldn't happen or at least shouldn't happen easily. So for those of you who can appreciate logistics and tiny details, here's an outline of the way we are hoping going to make this 2,300 mile (or 2,317...but who's counting) move happen.

What Needs to Move?

Ah, the purging process. Every time we move, and I'm using a collective we in hopes you do this too, the first thing we think of is getting rid of all of our unnecessary clutter. Luckily for us, I attempt to declutter regularly and before our last move 2 ish years ago we trashed a TON of stuff.

In a short distance move like our last one (6.8 miles...but again, who's counting?) you can pretty much load all your stuff in a car/truck/van and drive back and forth until you've moved it all. If you have a few extra boxes, no big deal. I've never facilitated a long haul before other than that time I moved to Texas but luckily my mom has moved us to 3 states throughout my life and had some words of wisdom. Here are some things to keep in mind as you prepare for a big move:

• You have to pay to move things. If the cost of the item is less than the cost to move it, it may not be worth it.
• Sentimental items also have value and the cost ratio changes significantly when it comes to these things.
• In a year or two, will you probably be buying this item again? Leave it. If you know you want to buy a new couch or kitchen table in the near future, sell what you've got and buy a new one when you get to your destination. You'll save the cost of shipping big furniture and you get new stuff. Win.
• How flexible are you? If you're moving on a budget, you'll need to get yogi with it and become as flexible as possible. Can you leave your bed and use an air mattress for a couple of weeks? How comfortable are you towing a trailer behind your car to save money on movers? Stretch it out.

In our case, we don't have a lot of things that need to move. I don't love our furniture, aside from my mattress and as luck would have it, a local organization called Cedar Lake sent a post card saying they'll have a truck in our neighborhood that will pick up donations. Hello, perfect timing! We've bagged up about 6 bags of clothes and are now boxing up things like printers (why do we have so many?), dishes (ditto) and linens (extra towels, blankets etc.). We will need to make a call on some of our furniture but I'm seeing the coffee and end tables, dining room set and extra desk heading to a nice new home. This is how things are divided as of now:

To Take

• Ourselves (duh)
• Our pets...all 3 of them (triple duh)
• Both cars
• Spring/Summer Clothes
• A set of dishware and silverware
• A set of linens
• Sentimental stuff (photos, journals, books)
• Some small kitchen appliances
• Bikes (what kind of Portlanders would we be without bikes?)

To Leave aka Donate

• Above mentioned furniture
• Fall/Winter Clothes
• Some books
• Treadmill (possibly sell since it's brand new)
• Dressers/Nightstand
• Washer/Dryer

Undecided

• Couch/Chair
• Bed
• Microwave (depends on whether or not our new place has one)
• Probably some other things I'm forgetting

It helps to move when you are still young enough to only have discount furniture you purchased from American Freight, Big Lots or stuff you found because it's much easier to say so long to it. Plus cheap stuff is lighter.

I'll be back soon to chat about HOW you actually get the things you decide to take to the new location but you'll need to give me a chance to actually figure that out first ;)