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So I'm moving out of my parents' house. Yay, look at me, taking that final step into adulthood!
I'm renting a house with a few friends, and we finally chose one and signed everything and so the last week and a half has been stressful. Getting utilities set up (in my name, as the oldest person in the house, plus the one with the most money in the bank), doing the final walkthrough of the house, finding movers, and then the step that I'd honestly been dreading--
The great clean-up of my room.
I will admit that my room was a mess. And also that I had WAY too much Stuff. Days when I cleaned up were mostly just "scraping off the top layer," as it were, and those often involved my removing a couple of bags worth of trash. I decided, for this move, that I would get the Stuff I know I wanted to bring with, and otherwise I'd be giving away or throwing out a lot of other things. Mom offered to put a lot of my Stuff online to give away to local folks and so on.
While I've not gone through EVERYTHING, I've cleared out the furniture that needs to be moved. And there will probably be a few carloads of Stuff that will make the move later, so I can choose how to dispose of it later. And I've moved probably about 25 bags worth of trash from my room.
I am not proud of how the Stuff had gotten so messy, but it's very cathartic to be able to reduce it like that.
But other stresses cropped up to add to my woes.
Parking. Our house is in a small court with NO street parking. No yards either. The space between houses is filled up with shrubs and bushes. We will be filling our garage and our driveway with cars, suffice to say. So naturally, it was worrying when we started finding an unfamiliar car parked in our driveway while moving boxes over the weekend. This despite the sign our landlord put on our garage door saying that the driveway was "Parking for [Address] Guests **ONLY**"
I was busy packing/cleaning at home when it first happened, and I get a message from my friend Nami about this. I told her if it's that big an issue, call the tow truck. She didn't want to do that, but put up her own signs on the garage door as well, advising people "New residents living here now, please don't park here." The car was gone soon enough, but came back the next day, despite the signs. Again, I advised calling the tow truck, but it was gone before they could make the call.
When I arrived yesterday to start moving boxes of my own, I saw the stranger's car myself. I also spotted a piece of mail on the dashboard with the name and address of (presumably) the car's owner. I snapped a picture of it, noting that it belonged to our next-door neighbor. I let my friends know, but the car had been moved again shortly. We're presently hoping that the car's owner finally got the message that they can't use our driveway as convenient extra parking, but knowing they're next door means it shouldn't be too much of a stretch to ring their doorbell and ask them to move if it happens again.
Tom. Tom is a friend of ours that... well, let's just say he's had some issues becoming a responsible adult. He's had issues attending work-- which he inevitably tries to pass off as being due to some nebulous "illness"-- and can be prone to bone-idleness when it comes to trying to do things. He also has had serious issues with his spending habits, not helped by his parents, who would frequently pay for things he wanted but couldn't afford. These were all reasons I was against living with him for a long time.
Nami, however, has kept in touch with him throughout our various issues with him, and urged us to give him another chance. I agreed to do so, figuring that with all of us riding herd on him, he should keep in line and get to work consistently. (That he works in the same building as Nami helps.)
Even so, he did several big things recently that seriously stretched our patience with him. When we first found this house, Tom wanted to have the basement bedroom, as it was bigger than any of the bedrooms upstairs (master bedroom excepted), and agreed to pay extra for it, since he knew I'd claim it otherwise. Come the final walkthrough, I find out that he's also claimed a small office room in the basement (where his computer will go), which hadn't been part of the agreement, but fine, there's not much else we'd have used it for otherwise.
But he ALSO revealed that he was getting a second refrigerator and microwave, which he was going to keep down there as well. And this did NOT go over very well with us. But, whatever, as I was effectively going to be the head-of-household and in charge of collecting rent/utilities, I could set the rate he was paying accordingly. So, I drew up a "household contract" setting some rules for the house (clean up your mess, quiet hours, label your food) and the rent amounts/utilities rates everyone will be paying.
