The Slowest Way to Move

You know those folks who pay movers to not only move their stuff to a new location, but also to pack their stuff?  I can't imagine the cost associated with something like that, but sometimes I sure wish we were going that route.

But of course we're not.

When you combine a cheap guy like Dave with the daughter of the Frugal Levie family, you always move the same way: by your own sweat, little-by-little, and cheaply.

Heaven help us if we didn't have a trailer and a minivan.  That's right: we're moving a load at a time each weekend.

It might not seem like a lot, but having done this for a few weekends straight we're really making a dent in the house's contents.  (But trust me, most weekends it doesn't seem like we're making any progress at all!)

I'm still dreading the garage though--not only do we have a lot of stuff in there, but we also lack a garage at the Coast House in which to put all of it.  Dave still needs to get a garage door installed on the carport and weather-proof the other openings before we can even think about packing and moving the workshop. Oy.  OY I SAY!

We have only 20 purchased moving boxes (size medium, from Home Depot) plus random boxes from Costco.  The majority of the things are packed into Rubbermaid totes that I pack up each weekend and Dave unloads each week so we can reuse them endlessly.  I'm SURE Dave isn't putting things in quite the right places (if anywhere but on the floor in the upstairs living room...) so I'll be making a trip up there in May sometime to put things away properly.  Otherwise I'll go completely insane walking into a disaster zone of my own belongings come summer when we're permanently there.

Here are some progress pictures:

Office before. Well, sorta before. Once the bathroom renovation started across the hall, this room became a staging area for the cement board and random things.

Office now. The futon belongs to Edward and I'll be taking it to him next week when I'm at his place for Dyani's baby shower.

Master closet before.

Master closet now. Mostly Dave's stuff has been packed. Plus all my shoes--you know, those shoes that I can't give up but don't wear much.

Dining room before. (The hutch and china was the first stuff to be moved.)

Dining room now. We've moved half the patio furniture inside.

Living room before.

Living room now.  All the pictures and knick knacks from the walls have been hauled away.  It's weird, the house seems much smaller having taken down the pictures.  Visually, the walls seem longer/wider when there are pictures to break them up.