40 things that can go wrong when you move, or why moving is always, always more expensive and challaneging than you think…Or, trust that Murphy fellow and his law

First of all, a big shout-out and thank you to Poet Kelli and her husband who helped us move into our new place. That’s a real poetry superheroine, one who will actually move your boxes with you! In the driving cold wind and rain! Anyway, we are eternally grateful, K!

So, yesterday, the pickup of the 26-foot truck was scheduled was 8:30 AM, and the movers were supposed to appear at 9 AM. But, low and behold, when husband G shows up yesterday morning, they did not have the reservation or know anything about it. Later, the manager showed up and says, Oh, I wrote you down for blank day. Of course, the wrong day. So we end up calling a bunch of rental companies in a panic. The movers start charging us at 9 AM whether we have a truck or not. Finally we find a truck, a 23-foot. Glenn buys extra insurance on the truck because he is nervous about driving such a big truck himself. (Turns out that will be a smart move on his part.) So that was yesterday’s drama (ended up paying an extra $110 for the mover’s time.) Also, we had to buy lots of little things that were missing from the house: a curtain rod, new sets of curtains for the hundred thousand giganto-windows we have that look directly into our neighbor’s houses (great view!) a shower curtain, a new cat litter box, and one of those rugs for the inside of the doorway – since we haven’t had non-carpeted floors in about 8 years. A Target run that cost about as much as I made last month.

This morning, at 7 AM we start loading up all the little stuff, including all of our clothes. It is about 40 degrees, howling wind, and driving sideways soaking rain. At about 11 AM, we took off in the big rig for Port Townsend. Husband G was driving like a champ, even maneuvering the giant truck on and off the ferry, which can be tricky. But after two hours of driving, about five miles away from our new place, he tries to pull a turn in a parking lot and knocks the fender off a parked car. Holy Crap! The truck isn’t even dinged. He calls the police to let them know what happened since he can’t find the owner of the car, and leaves his insurance information, but he is devastated. The woman evenutally calls and they exchange information, (she wasn’t mad, just bemused by how such a thing had happened) police later give him a citation, and our insurance rates will go up now. Perfect way to start life in a new town!

Did I mention my computer crashed (for no apparent reason) three times during the last two days, wiping out not all of my labor, but at least a chunk of it?

Lessons Learned: Always buy the extra insurance. Sometimes it’s worth it to pay for a moving truck AND driver. Don’t buy Vista yet. Save your documents frequently. When making reservations for movers and a truck, give yourself a few hours of leeway, and always call every day for at least ten days and talk to every employee at the rental truck agency to make sure they all know you and when you’re renting their truck. Or get a written contract. Or save yourself a lot of pain and stay put in one place as long as possible. Sell all your possessions and live out of your backpack, so you don’t have to rent a truck in the first place. Or make a lot of money so none of those little-expenses-that-add-up hurt so badly. Maybe I should look into that…

Mood: Exasperated, Exhausted, and Broke