Today is my 29th wedding anniversary. My family still lives in the house we bought when we got married, and this week has made me very grateful for that. You see, I’ve been helping my daughter pack up her apartment for a cross-country move and I’ve realized that moving is a lot of work!
Welcome to week 27 of The Sunday Spark, a series with weekly thoughts and highlights, nuggets of learning, and a sustainable living tip for the week. Read on to learn about IKEA disassembly instructions, packing vinyl records, more Plastic Free July swaps, and why I’m never moving.
The Sunday Spark – Week 27
On my mind this week: Why I’m never moving
I’m always puzzled when I hear of people who move frequently. It just seems like such a waste of time, energy, and money. My experience this week has confirmed what I’ve suspected my whole life: moving is a pain the butt!
Over the years, we thought about moving to a bigger house. I’d probably put the reason we didn’t move down to inertia, but staying put was the best choice for us, both financially and practically. Now that our daughters are young adults, we don’t need to downsize, and the money we saved from not buying and maintaining a bigger house has made our retirement fund a whole lot healthier.
The downside to not moving is our house contains a lifetime of clutter. That’s what led me to the 52-Week Decluttering Challenge in 2021. I’m planning a reboot of that challenge for 2024. But I digress…
Decisions, Decisions, Decisions
Laura’s move is simpler than most because she’s moving from a one-bedroom apartment into a furnished apartment. Even so, we still had to go through all her stuff and decide what to get rid of and what to ship. Shipping boxes across the country is expensive, so it required some tough decisions.
She has only lived in this apartment for a little over a year, and she got rid of a lot of stuff when she moved there from her college residence. Even so, there was a lot to do.
I’ve often heard that young people aren’t as attached to their stuff as us older generations. That’s true to some extent but they place a lot of value on their favourite things…and will pay any amount to ship them to the other side of the country.
She leaves in a week so it’s crunch time. We still have a lot to do.
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Three highlights of the week
It’s important to celebrate big milestones and simple pleasures in life. Keeping the trend going, here are three highlights and simple pleasures of the week gone by:
- Last weekend was Canada Day. Many neighbours in our area were letting off fireworks. It was a nice display.
- I spent the whole day with Laura on Monday. We did a lot of work, and I was exhausted, but I know my time with her is short, so I made the most of it.
- It was another productive week at work with very few meetings. My boss needs to take vacation more often!
Three things I learned this week
Between my day job, and packing for the move, I’ve had little time to read or learn anything this week.
IKEA now has disassembly instructions…if you can find them
One of the biggest challenges of this move has been figuring out what to do with my daughter’s IKEA storage bed. It’s a beast. She posted it on Marketplace with no success, so plan B is to move the bed to our house and put it in her old room here.
IKEA is great. For what it costs, their stuff is decent quality. However, a criticism of their furniture is that many people treat it as throwaway—definitely not good from a sustainability point of view.
I did some searching and learned IKEA does make disassembly instructions for their pieces, including the Brimnes bed that my daughter owns. (Source: House Beautiful) Sadly, I couldn’t find any such instructions on IKEA’s website.
By the time this post goes live, I hope we’ll have figured out a solution. If not, send help…or lots of wine!
Packing vinyl records is a delicate operation
Like me, Laura is a music lover. She has a prized collection of vinyl records. Packing those records to ship was the most delicate and time-consuming part of the move.
We carefully took each record out of its sleeve and put it in a protective sleeve. Then, we slid each outer album cover into a protective sleeve. We ended up with two boxes of records, but they weighed almost 40 pounds each. I was concerned the boxes were too heavy, which could increase the likelihood of them getting bumped or damaged during shipping. So, we decided to unpack them split them into three boxes—two boxes of records and one box of outer sleeves.
Along the way, we had to make two trips to the record store to pick up protective sleeves. Of course, I couldn’t resist picking up a couple of records while I was there.
I pray the records arrive safely! We’ll insure the boxes, but many of those albums would be difficult to replace.
There’s a reason I’ve lived in the same house for almost 30 years
Finally, as I said at the beginning, this week has made me realize moving is a lot of work. I can’t imagine the effort to pack our whole house for a move.
Many people consider moving as they approach retirement. Not me! I am staying put. Before I can even think about moving, I seriously need to reboot that decluttering challenge. Stay tuned…
Sustainable living tip: Plastic Free July – Week 2
Check my handy downloadable calendar for simple changes you can make this Plastic Free July. Here are seven items to consider for week two:
- Use a refillable coffee mug.
- Find a BYOC (bring your own container) store.
- Look for a restaurant with plastic-free takeout packaging. Pizza is always a good option.
- Buy some reusable produce bags.
- Ditch plastic wrap in favour of silicone lids.
- Switch to a bamboo toothbrush.
- Look for alternatives to plastic razor cartridges.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on any of this week’s topics. Drop me a comment below and let me know your thoughts and ideas.
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Moving across country is indeed a daunting task and expensive. After we did it I wished we had purged much more of those “valuables.” It is exciting. Best wishes to your daughter!
Thanks Judy! Luckily, her employer is giving her a moving allowance and she has been working hard to stay within budget. I think she might be a bit over, though. Those darn records. LOL
Sounds like it’s worth it to her.
Moving is hassle and that is why I have stayed here for twenty years. Good luck getting it sorted.
