I have to move soon but I'm stuck.
August 31, 2016 11:02 AM Subscribe
I'm moving back to my home country (yay!) but the sheer list of things I have to do is overwhelming. Please help me wrap my head around it.
In a little over a month, I will be flying home! But before that I have to actually go through the moving process for the first time on my own, and I'm finding it overwhelming.
I live in a furnished apartment, so all I'll be taking with me is what I can fit in a backpack and two suitcases, but I'm struggling with how to break down what I need to do (clean, declutter, sell all the things) in the 30-odd days I have left in my current apartment. Most moving guides are for full moves with boxes etc so they're not super helpful. Just thinking about it is paralysing and I'm not sure where to even start. Help!
In a little over a month, I will be flying home! But before that I have to actually go through the moving process for the first time on my own, and I'm finding it overwhelming.
I live in a furnished apartment, so all I'll be taking with me is what I can fit in a backpack and two suitcases, but I'm struggling with how to break down what I need to do (clean, declutter, sell all the things) in the 30-odd days I have left in my current apartment. Most moving guides are for full moves with boxes etc so they're not super helpful. Just thinking about it is paralysing and I'm not sure where to even start. Help!
I'd start with deciding what you're bringing, because from there it'll be clear that everything else has to go. Don't just think you'll stuff "whatever fits" into your luggage; really decide what you actually want.
posted by teremala at 11:13 AM on August 31, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by teremala at 11:13 AM on August 31, 2016 [2 favorites]
1. Make piles. What do you need? What do you love? What do you not really need nor truly love but would be sad to say goodbye to? And finally, what doesn't fit into any of those three piles but you're not committed to leaving behind or selling just yet? What's left - sell or give away.
2. Designate one suitcase the needs-suitcase. Test-pack it to see how much space you have left over or need to find elsewhere.
3. Designate one suitcase the loves-suitcase. Test-pack it to see how much space you have left over or need to find elsewhere.
4. See if, between the two suitcases, you can fit all needs & loves. If not, consider shipping some things home. It needn't be exorbitantly expensive (quicker shipment = pricier shipment, so consider what you can do without for a couple of months).
5. If you have space left for pile #3 in the two suitcases, pack those things in order of closest to need/love. If not - again, consider shipping. There is no shame in shipping 2 large boxes of things back ahead of you in addition to the 2 suitcases & backpack. I speak from experience (and lack of shame). :)
6. Anything left from piles #3 & #4 (What do you not really need nor truly love but would be sad to say goodbye to? And finally, what doesn't fit into any of those three piles but you're not committed to leaving behind or selling just yet?) which didn't fit in your suitcases and you don't really want to pay to ship home, sell or give away. After steps 1-5, this will feel better.
7. During the test-pack, do a deep clean! Set aside a weekend afternoon if you can, put on some good music, and while the things you're bringing are packed up (and what you're selling or throwing away is piled up in a corner/room), you'll be able to dust, mop, scrub, etc.
I hope this helps! Good luck! You can do this.
posted by pammeke at 11:14 AM on August 31, 2016 [5 favorites]
2. Designate one suitcase the needs-suitcase. Test-pack it to see how much space you have left over or need to find elsewhere.
3. Designate one suitcase the loves-suitcase. Test-pack it to see how much space you have left over or need to find elsewhere.
4. See if, between the two suitcases, you can fit all needs & loves. If not, consider shipping some things home. It needn't be exorbitantly expensive (quicker shipment = pricier shipment, so consider what you can do without for a couple of months).
5. If you have space left for pile #3 in the two suitcases, pack those things in order of closest to need/love. If not - again, consider shipping. There is no shame in shipping 2 large boxes of things back ahead of you in addition to the 2 suitcases & backpack. I speak from experience (and lack of shame). :)
6. Anything left from piles #3 & #4 (What do you not really need nor truly love but would be sad to say goodbye to? And finally, what doesn't fit into any of those three piles but you're not committed to leaving behind or selling just yet?) which didn't fit in your suitcases and you don't really want to pay to ship home, sell or give away. After steps 1-5, this will feel better.
7. During the test-pack, do a deep clean! Set aside a weekend afternoon if you can, put on some good music, and while the things you're bringing are packed up (and what you're selling or throwing away is piled up in a corner/room), you'll be able to dust, mop, scrub, etc.
I hope this helps! Good luck! You can do this.
posted by pammeke at 11:14 AM on August 31, 2016 [5 favorites]
I would first decide what you are taking and then actually pack your backpack and two suitcases to see how it all fits. Then, I would list items on eBay or turn them over to a consignment seller and let them deal with it. The other stuff, throw out.
posted by AugustWest at 11:21 AM on August 31, 2016
posted by AugustWest at 11:21 AM on August 31, 2016
Oh and finally - in your backpack: extra special loves you don't want to let out of your sight, any travel/identification documents you may need while passing through customs/immigration, a mini travel kit in case you're delayed and need to overnight somewhere, and reading/listening materials.
posted by pammeke at 11:22 AM on August 31, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by pammeke at 11:22 AM on August 31, 2016 [1 favorite]
You have three prongs to deal with: choosing what you're taking, getting rid of the rest, cleaning.
