Wednesdays at Forty-Something: Moving, Part 1

Back in late spring/early summer 2019, I had to find a new lawn guy; and saw a few recommendations for one in a fb group that I'm part of, N, The Lawn Barber.  I called him and he came out to give me an estimate.  While we were talking, I mentioned that I'd be selling my house and he recommended his friend, T.  I had already met with one realtor but thought it would be good to meet with one or two more, so I said "sure" to meeting this guy.  He came out that day.  I decided to use his services.  By this time, the lawn guy had taken care of my lawn once and I wasn't happy with the result.  I texted him a few days later to let him go.

In late August, my realtor and the guy he works with for minor repairs, R, did a walkthrough of the house to discuss needed repairs.  I asked him to send me an invoice, detailing everything we discussed/identified.  A month later, my realtor asked if I had heard from the repair guy and I said no and that I also hadn't reached out.  Realtor said they were in communication and that I should get it soon.

In September, I received a whammy in my actual moving plans.  The woman who, just months prior, had confirmed that she could still help me move, backed out.  She didn’t actually tell me until I had texted her to find out which day she was able to fly out from the Midwest.  Her reason was that she had been willing when it would be her and her boyfriend but since they had broken up, she wouldn’t be able to do it on her own.  Mind you, they broke up in May or June, a few weeks after I confirmed with her and months before I sent the text.

Why was this such a whammy?  Because the original plan was for them to drive the Uhaul and me to drive my car, both full up with stuff.  We would drop off the stuff off at an Indianapolis storage place, turn in the Uhaul, and then all of us would head to Iowa, where they lived and I’d be staying for a few months until I sold my house in Delaware.  When she cancelled, I had to replan the entire trip.  The biggest issue I had with the initial cancellation was that she waited so long to tell me and, in the year since I had initially asked her, not once did she say “If the boyfriend can’t do it, I won’t be able to help.”  I wasn't expecting her to know they would break up but she should, at the very least, know that she wouldn’t be able to help by herself.

I did find someone a couple days later, who would be able to help; within the same time frame, using the same game plan.  A week later, they cancelled because an important issue came up that required them to go out of the country. 

When the first person cancelled on me, I asked them to send back the EZPASS that was in my old Jeep.  See, back in summer 2018, I sold my Jeep to her little sister and left the EZPASS in it because I had a feeling that they’d all be coming out for my college graduation in May 2019.  Leaving that for them saved them quite a bit of money on the toll roads between their place and mine.

I would need that EZPASS for the Uhaul.  Well, they had lost it.  Some time between May and August 2019, they lost property that wasn’t theirs.  This still gets me a little salty because when you pull the transponder from one vehicle and put it in another, a responsible person would, upon return, put it back in the original vehicle or put it some place that it wouldn’t get lost.  Having lived in that household for three months, I now know there is no safe place and the Jeep would have, ultimately, been the best place to put it.

So, come October 2019, I have nobody to help me move and no extra EZPASS so I decided to just do it all myself.  I would drive the Uhaul to Indy, fly back, and then drive my car out to Iowa.  It was also at this time that I asked if the house repair guy would be okay with getting paid upon selling because I didn't have the full (tentative) amount that he had mentioned during the walk through.  I still didn't have a written estimate.  The repair guy said he wasn't comfortable with that.  I wasn't surprised by this answer, but the question was worth asking.  Mid October comes and I still haven't received an invoice.  I got in contact with another repair guy that a friend recommended.  He completed the walk-through and invoice was emailed within 72 hours.  I communicated to the first guy that I wouldn't be using his services.  I mean, seriously, when you can't generate an invoice in two months, it's time to go.

During this time, I was also trying to figure out how I was going to get my stuff loaded on the Uhaul because none of my friends were available.  My realtor suggested going with N because he did moving services as a side gig.  This was the guy who didn't work out as a lawn guy.  Since lawn stuff and moving are apples and oranges I decided to go ahead contact him.

Come the day to load my stuff, N and two other guys were there.  N didn't move anything.  The two guys do.  During one part of hauling stuff out of my house, they had to move a big chesser.  Kind of a dresser.  Kind of a chest of drawers.  It's 2' x 6' x 5'.  At this point, N decided to assist.  I was outside while they figured out how to get it out of my upstairs room, around the corners, and down the stairs.  When they did make it outside, I saw that they had had to put it upside down to get it out.  Why?  I don't know.

They were going to put it on the truck that same way.  Uh, no.  Right side up, please.  I had removed all the drawers prior to them moving it so that it was much lighter.  I needed it right side up so that I could put the drawers back in.  They got it on the truck and while I was putting the drawers in, I noticed they had scratched the bottom edge of the dresser so bad that I got a splinter when I ran my hand over it.  I pulled N aside and get a bit angry about the damage.  He didn't apologize.  Instead, he threatened to pull the crew and leave me to do the rest myself.  I told him to continue with the loading. They finished up a couple hours later.  It took four hours or so, total.

These pictures are the front edge of the top of the dresser.

This is the front edge of the bottom of the dresser.  Where it looks like smudges is where they forced it so hard down the corner of a wall that it left paint on the dresser.  The corner of that wall?  It was flattened by 1/4" for a length of almost two feet.

I left the next morning for Indianapolis.  It took two days to get there.  It rained the whole time and was quite a miserable drive.  Luckily, once I got to Indy, it cleared up and unloading was easy peasy.  I had found a crew via moving.com and they helped me unload.  They were also nice enough to follow me to the Uhaul place and then take me to the rental car agency.  Once I got my rental car, I drove to the hotel and stayed there until I flew out three days later.  After those previous three weeks, I NEEDED to decompress.

I flew back to Delaware and commenced packing up the rest of my stuff--the stuff that I would need in Iowa while I was there, including my cats—and get rid of the furniture that I didn’t take to Indy.  I got all that done the second to last week of October and was in Iowa by the 24^th.  Driving in a small SUV is definitely much easier than driving a 15’ Uhaul.

I’ll leave my story of living in Iowa for the next post.