Thanks Jamie. The IKEA bed has been disassembled and is in our garage for the time being until we figure out what to do with it. She was able to sell the rest of her furniture and has most of the rest of her stuff packed and ready to move. It’s a lot of work! I will be going back later in the week and we’ll take all her boxes to UPS for shipping.
You have my full support when you say you don’t want to move. I moved four times in three different countries in ten years. When I think about it, I still feel exhausted 😩
That is a lot of moving, Cristiana! Yes, it’s exhausting. We leave for our vacation a week after Laura leaves for the west. I will be MORE than ready for a break by then.
Absolutely 👍
It’s a very wise decision not to move in a bigger house. When our son went to college we moved in a smaller apartment and don’t regret. But as regards to moving in the last ten years not only we changed apartment but also four countries. And it was always a pain in the neck!
Four countries…oh my! That’s a lot of moving.
Happy Anniversary. I hope those records get there safely.
I’ve lived in my house for nearly 20 years and can’t see us moving soon. I think we’ve saved a lot of money not moving. 😀
Thanks, Rachel! I will be holding my breath until I hear that the records have arrived safely. Yes, moving is very expensive. We’ve saved a lot by staying in the same house.
I’d love to see the decluttering challenge re-booted..I need to start that up again. Agree, moving is a huge undertaking!
Thanks. I will definitely need another round of decluttering because some of my daughter’s stuff is finding its way to my house!
I wish I’d taken more care with my old vinyl records. I still have a tub in storage, but many of them are scratched.
You know, if you got the hankering to move, you could pay for someone to pack and move you. We did it when we moved to southeast Texas but Dave’s new job paid to move us.
I can’t imagine spending 30+ years in the same place! I’m too much of a nomad and so is David. We have moved about ten times in our 38 yr marriage, but I love our new lifestyle now. I’m sure we will settle down again someday, and that’s why we kept a place to store what wouldn’t fit on the motor home or we sold.
Hi Kim, There’s a distinct difference in my vinyls when I compare the ones I had when I lived with my parents to the ones I bought later. My parents had a clunky, poor quality, stereo which took its toll.
If we ever did move, I would totally spend the money to pay movers. My husband is a home body so it’s unlikely we will ever move, though.
Mine is too! He exhibits the same behaviors as he did in our house, so that bums me out, but I’m hoping eventually we will do a lot more things together outside the motor home. It’s not even been a year yet. 😊
Hurrah that your daughter is also a music lover! May her move go well — with beloved records arriving intact. I agree about not moving. Why use/waste of all that time, money, fossil fuels, etc.? Our economy (at least in my lifetime) has not been built on gratitude for what one HAS but rather on aspiration for what one does NOT HAVE — those trendy new shoes… that new bag… that new suit… that new electronic device… that new car… that new house… sometimes even that new spouse! Please keep setting a more sane and sustainable example for the rest of us, Michelle!
Thanks Will. I will definitely be holding my breath until the records arrive.
I think so much of the stress in the world could be avoided if people learned to be happy with what they have. When we got married and bought our house, we bought a place that we knew we’d want to stay in for a while. When the girls were little, we thought about moving but never did. Now, I’m so glad we stayed put.
I feel really fortunate Michelle given that both my girls sort of silently did their own tossing and packing, even though I offered help over and over. My son has done that as well on his local moves. They clearly take after me, as I would have done exactly the same thing 😉 Not asking for help has its downside! Given our email conversation I wish you all the best in your adjustment phase but what an opportunity for your daughter, and eventually for you to seek out new pathways for yourself. I will just toss in a small understanding of the vinyl issues. Youngest left her collection with older sister 2 years ago, who then had to pack and transport 8 full boxes with their family to Colorado, but thankfully the original owner has been reunited with her dear albums once again 🙂
Thanks Deb. My daugher is on her own and doesn’t have a vehicle, so it would have been difficult for her to do this without help. As exhausted as I am, I have been enjoying spending this time with her before she leaves.
My mum asked me whether Laura could just leave her records with me. That was never an option. She’s taking them with her!
I understand the “spending time” POV as a mom. That was the reason I offered so much but I have come to realize that my girls may have found it harder for them in many ways, so I needed to simply let them be.
Love your thoughts about moving…I honestly think things propagate and grow during moves…more everything! And gosh, yes, I know so many couples who are empty-nesters and regret the expensive moves into big, big homes only to lose money in the downsizing process. Oh — and I’m crossing fingers for the vinyl records…so precious! Hope everything arrives safely. 😉
Ha ha. Yes, things definitely do multiply. I told my husband last night that if packing up Laura’s tiny apartment is so stressful, I can’t imaging packing our whole house to move. He made a good point, though, that this is so much more difficult because she’s moving across the country and has to be selective about what she ships and what she leaves behind.
I’ll be heading back to her place this afternoon for more packing. We’re running out of time.
Those darn records are keeping me up at night! I’ll be holding my breath until she lets me know they arrive safely.
Oh – I think your hubs is right. Harder for Laura because there’s some choice involved in the ‘what’. I get that. And about the vinly — we have a collection in our basement that should be better protected (they’re in old milk crates) and if anything ever happened to them…I think the hubs in this house would collapse in a heap. 😉
My vinyls were in boxes in the basement for years. We had some issues with water leakage a few years ago, so I rescued them and made room for them in the bookshelf in my office. There are so many memories in those albums. Laura has told me that’s the only thing she wants when I die (nice thought)!
LOL…I think I’ve heard a similar convo between our daughter and the hubster…good golly. But they’re precious, those vinyl treasures! 😎