I would start with choosing what you're taking. Put your backpack and two suitcases in the corner of a room and go ahead and put everything you're going to take in them. If you *must*, include one bin or laundry basket for maybes.
Set aside one box of skeleton supplies to use for the next month: a plate, a bowl, fork knife spoon, sharp knife, one cutting board, one pan, a mug, a gladware container or two, can opener, bottle opener. Two towels, which you will shower/dry dishes with for the month and then use to finish cleaning and throw away on your last day.
Seriously consider whether anything you have to sell is worth the time and effort to sell it. I don't know that I'd bother with anything I couldn't effortlessly (like, Amazon buys certain used electronics, you just make the arrangements and they give you a shipping label) get rid of for less than $150-200. I'd just donate it or give it to a friend.
If you're selling a car, consider taking it to Carmax or a similar used car lot. You might get a few bucks less, but you will also spend maybe two hours tops on the entire deal.
Now the disbursement begins:
-Consumables you can keep until the last minute since you'll either consume them or you'll throw them out/give them to a neighbor, but put them away.
-Go ahead and throw out any of it you know you're not going to use, like gross lotion or expired soup.
-Real Trash: un-donateable stuff you have been keeping just because, like the box for your toaster or magazines or. Throw it out or recycle.
-Stuff you realize is not donateable and probably nobody wants. If you have a courtyard or traditional place where people put old bookshelves and stuff in case someone wants them, you can do that, but you can also throw away those things.
- Sell the things you must sell, or if you're giving them to friends tell them to come get them.
-Google to find out who in your area takes donations *and comes and gets them*. There's usually groups for veterans or the disabled who will come take your furniture, clothes, dishes, books, etc. Get rid of everything you can that way, so that you don't have to deal with taking it anywhere.
Since you don't need to worry about your furniture, you could get all of the above done in the next 10 days and then live out of your suitcase/backpack, skeleton supplies, and consumables for the rest of the month. Use that time to clean, now that all the trash and stuff is gone and out of your way.
Try going from the top of your apartment working down towards the bottom, one day for each task:
- Get a disposable dust wand and clean where the walls meet the ceilings, light fixtures, door frames, walls and corners, dust baseboards. (You'll wipe the baseboards later.)
- Clean all the windows
- Clean all the plumbing-based areas very well early on and then just keep them tidy the rest of the month
- Horizontal surfaces: counters, windowsills, any open shelves
- Floors, basic vacuum and mop
- Cabinet and pantry shelves
- Cabinet and pantry doors
- Oven and stovetop
- Fridge inside and out
- Wipe down baseboards
Final week:
- Floors, vigorous vacuum and mop
- Wipe baseboards again
- Re-wipe surfaces
- Clean around light switches and doorknobs
- Throw away the last of what is left.
posted by Lyn Never at 11:41 AM on August 31, 2016 [5 favorites]
I would start with choosing what you're taking. Put your backpack and two suitcases in the corner of a room and go ahead and put everything you're going to take in them. If you *must*, include one bin or laundry basket for maybes.
Set aside one box of skeleton supplies to use for the next month: a plate, a bowl, fork knife spoon, sharp knife, one cutting board, one pan, a mug, a gladware container or two, can opener, bottle opener. Two towels, which you will shower/dry dishes with for the month and then use to finish cleaning and throw away on your last day.
Seriously consider whether anything you have to sell is worth the time and effort to sell it. I don't know that I'd bother with anything I couldn't effortlessly (like, Amazon buys certain used electronics, you just make the arrangements and they give you a shipping label) get rid of for less than $150-200. I'd just donate it or give it to a friend.
If you're selling a car, consider taking it to Carmax or a similar used car lot. You might get a few bucks less, but you will also spend maybe two hours tops on the entire deal.
Now the disbursement begins:
-Consumables you can keep until the last minute since you'll either consume them or you'll throw them out/give them to a neighbor, but put them away.
-Go ahead and throw out any of it you know you're not going to use, like gross lotion or expired soup.
-Real Trash: un-donateable stuff you have been keeping just because, like the box for your toaster or magazines or. Throw it out or recycle.
-Stuff you realize is not donateable and probably nobody wants. If you have a courtyard or traditional place where people put old bookshelves and stuff in case someone wants them, you can do that, but you can also throw away those things.
- Sell the things you must sell, or if you're giving them to friends tell them to come get them.
