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Gapers Block published from April 22, 2003 to Jan. 1, 2016. The site will remain up in archive form. Please visit Third Coast Review, a new site by several GB alumni.
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Fuel

haelig / July 30, 2008 12:02 PM

I'm a somewhat early packer: In college, I usually started about a month before move out day. This time around, I sold the furniture I didn't want about a month ago and started packing about 2 weeks ago. I move at the beginning of next week, and pretty much everything should be in boxes by then.

dragonslayer / July 30, 2008 12:16 PM

I moved out of my last place 16 months ago and I'm still not done packing or moving. Thankfully, my sister didn't need my old room. :)

zoenotcool / July 30, 2008 12:25 PM

Umm...very timely question. We are moving in 10 days and have lots left to do. Usually I just throw whatever's left into garbage bags, but I sense that the movers won't like that system. This is our first time using pros. We did start a while ago, but quickly lost momentum. If we have the 100 boxes that someone told us we will, I'll be really sad.

In college, I didn't pack until the last minute, and then tried to stuff it all in the car somehow.

annie / July 30, 2008 1:00 PM

I haven't moved in 3 years and that's a record. I typically move a lot and I've lived in lots of different places. When I had a house, it took 2 weeks to pack up. Moved to a small apartment and when I moved from there, I took about 3 days to get it all together. And with the real estate market in this state, I won't be moving for another 3 years. yay for not moving, boo for not being able to buy.

Carrie / July 30, 2008 2:13 PM

Well, I've been mentally packing for about 3 months now. I'll probably start putting stuff in storage bins this weekend and get most everything together by the 19th, finish on the 26th and be ready to go on the 1st (Move is Sept 1).

I think I'm usually pretty good at being ready to go... I've experienced "promise to be ready" and arriving only to find that nothing's been done and instead the moving party is the packing party and that is annoying. I don't want to do that to people.

Caitlin / July 30, 2008 2:37 PM

Packing up is the easy part!

UNpacking on the other hand... well, I moved at the beginning of the month, and my apartment's just barely livable and I have yet to cook a meal in it. Yikes.

Y A J / July 31, 2008 12:56 PM

I moved so much in college and grad school I'm practically a packing pro.
I use colored labels to organize everything. That way, friends or movers know a pink tag means back office, orange means bedroom, etc. It makes the move and then unpacking much easier, because you don't find a box of dishes in your bedroom or books in the kitchen.

Irisheyes1212 / July 31, 2008 1:53 PM

I have been in my "new" apartment for two years, and the 2nd bedroom is still technically a disaster zone.
My parents are moving back to the city and keep giving me old keepsakes. Do I really need my first grade report card? Yet I have trouble letting go...
Nostalgia is my enemy.

m / August 3, 2008 9:46 AM

last time i moved i started packing about 2 months ahead. my coworkers thought i was crazy, but im not sure they were aware of my pack-rat-edness. it all worked out though, i only had 2 boxes to finish the morning of the move.

i was UNpacked within 2 days.

speaking of moving, does anyone have any suggestions on movers? i used golans last time and was unsatisfied.

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