We just completed a big move from a small office space into a much larger, ‘OMG is this for real’ studio. For me, moving ranks right up there with the greatest of nuisances – dental visits, airport security lines, and flu shots. I recognize I’m complaining from a place of great privilege an opporunity … but moving just stinks.
To make this move slightly less irritating, I pulled out a few tricks I’ve learned from previous experiences:
Put on an audiobook
With silence comes boredom. To help pass the time while packing up all those boxes, Bruno and I listened to an audio book through our Audible account. An audio book keeps the day moving as the stories progress. Music is great, but the development of narrative and humor gives the whole process an uplifting feel – since the audiobook, like us, is actually going somewhere. We cued up Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls, by David Sedaris, and totally recommend it.
Sedaris has completely unforgettable voice, and the book’s six hours of short stories are perfect for a moving day. These little stories helped curb the monotony of packing boxes and driving carloads across town.
To use book recommendations, just tap on the ‘Send this Book’ icon in your Audible library, then choose who you want to share it with (via text, Messenger, WhatsApp, etc.) will be free if it is your recipient’s first time accepting an audiobook through this feature.
If haven’t tried Audible, you can sign up for a one-month free trial and download Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls, or any another book of your choosing. For more information of how to download Audible and take advantage of this offer, visit Audible.
Use The Force Dolly
I don’t know what comes over people when it comes to lifting big boxes, but why do we always feel like we have something to prove? Unless you’re training for a world’s strongest man/woman competition, dead-lifting giant boxes off the ground is not a smart idea. We keep a dolly around and use it liberally. Mechanical advantage for the win!
You can find medium-duty dollies at your local hardware store or home center for a very reasonable price. Coupled with some heavy duty straps and perhaps a bungee cord or two, you can move some serious weight with one, all by yourself. It may seem like a unitasker for a single move, but once you have one of these on hand, you’ll find yourself using it again and again. No sore backs or busted boxes here.
Donate. Sell. Trash. Let go.
Every move is an opportunity to get rid of stuff you don’t really need. The last thing you want to do is haul something you never use from your old space to your new one, so it can go one being unused there.
Although moving can be a pain, by reducing the amount of junk that could clutter up your new place, you can turn a potentially negative experience into a positive.
In order to decide what we should keep and what we should get rid of, we decided that if an item met any of the following, it had to go: 1) if it’s a craft or art supply that we bought more than a year ago and we haven’t used it yet 2) if something is more than 75% used up (paint tubes, glue bottles, fabric and paper scraps, etc) and 3) if it isn’t something we’d be excited to photograph to create a blog post or social media update.
Of course, we’re moving our office and studio space, so the rules for your home will be different for you, but the point is: make sure the stuff you’re taking to your next space reflects your values, and will have an obvious use once it gets there.
We finished moving all our stuff to the new office in just one day, and as you can see below, that made our kids pretty happy:
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Audible. The opinions and text are all mine.