-Google to find out who in your area takes donations *and comes and gets them*. There's usually groups for veterans or the disabled who will come take your furniture, clothes, dishes, books, etc. Get rid of everything you can that way, so that you don't have to deal with taking it anywhere.
Since you don't need to worry about your furniture, you could get all of the above done in the next 10 days and then live out of your suitcase/backpack, skeleton supplies, and consumables for the rest of the month. Use that time to clean, now that all the trash and stuff is gone and out of your way.
Try going from the top of your apartment working down towards the bottom, one day for each task:
- Get a disposable dust wand and clean where the walls meet the ceilings, light fixtures, door frames, walls and corners, dust baseboards. (You'll wipe the baseboards later.)
- Clean all the windows
- Clean all the plumbing-based areas very well early on and then just keep them tidy the rest of the month
- Horizontal surfaces: counters, windowsills, any open shelves
- Floors, basic vacuum and mop
- Cabinet and pantry shelves
- Cabinet and pantry doors
- Oven and stovetop
- Fridge inside and out
- Wipe down baseboards
Final week:
- Floors, vigorous vacuum and mop
- Wipe baseboards again
- Re-wipe surfaces
- Clean around light switches and doorknobs
- Throw away the last of what is left.
posted by Lyn Never at 11:41 AM on August 31, 2016 [5 favorites]
I agree with the advice you've been given so far about starting with what you're keeping--but in a similar situation, I started by getting rid of some stuff I was definitely *not* keeping (a few bags of books, for example), which made me feel like progress was underway. A little inefficient (especially if you have more stuff to donate later) but seeing the empty bookshelves and free space in the apartment made me feel a little calmer about the move. (And it IS overwhelming! So no shame in feeling that way either.)
posted by trixie119 at 12:21 PM on August 31, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by trixie119 at 12:21 PM on August 31, 2016 [1 favorite]
Honestly, there's not much to do yet besides trying to eat the food in your pantry. Start to feel out friends if you think they'd want your stuff.
One to two weeks out, start seriously giving stuff away / donating / trashing. And start test-packing. You can't actually pack too far in advance if you don't have much stuff because you'll need it before you leave. Think about possible logistical problems with your last day or two - what happens when you've given away all your plates and towels? You may want to pack your backpack for living out of the last couple days if possible.
It's not worth cleaning until a day or two before, it'll be easier to do once your stuff is gone.
I found it helped to make a list of tasks - for one move I wrote each piece on post-its and lined them up on the wall so I could figure out what needed to happen first and see that I was making progress.
posted by momus_window at 12:35 PM on August 31, 2016
One to two weeks out, start seriously giving stuff away / donating / trashing. And start test-packing. You can't actually pack too far in advance if you don't have much stuff because you'll need it before you leave. Think about possible logistical problems with your last day or two - what happens when you've given away all your plates and towels? You may want to pack your backpack for living out of the last couple days if possible.
It's not worth cleaning until a day or two before, it'll be easier to do once your stuff is gone.
I found it helped to make a list of tasks - for one move I wrote each piece on post-its and lined them up on the wall so I could figure out what needed to happen first and see that I was making progress.
posted by momus_window at 12:35 PM on August 31, 2016
Can you ship items home? Might be easier than trying to cram everything into two suitcases and one backpack (I mean, if part of the stress is trying to limit yourself to the two suitcases and one backpack). If so, pick out the largest, heaviest, and least breakable items to mail, and do that now. Pack up a big box of clothes, send that. There, now you have empty spaces and a good start!
posted by clone boulevard at 12:58 PM on August 31, 2016
posted by clone boulevard at 12:58 PM on August 31, 2016
I just moved back to the US from Japan, and most things were pretty straightforward like listed above. The only thing I should have done sooner was check how to cancel/pay off any remaining utility bills. I estimated how much money would be needed and set it aside with my employer, had all my utilities canceled and had the remaining bills forwarded to my employer. But canceling some services was a lot smoother than canceling others.
Check what can be disposed of and how. Things that are bulky or hazardous chemicals may be tricky to get rid of.
Make sure you leave room in your bags for goodbye gifts from people! I had one suitcase mostly empty days before I left, and completely stuffed the day of! (Gotanda has good points about shipping too)
If you're in a position where someone from company/school/church/whatever is looking out for you, get their help up front, and don't leave them with an unexpected mess to deal with. Both times I lived overseas I heard a lot of complaints about people leaving behind trash, appliances, broken things, damp laundry left in the wash... If you're posting here I really doubt you're that person, but just in case, don't be that person.
posted by Caravantea at 2:31 PM on August 31, 2016
Check what can be disposed of and how. Things that are bulky or hazardous chemicals may be tricky to get rid of.
