Moving

We have left our apartment in Brookline MA, and are now residing in Nashville TN. Seems like quite a change! I have a few thoughts on the process of moving.

I don't understand how some people can move every few years. It isn't easy. Perhaps they make it a point not to accumulate much stuff. A friend of mine recently left Boston for Ithaca NY. He just gave away all his furniture and left town with a suitcase. Not a bad system, but you are stuck with "bachelor furniture" then.

Professional moving is not cheap. It cost us about $5300 to have our two-bedroom apartment packed up, moved and unloaded. The only labor we had to do is the unpacking, which is still going on. There may also be uncertainty as to when your stuff will show up. They gave us a one-week window. The truck pulled up near the tail end of that. We slept in an empty apartment at both ends of our move. Overall though, I think that North American did a good job, at the going rate for the big-name movers.

There are a lot of details to deal with: address changes, shutting off and starting utilities, getting your car moved, finding daycare, etc. Most of these are not difficult, they just require organization and figuring things out. For example, what do you do with hazardous household materials like paint thinner? Unpacking is not easy either. We are going through boxes now, taking out what we need and storing the rest off site. Our new apartment has less storage space than the old. When we move again, I hope having some boxes pre-packed will make it easier.

In any event, I am happy to be down here! It is already feeling like home.