21 Life Lessons You Learn From Moving
1. Your hoarding ways are never more evident than on moving day. The useless junk you refused to get rid of now has to be moved, and your bad habit comes full circle as you sort through all types of nonsense that should’ve been trashed long ago.
2. Even though you have so much stuff from over-saving, you also somehow manage to not own anything useful at all. You’ll be making trips to Target and Wal-Mart as you realize every 15 minutes that you need something new, whether it be a shower curtain, scissors or ketchup.
3. You know how when stuff comes up that needs resolving you say, I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it? Well, moving day you come to it. Past you wasn’t concerned about the flimsy dresser but now present you has to figure out how to transport a large, wobbly set of wood to your new home. You’ll wish you’d addressed these things before you switched addresses.
4. It’s basically a fact that any non-paid, professional movers who are helping you out whether it be lending their truck of lifting furniture, truly, deeply care for you.
5. Commitment issues rear their ugly head, especially when it comes to signing a new lease. 12 MONTHS?! I mean, can we take it slow or like, agree to a month by month type deal?
6. Normally you have the luxury of GPS and technology, but one of the tougher tests for your navigation skills comes when you must learn the different layouts of all the stores in your new neighborhood.
7. Cardboard box paper cuts are significantly more excruciating than the ones from a piece of loose leaf.
8. If you didn’t clean often in your old place, you’ll pay dearly on the final cleaning day – if you did, it pays dividends. A poorly maintained bathroom will require strenuous scrubbing, washing and TLC, whereas an upkept kitchen is a cakewalk.
9. No matter how good of a driver you think you are, driving and parking a U-Haul or any colossal moving truck for that matter, is quite the reality check.
10. Aside from lifting heavy things, the most difficult part of packing is trying not to stop every five seconds to look at old belongings that you hadn’t seen in a long while.
11. Hours can be dragged out over the span of months and the process of unpacking is the poster child for this type of procrastination and laziness.
12. Some things in life don’t mix well with spontaneity and if possible, a plan of attack is best. Moving is one of these things. Budgeting and knowing details of your situation in advance give you a ginormous advantage.
13. Elaborating on point #2 — buy a plunger immediately. Immediately. Don’t be the person who waits until the moment they need it to acquire one. If you’re standing in line looking irritable at the store, with nothing but a plunger in hand, the whole world knows about your crappy situation.
14. If you’ve moved to a completely new town, you discover really quickly what it feels like to be lonely. Stepping outside and knowing in advance that in all likelihood you’ll only see faces of strangers can be intimidating. Being unfamiliar with surroundings and having nobody to turn to is a situation we either thrive or shrink in.
15. Stuff is friggin’ expensive. Everything costs so much money, and it all adds up quickly when you’re shopping to be prepared for thousands of household scenarios within a day or two.
16. Someone lied. None of your neighbors will look like an actor/actress on the CW.
17. Rude or inconsiderate roommates will test your patience. Whether your patience fails or succeeds relies heavily on your threshold for annoyances, but this usually isn’t an open-book, pop quiz for your tolerance, it’s a final exam.
18. Everyone is a little germaphobic. Are these new toilet seats? Did the previous owner have sex on this carpet? And where did they wipe their boogers? Oh, God, can I douse this entire place in bleach?
19. First world problems are blatantly evident as we complain about things like having to go an entire day with no cable or internet.
20. You have to find new people for particular things. Maybe a barber/stylist, or perhaps a new “weed guy,” if that’s your thing. Whatever the case, we might find ourselves needing to replace members of our previous cast.
21. One of life’s most satisfying feelings takes place towards the end of the move in process, specifically when you take a step back and realize you can actually see your new, previously empty place starting to resemble the makings of a home.