Saturday, I went by the house to collect the keys and then go make copies for everyone. I gave Nami and Sam their keys later that day, so they could start moving some of their things in, then went home to continue my packing. I see in our group messenger that Tom needed keys so he could start moving in some of his things. As I was at home with family (parents' anniversary), I couldn't easily come over, so Sam & Nami went over to let him borrow their keys... and then find out that Tom wasn't just bringing over a carload of boxes, but a full U-Haul truck. Forcing Sam & Nami to have to stay for a couple of hours while the truck got unloaded, as they did not want to leave without their keys.
I went by on Sunday morning to get Tom to sign the household contract, then gave him his keys... though I got there just as he was leaving to return the U-Haul, so he basically signed without reading it. I gave him his keys and went back home. Come back on Monday to start shifting more boxes of my stuff, and Tom's there, having spent the night, and I make sure he's on-task and clearing the HUGE amount of Stuff he's brought down to the basement. (Important because I have furniture coming in which will need that space.)
Across my multiple trips on Monday, Tom was clearly trying to do better. I think he realized that he'd antagonized us too much with his "me first" mentality and was trying to get back on our good side. So he's trying to improve, and I think once we're all living under the same roof, we should be able to keep him on-course.
Movers. Due to our disparate work schedules, it's pretty difficult for us to lend a hand to one another in packing-up and unloading. Complicating things is the fact that two of our number live well-outside our area (one is moving up from Richmond, the other down from Maryland). Also, Sam & Nami both have back problems, and can't help move big/heavy items. So, I resolved to hire a truck for myself.
However, finding professional movers on short notice (as in, less than three days) was the problem. Tom was advocating using an app to find local helpers with trucks and whatnot, but I wanted professionals, since they have insurance. It became clear that having movers on Monday wasn't going to happen, so I shifted it to Wednesday (tomorrow) instead. Finally got some movers and set things up.
Then I get a message last night. Brian, the guy up in Maryland, was bringing in a truck for HIS part of the move Wednesday afternoon, same time that my move was going to happen. Brian doesn't have a smart phone, so he wasn't part of our group-messenger chat, and didn't know what the plans were. Monday had been remarkably stress-free for me after the previous days, and then I got this news right before I was going to bed.
Brian assures us he can get his stuff unloaded in an hour, so here's hoping it won't screw up my move.
So, yeah, that was my weekend.
I'm renting a house with a few friends, and we finally chose one and signed everything and so the last week and a half has been stressful. Getting utilities set up (in my name, as the oldest person in the house, plus the one with the most money in the bank), doing the final walkthrough of the house, finding movers, and then the step that I'd honestly been dreading--
The great clean-up of my room.
I will admit that my room was a mess. And also that I had WAY too much Stuff. Days when I cleaned up were mostly just "scraping off the top layer," as it were, and those often involved my removing a couple of bags worth of trash. I decided, for this move, that I would get the Stuff I know I wanted to bring with, and otherwise I'd be giving away or throwing out a lot of other things. Mom offered to put a lot of my Stuff online to give away to local folks and so on.
While I've not gone through EVERYTHING, I've cleared out the furniture that needs to be moved. And there will probably be a few carloads of Stuff that will make the move later, so I can choose how to dispose of it later. And I've moved probably about 25 bags worth of trash from my room.
I am not proud of how the Stuff had gotten so messy, but it's very cathartic to be able to reduce it like that.
But other stresses cropped up to add to my woes.
Parking. Our house is in a small court with NO street parking. No yards either. The space between houses is filled up with shrubs and bushes. We will be filling our garage and our driveway with cars, suffice to say. So naturally, it was worrying when we started finding an unfamiliar car parked in our driveway while moving boxes over the weekend. This despite the sign our landlord put on our garage door saying that the driveway was "Parking for [Address] Guests **ONLY**"
I was busy packing/cleaning at home when it first happened, and I get a message from my friend Nami about this. I told her if it's that big an issue, call the tow truck. She didn't want to do that, but put up her own signs on the garage door as well, advising people "New residents living here now, please don't park here." The car was gone soon enough, but came back the next day, despite the signs. Again, I advised calling the tow truck, but it was gone before they could make the call.
