Well, it’s official. I have completely finished clearing one room on the second floor. (My daughter has pretty much finished the entire 3rd floor.) It is now going to hold boxes that are packed and ready for the movers, as well as a few other things.  Not the box spring in the photo, though.  It’s damaged, and is waiting to be hauled out, along with two others we discovered were broken.

One of the things my mother dangled in front of us to entice us to move was the offer to pay for the movers.  She has followed through with that promise, to our great appreciation.  It simply would not be possible, otherwise.

The problem is that, because of the shortened time line, things we expected to be able to set money aside for slowly, over several months, aren’t going to happen.  What we have is it. There is no more coming in until after the move. Our total of funds must not only cover the cost of the movers, basic living expenses (like groceries at both ends of the move), stocking up on prescriptions until we can get a new doctor, etc, but also the extra costs in fuel for the drive out, travel food, and those million and one little things that add up, unexpectedly. I’ve moved often enough to know what to expect.

Movers charge by weight.  I got estimates based on the average weight for a 5 bedroom home, which is about 10,000 pounds.  We are going to a smaller home, so I got updated estimates for the smaller size, since we would have to pare things down.  Based on those numbers, we should be good. Even including the weight of our heirloom piano, plus surcharges for the piano and the (soon to be empty) aquarium.

Then I got two in home estimates. One by estimated weight, the other a flat rate.

Despite pointing out all the stuff we would NOT be taking with us (almost all the furniture, plus a lot of other stuff we would be getting rid of), we were still told the weight would be 10,000 – 12,000 pounds.  When I questioned that, I was told he had been doing this for 20 years and was sure, based on experience.  I also asked for the cost of a full pack, which was based on the same weight. The base cost alone was more than we have. The packing fee was completely out of budget.

The flat rate guy was actually a higher base cost, because he factored in the distance, plus packing fees were an hourly rate. And he estimated two days to pack everything.

We aren’t going with either company.

My older daughter and I have been purging like crazy. The only way to bring the cost down is to bring the weight down. Between the boxes and bins and bags we have already given away, donated, shredded and thrown out, I’m a bit surprised by how little is left to pack.  And some if it will be going with us in the van for the drive out, not with the movers. We will also be packing as much as possible ourselves, so that if there is anything left for the movers to pack, it won’t add more than a couple hundred dollars.

In my head, I know there is no way this move is going to be 10,000 pounds. I doubt we were ever that much to begin with.  We should be fine.

That isn’t stopping me from being in an almost constant state of low anxiety over it.

For the most part, I can look at the explosion that is the current state of our home, and know that most of what we are sifting through is not going with us. Intellectually, I know we will be fine.  And I know I tend to over estimate. The last time we had stuff hauled between provinces, I had estimated the weight and figured the cost out to be $1000.  The reality turned out to be half that. But in the back of my head is that constant niggling paranoia.  Those two high estimates are completely overriding the much more reasonable estimates I got.

In the end, we will not know for sure until the movers go through the government scales, which is what they use to base the final cost on.

And that uncertainty is like a worm, wriggling away in the back of my mind.

All I can do is just keep on purging.

The Re-farmer.