We are not on an episode of A&E Hoarders

How do people live like this?

Moving is stressful. Get up early, breakdown and pack up the last few things (like the bed), call the cops on the landlord while watching him cuss out a kitten, vote to raise taxes on the new house, and mow the lawn that had been ignored since we were under contract. Then we get to the part where we actually move things.

It didn’t seem like there was much to move. I lived in a 300 square foot apartment and Carrie was in a 150 square foot apartment and neither of us had much stuff. Plus, our house is almost 900 square feet. We should have plenty of space. However, I didn’t take into account Carrie’s storage unit.

We had four stops and we tried to be as strategic as possible. Since Carrie had class that day, we wanted to start with her stuff. We met the movers very early at Carrie’s storage unit. That went pretty smoothly with only minor (but repairable) trauma. Then we passed our new house to clear out Carrie’s apartment. After the incident with the landlord that morning, clearing out the apartments was more of an extraction than a move. Getting out of there as quickly as possible, by that point the truck was half filled.

My lease had ended a couple weeks before so all of my stuff was stored in my parents’ garage. Even with leaving a several large items behind (I lost the battle on keeping the couches) the truck was absolutely packed. Before the day started, I thought we might even swing by my grandparents’ house to grab a few boxes of china I left up there, but it was clear that would be a project for another day.

Unloading became a game of Tetris. Where can we put what, and how high will it stack? Anything that had “books” or “records” on it went into the basement, beds went into the bedrooms, furniture into the living room, and all other boxes started getting stacked in the dining area. As the place started to fill up we just started putting things where we could.

Even with the organization, it was overwhelming. It was difficult to know where to begin. I have included some photos from right after the movers left to give an idea of what we faced.