Lessons I Learned from Moving
The following post is from Reborn: 101 Short Stories, Essays, and Insights to Improve Communication Skills
I moved recently from an apartment to a house.
I’m still setting up shop at the new place.
Since the experience is still fresh in my mind, here are a few lessons I learned.
Moving Can be Done Fast
I used to think that moving was a slow and tedious process.
It was something that you had to plan for months ahead of time.
For this move, it was quick and efficient.
The move was done in 2 days.
It’s possible.
I recommend you hire a moving company.
Avoid asking your friends.
A moving company charges 120 per hour and the move can be done in 4-5 hours.
Apartment Lifestyle is Way Different than the Housing Lifestyle
When I lived in an apartment, I had the safety blanket of a landlord.
It’s their responsibility to get things fixed.
AC, oven, faucets etc.
With a house, I have to eventually learn a bit about everything.
I was going to hire a handyman to set up my universal remote for my garage.
I asked him how much it’d be, and he said 95 bucks.
Whoa, that’s a lot!!
So, I went on Tik Tok and learned how to do it myself.
Which brings me to my next point.
Don’t Undermine Tik Tok
I changed my opinion on Tik Tok
Last year, I was bashing the platform for being cringe.
Nowadays, I’m praising the platform for being so useful.
When I wanted to set up my universal remote, I found a video on Tik Tok that showed me how to set it up.
Don’t sleep on Reddit either.
Try to End Amicably with Your Landlord
I hated my landlord.
They were these people from Louisiana who bought an investment property in Tampa.
The good thing was that I barely spent much money in downtown Tampa.
Since this place was privately owned, they charged way cheaper rent vs the other places in downtown.
In 2019, when most people were paying 2000 dollars rent in downtown Tampa, I was only spending 950 bucks.
The problem with my landlord was when she started lying.
They said that I paid my rent late a couple of times, so I had late fees.
This was a blatant lie, and I could prove it!
I have automated payments set up with Chase that gets delivered to the landlord on the 1st of every month.
Still, when I abruptly broke the lease, they were trying to get me to pay late fees and said they would press charges on me if I didn’t pay.
That’s when I learned that people talk tough on email, but when you call them up, they soften up.
This lady threatened me by saying she would take me to court to collect the late fees and that she’d report the missing payments to the credit bureaus.
I called her and talked to her calmly.
I was really tempted to fight fire with fire.
But I kept calling her “maam” because I didn’t want the hassle.
I wanted to leave on a good note.
She waived the imaginary late fees, and took a 1 month rent payment off if I could move out by the 30th.
Rather than paying 5500 dollars, I paid 3000.
Things Take Time
In the first few days of moving in, I bought a bunch of stuff.
Towels, items for my studio, a couch, a handheld vacuum cleaner etc.
I spent 200 dollars.
The next day, I went to buy shower curtains, a shower rod, toothpaste, a big trash can, trash bags etc.
I spent 170 dollars.
Despite spending money, the place still looked empty.
I didn’t have pots, pans, or glasses.
If anyone were to visit, they’d think I hadn’t spent a dime on the house yet.
It’s easy to want to do everything at once.
But I think the practical path is to take an iterative approach.
Slowly add things overtime.
This is hard to do because you have so much energy in the beginning.
But your bank account will be thankful.
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