BlogHer - Life - Comments

my sympathies

Mata H — Fri, 16 May 2008 22:43:47 -0500

After having looked for a year for the right house to buy, my heart goes out to you re moving. It sucks. To be more genteel, "it sucketh".

My best advice:

1. be ruthless when you pack. Give away a ton of stuff that you do not need to a charity. Get receipts for tax write-off.

2, find out if this move can qualify for tax write off. If so, log everything.

3. mark boxes for the room in which the contents belong. This sounds obvious, but in the heat of packing it can be neglected.

4. start a masterlist now of the "mechanicals of a move" - things like "cancel cable" "start new cable service" "do mail referral" "set up forwarding message for phone", etc. When you set up new phone and cable, ask for special deals. They will want new business and may have some deals they are not telling you right away.

5. Get you realtor to tel you things like -- when is the trash picked up? do they do bulk pickup? will they take your moving debris? do you have to divide recyclables?

6. Notify your credit cards/banks/creditors of address changes soon. It gets screwy if you depend on the post office to forward your bills. They can sometimes take their sweet time.

7. Don't pack the toolkit in some bx somewhere -- leave it out so you can find/use it easily.

8. If there is a way to paint walls that need painting BEFORE you arrive with stuff fr the rooms, do it -- much easier and faster that way.

9. Did you know that you can hire UHaul to load and unload your truck if you rent from them? You drive it, but they do the grunt work. I packed myself and hired movers, but I almost did the UHaul option.It seemed to be a good medium-solution between total self-move and total mover-move.

Have fun!

--Mata the mover

~~ Contributing Editor, Mata H. also blogs right along at Time's Fool

Try Target.

Asianmommy — Fri, 16 May 2008 21:30:01 -0500

I've found that Target seems to have lower prices on shelf items than the local grocery store. Whenever I head over there to buy household items, I also make sure to stock up on non-perishables in their food section.

Expensive

Laracolvin — Fri, 16 May 2008 20:41:46 -0500

I've found in our recent move to Chicago that the big city is by far MUCH more expensive than we ever imagined. Prepare yourself for the gas prices...I saw $4.35 a gallon for unleaded today! And the groceries...oy vey!

BUT - it really is a super duper cool place to live. Your kids will have so much to do during the summer, and there is public transportation everywhere. I live in the city (close to Evanston), and I'm always amazed at how much is going on all the time.

I hope you and the fam are very happy in your house. You are renting, right? We rent, too. Home ownership is highly overrated, I think! And good call on the fireplace! :)

Notions of Identity

The House Looks Very Nice

MSmith — Fri, 16 May 2008 19:40:55 -0500

Hi Denise,

The house looks very nice. I agree with Vered that often real estate agents are useless.

When I was looking for my house I took two friends with me and took notes on every house I saw. My friends kept the agent and the homeowners busy while I was able to get a good sense of if a house was right for me without distraction.

After two months and nearly forty houses, I finally walked into the one I'm sitting in right now, and the rest is history.

I hope you and your family will be very happy in your new home.

Megan
BlogHer Contributing Editor, TV/YouTube
Megan's Minute
Video Runway

Wow! Thanks so much :)

KateSavage — Fri, 16 May 2008 18:52:30 -0500

I do so love adventure - it's the best thing that's ever happened to me - and, after reading your blog, I see you do, too! I would just lovvvvvvv-vvvvv-vvvvvve to write a guide book. Kudos!

And, thanks again!!

Kate

All Over the Place

Wow! Thanks so much :)

KateSavage — Fri, 16 May 2008 18:49:39 -0500

I do so love adventure - it's the best thing that's ever happened to me - and, after reading your blog, I see you do, too! I would just lovvvvvvv-vvvvv-vvvvvve to write a guide book. Kudos!

And, thanks again!!

Kate

All Over the Place

Hallelujah!

Pam — Fri, 16 May 2008 18:06:50 -0500

Here's to the voice of adventure. Thank YOU for posting your crazy undertakings here. Keep going!

Nerd's Eye View

Yes, I would pick swimsuit shopping over house hunting

Vered — Fri, 16 May 2008 16:26:46 -0500

A week before the trip, there were still only two possible houses on the page created by the real estate agent... I was not happy so I got busy and found 12 more that suited our needs.

This does not surprise me. I often find that agents – travel agents, real estate agents etc. – are completely useless. Not all of them of course, but it seems to be a trend - do as little as possible for the highest commission possible.

I love the house. I like the floors, and the French doors to the patio, and the fireplace. Are you sure it’s tiny? There seem to be quite a few bedrooms there, which is great. Oh, and that laundry room is HUGE – totally makes sense to use it for more than laundry stuff.

Vered DeLeeuw
www.momgrind.com

Thanks for the links - Added them to my personal blog

amygeekgrl — Fri, 16 May 2008 12:55:40 -0500

Thank you all for posting the links to your Bloggers Unite posts. I added them to a post on my personal blog yesterday.

I finally got my own Bloggers Unite post up late last night: Women, children resort to eating dirt cookies in Haiti: Global Food Crisis

Amy
Crunchy Domestic Goddess
BlogHers Act contributing editor

Stories are universal

Maria Niles — Fri, 16 May 2008 12:24:53 -0500

Thank you for sharing your post, mashadutoit. I enjoyed reading it and I think you make a good point about the universality of stories.

And I love synchronicity - there are wonderful lessons to be learned if we are tuned into the messages around us.

ConsumerPop Marketing
PopConsumer (Politics, Current Events & Links)
Beyond Help (Music, TV & Pop Culture)

Thrift stores are the best.

Catherine Morgan — Fri, 16 May 2008 12:10:49 -0500

I love thrift stores...and when you can save money on clothes you have more money for food. :-)

I have a Bealls Outlet in my neighborhood, and everything in the store is 70% off all the time, and once or twice a month they take an additional 40% off. I've gotten shoes for $1 and $3s -- tops and pants for $5. If I wasn't able to buy these things at such a low price, I would just be doing without, and that would be fine.

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan at
catherine-morgan.com, The Political Voices of Women, Care2 Election Blog

Thanks Kalyn!

KateSavage — Fri, 16 May 2008 10:44:49 -0500

You know, I am new to Blog Her, and absolutely loving the interaction and feedback here. So, thanks for your comment! It's encouraging! I do recommend Buenos Aires, even if the food is a little bland :P

Synchronicity!

mashadutoit — Fri, 16 May 2008 10:02:34 -0500

I did a post about story telling just the other day. I also believe " the notion of often not knowing other people's stories and that we can develop and practice empathy by seeking to hear them"

In my post I suggest that that is the exact reason why we feel so attracted to stories - the need to experience the realities of others.

Great post!

Kalyn Denny — Fri, 16 May 2008 08:32:01 -0500

Really enjoyed reading this. It made me wish I could jump on a plane and go somewhere.

Kalyn Denny
Kalyn's Kitchen

mine's up

laurie — Thu, 15 May 2008 22:06:34 -0500

Nothing like the last minute.

It's kind of fuzzy on the details but it's more about a commitment to actually do something.

And examples.

With links, of course.

Here it is.

Laurie