Sunday, July 11, 2010

Score!

I don't know if my neighbors are getting married or having a birthday or what, but there was this massive pile of packing paper and Crate and Barrel boxes and shopping bags outside their door this morning. Funny thing, I passed by the pile about five times while doing my laundry and thought nothing but "hey, that's quite a pile of recycling there." It wasn't until I did some more stuff on my list and thought that I should figure out how to pack my wine glasses that I actually put two and two together.

The good news is that they had cleaned up the pile and deposited it in the recycle bin by then, so I didn't get caught scavenging outside their door (um, hello!). The bad news is that they had cut and folded up some of the larger boxes. But I got two smaller ones and one ginormous one that they had filled with all the packing material! Yay! So I packed away my stir fry pan and some crap in one and the cookie sheets and other large things in the other, and wrapped lots of stuff in the squishy packing material, and in general got a lot packed away today. So, good.

Of course, packing kitchens is hard, since even the stuff you don't use much, you use --- do I pack the stewpot now when sweet corn on the cob is 3 for a dollar at the farmers market? --- and this means that I have even more boxes piled up in my living room and it looks worse and more cluttered instead of better, but I can't help that. Also, my cats like to lick the tape and chew on any little bits that stick up, which drives me nuts. So adding more boxes to the area where cats can destroy them is also annoying.

I'm also a wee tiny bit worried because there is still a lot of kitchen stuff to go. How many more boxes will I need? This will all fit in the storage pod, right? (It should, since I'll have practically no furniture, and what little I have will fit folded up flat against a side wall. But still, I'm good at worrying.)

Not much else is going on over here. Just chipping away at all the things I have to do. And speaking of, here is the list that I got crossed off today:
  • work on article revisions (I put in the time, don't ask about progress right now)
  • clean catbox
  • dishes
  • clean kitchen
  • scavenge free boxes (!)
  • contact friend for travel plans
  • take crap to Goodwill
  • need milk

Oh, while I'm thinking about packing-related things, tell me about moving spices and foodstuffs across country (we're talking rice, garbanzo beans, flour, not liquids). Could I send this in the storage cube? Or will the heat ruin everything? Could I take it with me in the car? Or should I just bestow it on all my remaining grad school friends? Please advise.

6 comments:

Belle said...

Use this as a reason to purge things - if the garbanzos have been on the shelf more than a month, leave them. How old are those spices? Under a year? Take them. Over? Gift them. Rice & flour are cheap - do you really need to save a couple of bucks but load yourself down with pack/transport/unpack? Spices will age with heat and lose their potency.

I went through stuff this year, and found kitchen stuff I haven't used in years (utensils, etc.). Yet I've moved it again and again. Gah. Give yourself a break - make a donation and save the hassle.

Once you get where you're going, zap me your amazon info. I want to give you a prezzie!

Fretful Porpentine said...

You will need WAY more boxes than you think you will. This is a Law of Nature.

Eh, I let all kinds of foodstuffs go in the moving van, including a big bottle of olive oil even though we weren't supposed to pack liquids, and it turned out fine. In retrospect, Belle is probably right and I'm too much of a hoarder, but I hate throwing things out.

Anonymous said...

"work on article revisions (I put in the time, don't ask about progress right now)"

Ugh. Can totally relate. There are good writing days and then there are writing days that just bite. It's like you work, but at the end of it you feel as though there's nothing to show for it.

But, of course, there is, because you put in the time. I believe this to be true. Progress, schmogress.

Great score, btw!

Inside the Philosophy Factory said...

The pod company probably has guidelines about this -- I know moving companies do. I'd follow them --

kermitthefrog said...

I heartily recommend liquor and bookstores for free boxes. And I sympathize: I found the kitchen in particular took way more boxes than I thought, because you don't want to pack heavy or delicate items in big boxes.

good luck with the rest of the packing!

Lucky Jane said...

Eek. This post sounds so familiar it's like déjà vu or fait or whatever.

For my two most recent moves, I did what Fretful did, though I wouldn't call it "hoarding." In fact, I just grated a bit of nutmeg into a pile of spinach from a nutmeg I bought at the co-op I shopped at two jobs and six years ago.

Prior to that first move, though, I threw a clean-out-the-fridge-and-cupboards party and let guests take my castoff furniture and forgotten kitchen utensils with them. Then again, my movers were charging by the pound, and, like you, I was looking forward to a fresh start in VAP city.

I second Kermit's rec on liquor stores as a great source for sturdy, uniformly sized boxes. (When you're done packing, take a picture of the boozy boxes.) Don't throw them away once you've reached Somewhere Else, either! Never mind the cathartic payoff. The gig is guaranteed for only one year. Virtually all the VAPs I knew at my first job had specified storage (usually near the water heater) for our broken-down boxes. Once you have to move again, all you need to buy is tape. Actually, the lot of us went in on a ridiculous multipack of tape when that time came. Good times.