Tuesday, August 01, 2006

I'm Out.

I have said goodbye to my beloved tiny apartment. The movers I used were great: All-Star Moving and Storage, based in Brooklyn. Under $700 for the move-out and putting the stuff in storage. When I moved in to my studio, I paid about $375, and I had less furniture, and there was not as much wrapping and special packing needed since I was going straight from one apartment to another, so I thought this was a very good price. The total included $120 per hour transportation time and loading time and a couple of extras: paper pads on the furniture and a plastic cover to put my futon in, but that was it-- none of that annoying crap where they ding you for every partially-used roll of tape.
I had a little dilemma over how much to tip the guys-- I bought them lots of drinks and bagels, and ended up giving the head guy $30 and the other two guys $20 each. According to a little googling on "how much to tip movers", which seems to be a popular question, this should have been considered acceptable. But one of my friends thought I should have made it more like $40/30, and the other one thought I should have given them $50 each. If the same guys end up moving me into my new place, I'll give them a little more.
My total for moving supplies was under $100. I bought 3 rolls of bubble wrap, a 4-pack of tape, and then on the very last day, I had to spend about $5 to buy two large boxes. Given that I packed about 51 boxes total, I'm glad I had recycled so many from work-- I saved myself at least $100!
If I ever lose my job, I think I might hire myself out as a packing specialist. I think I'm actually really good at it-- I must have that spatial recognition gene that gives you the power to instantly know whether one thing will fit inside another thing. I used extra towels and winter clothes to pad breakable items so I could use less bubble wrap-- you just have to be careful to pack tightly enough and wrap breakable items in something so if the worst happens, you won't have broken glass embedded in all your sweaters!
I found ways to fit almost all of my stuff in boxes-- movers hate it when you have random loose stuff. The only things that were not boxed were two cassette tape holders (I can't bear to get rid of my old mix tapes!), which I taped together, face to face. Then I had a little bookcase which was the perfect size to hold my speakers. I wrapped them in bubble wrap, put them inside the bookcase, filled the gaps with two pairs of jeans, then put a little bubble wrap around the outside of the bookcase. This didn't quite cover everything, so I ended up wrapping the bookcase in saran wrap so I could safely put a lot of tape around it! I also saran wrapped my laundry hamper, in which I had packed some rugs and lamps. It turned out I could have been less cautious-- the movers ended up sticking these things in one of those big wardrobe boxes anyway.
Here's the stuff I ended up keeping with me:


Some of the boxes hold cleaning supplies and extra stuff I might not need. Those will be stored with family until I need them, along with some clothes for cooler weather from one of the suitcases. I kept feeling like I somehow had too much, but it was a perfect car-load of stuff. It reminded me of when I went off to college. Actually, some of the dorm rooms I lived in were not that much smaller than my studio.
So now I enter some sort of odd nomadic phase of my life, I guess, if you can call bouncing from one end of Park Slope to the other nomadic. I'm staying with family for a few days, then moving into a sublet for a month, and then either back with family or into another sublet until I can get into my damn condo! It will all work out in the end, but I'll miss this little place...

8 comments:

Single Ma said...

Awww, coming to the end of any road is so sad, but what you have to look forward to is sooo exciting. I hope you have a smooth transition and try not to kill anyone in your family. LOL

re: your business idea. I'd hire you to pack if I ever move again. I hate it and my stuff always end up a mess.

Kira said...

I'd hire you too, I hate moving with a passion and I always end up with 90 gazillion boxes.

mapgirl said...

Good luck on the nomadic life for the next few weeks. I can't wait to see pictures of your new condo and how much bigger it's going to be. I am still pondering how you lived in such a tiny little space. :-)

Anonymous said...

Woo Hoo - Movin' on up! I know it is sad to leave a beloved rental, but I am so excited for the homeowner joy you have in front of you :)

. said...

Nice job on paring down what you'll be keeping for a month between condos.

Bitty said...

That IS a lovely space. Wood floors! A fireplace!

I look forward to the vicarious experiences I'll be having with you over the next months as you go from homeless to homeowner...

Anonymous said...

We used All Star movers before and loved 'em! They call the wardrobe box to put misc. stuff in a 'chowder box'.

We just had other movers pack for us, and all they used was newsprint and some special padded newsprint for the fragile stuff. I learned a lot watching them pack.

Anonymous said...

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can you guess who i am?