Make sure you leave room in your bags for goodbye gifts from people! I had one suitcase mostly empty days before I left, and completely stuffed the day of! (Gotanda has good points about shipping too)
If you're in a position where someone from company/school/church/whatever is looking out for you, get their help up front, and don't leave them with an unexpected mess to deal with. Both times I lived overseas I heard a lot of complaints about people leaving behind trash, appliances, broken things, damp laundry left in the wash... If you're posting here I really doubt you're that person, but just in case, don't be that person.
posted by Caravantea at 2:31 PM on August 31, 2016
What country are you moving from/to? There might be some country specific moving advice to be had.
I'm moving myself next week (within the same country) and I've made a one sheet document on what to do this month, organized by date. When I finish each thing I give it a big old checkmark, and think to myself "hooray, I am a person who does things, and I can handle this."
I'd take the advice above on shipping, sorting through stuff and getting rid of it, and packing. Add to that information from ex-pat forums and or people you know who moved from this country. Maybe search for "moving checklist" in the local language if you can to round out the info. Then, plug all that info into a to-do list by date, if you haven't done that. Or by, week 1, week 2, week 3, etc.
I only know about Japan, but if I needed to move home from here, I'd need to do the following:
Tell landlord I'm moving
Figure out how to get my money out of local bank account to home
Get rid of lots of stuff: try selling half heartedly without getting my hopes up.
Throw away a lot of stuff on the designated garbage days
Throw away more stuff by hauling it to dump
Figure out the nightmare that is bringing a cat to another country
Make sure I've paid my taxes
Either transfer social security money to my home country's system or decide to go through lump payment process for partial refund
Shut down utilities for apartment
Show apartment to landlord and pass over keys
Etc
Most of these things have some kind of deadline or ideal time or time I can make the time to do it, so it becomes less "a dreaded pile of stuff to do now now now" and more "a dreaded but manageable list of stuff to do between now and then"
The paralyzing aspect: if it helps, just focus on what you would really like to get done today, and make sure to get at least some of that done. Putting stuff off will ultimately just make you more anxious and feel less in control. Do some stuff that day, reward heavily with your choice of "treat yo self" (watch DVD, glass of wine, play new compy game, nice bath), repeat.
posted by sacchan at 5:09 PM on August 31, 2016
I'm moving myself next week (within the same country) and I've made a one sheet document on what to do this month, organized by date. When I finish each thing I give it a big old checkmark, and think to myself "hooray, I am a person who does things, and I can handle this."
I'd take the advice above on shipping, sorting through stuff and getting rid of it, and packing. Add to that information from ex-pat forums and or people you know who moved from this country. Maybe search for "moving checklist" in the local language if you can to round out the info. Then, plug all that info into a to-do list by date, if you haven't done that. Or by, week 1, week 2, week 3, etc.
I only know about Japan, but if I needed to move home from here, I'd need to do the following:
Tell landlord I'm moving
Figure out how to get my money out of local bank account to home
Get rid of lots of stuff: try selling half heartedly without getting my hopes up.
Throw away a lot of stuff on the designated garbage days
Throw away more stuff by hauling it to dump
Figure out the nightmare that is bringing a cat to another country
Make sure I've paid my taxes
Either transfer social security money to my home country's system or decide to go through lump payment process for partial refund
Shut down utilities for apartment
Show apartment to landlord and pass over keys
Etc
Most of these things have some kind of deadline or ideal time or time I can make the time to do it, so it becomes less "a dreaded pile of stuff to do now now now" and more "a dreaded but manageable list of stuff to do between now and then"
The paralyzing aspect: if it helps, just focus on what you would really like to get done today, and make sure to get at least some of that done. Putting stuff off will ultimately just make you more anxious and feel less in control. Do some stuff that day, reward heavily with your choice of "treat yo self" (watch DVD, glass of wine, play new compy game, nice bath), repeat.
posted by sacchan at 5:09 PM on August 31, 2016
Response by poster: Thanks for all the incredibly helpful answers so far!
I'm going from the US to India - back to live with my family, in fact, so I'm not too concerned about logistics at the other end. Getting there in one piece is going to be the hard part!
posted by Tamanna at 6:45 PM on August 31, 2016 [1 favorite]
I'm going from the US to India - back to live with my family, in fact, so I'm not too concerned about logistics at the other end. Getting there in one piece is going to be the hard part!
posted by Tamanna at 6:45 PM on August 31, 2016 [1 favorite]
Honestly in the US I wouldn't worry about cleaning outside a quick sweep & wipe-down. Your landlords will pay for a service regardless (and take it from your deposit), so it's not worth your effort.
posted by dame at 1:05 AM on September 1, 2016
posted by dame at 1:05 AM on September 1, 2016
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Is there stuff that might be of value that friends would want? I'd recommend giving away as much as you can, taking anything else of value to a thrift store, and throwing the rest away. Starting with friends also gives you a chance to spend time with them before moving! Win-win.
Good luck.
posted by guster4lovers at 11:12 AM on August 31, 2016 [1 favorite]