When I arrived yesterday to start moving boxes of my own, I saw the stranger's car myself. I also spotted a piece of mail on the dashboard with the name and address of (presumably) the car's owner. I snapped a picture of it, noting that it belonged to our next-door neighbor. I let my friends know, but the car had been moved again shortly. We're presently hoping that the car's owner finally got the message that they can't use our driveway as convenient extra parking, but knowing they're next door means it shouldn't be too much of a stretch to ring their doorbell and ask them to move if it happens again.
Tom. Tom is a friend of ours that... well, let's just say he's had some issues becoming a responsible adult. He's had issues attending work-- which he inevitably tries to pass off as being due to some nebulous "illness"-- and can be prone to bone-idleness when it comes to trying to do things. He also has had serious issues with his spending habits, not helped by his parents, who would frequently pay for things he wanted but couldn't afford. These were all reasons I was against living with him for a long time.
Nami, however, has kept in touch with him throughout our various issues with him, and urged us to give him another chance. I agreed to do so, figuring that with all of us riding herd on him, he should keep in line and get to work consistently. (That he works in the same building as Nami helps.)
Even so, he did several big things recently that seriously stretched our patience with him. When we first found this house, Tom wanted to have the basement bedroom, as it was bigger than any of the bedrooms upstairs (master bedroom excepted), and agreed to pay extra for it, since he knew I'd claim it otherwise. Come the final walkthrough, I find out that he's also claimed a small office room in the basement (where his computer will go), which hadn't been part of the agreement, but fine, there's not much else we'd have used it for otherwise.
But he ALSO revealed that he was getting a second refrigerator and microwave, which he was going to keep down there as well. And this did NOT go over very well with us. But, whatever, as I was effectively going to be the head-of-household and in charge of collecting rent/utilities, I could set the rate he was paying accordingly. So, I drew up a "household contract" setting some rules for the house (clean up your mess, quiet hours, label your food) and the rent amounts/utilities rates everyone will be paying.
Saturday, I went by the house to collect the keys and then go make copies for everyone. I gave Nami and Sam their keys later that day, so they could start moving some of their things in, then went home to continue my packing. I see in our group messenger that Tom needed keys so he could start moving in some of his things. As I was at home with family (parents' anniversary), I couldn't easily come over, so Sam & Nami went over to let him borrow their keys... and then find out that Tom wasn't just bringing over a carload of boxes, but a full U-Haul truck. Forcing Sam & Nami to have to stay for a couple of hours while the truck got unloaded, as they did not want to leave without their keys.
I went by on Sunday morning to get Tom to sign the household contract, then gave him his keys... though I got there just as he was leaving to return the U-Haul, so he basically signed without reading it. I gave him his keys and went back home. Come back on Monday to start shifting more boxes of my stuff, and Tom's there, having spent the night, and I make sure he's on-task and clearing the HUGE amount of Stuff he's brought down to the basement. (Important because I have furniture coming in which will need that space.)
Across my multiple trips on Monday, Tom was clearly trying to do better. I think he realized that he'd antagonized us too much with his "me first" mentality and was trying to get back on our good side. So he's trying to improve, and I think once we're all living under the same roof, we should be able to keep him on-course.
Movers. Due to our disparate work schedules, it's pretty difficult for us to lend a hand to one another in packing-up and unloading. Complicating things is the fact that two of our number live well-outside our area (one is moving up from Richmond, the other down from Maryland). Also, Sam & Nami both have back problems, and can't help move big/heavy items. So, I resolved to hire a truck for myself.
However, finding professional movers on short notice (as in, less than three days) was the problem. Tom was advocating using an app to find local helpers with trucks and whatnot, but I wanted professionals, since they have insurance. It became clear that having movers on Monday wasn't going to happen, so I shifted it to Wednesday (tomorrow) instead. Finally got some movers and set things up.
Then I get a message last night. Brian, the guy up in Maryland, was bringing in a truck for HIS part of the move Wednesday afternoon, same time that my move was going to happen. Brian doesn't have a smart phone, so he wasn't part of our group-messenger chat, and didn't know what the plans were. Monday had been remarkably stress-free for me after the previous days, and then I got this news right before I was going to bed.
Brian assures us he can get his stuff unloaded in an hour, so here's hoping it won't screw up my move.
So, yeah, that was my weekend.
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