Returning to Traunstein
Dear Family and Friends,
As I mentioned last week, we had company. Thomas’ son was here last week while attending classes in Munich.
Meet Thomas’ Son
He is learning to become a chimney sweep—an honorable job here in Germany (and not bad paying, either). He has a three-year apprenticeship and attends trade school. After he has completed his training, he can work full time in the trade.
Why did he choose to become a chimney sweep? We really do not know. He hasn’t seen Mary Poppins (and he is not the type of young man to be swayed by Dick van Dyke dancing on a roof) and doesn’t know anyone in the trade.
Whatever the reason, he seems to still be enjoying it and there is serious job security so we are happy.
We are also happy that he has decided to stay with us the weeks he has trade school. Thomas does not have as much time with his son as he would like and, let’s face it, he’s growing up and soon we will be lucky to see him at Easter and Christmas.
Moving Ahead
In addition to having company, we are also fast-tracking things. We move next weekend. Yes, mid-July is our deadline. There is a lot to do.
If you are just joining us now, you can check out the first updates here:
Moving Day Looms Ahead
We were always planning on moving into the house with it unfinished. It is only 30 minutes away, but we both knew that we would never get things done if we were driving an extra 30 minutes to an hour extra each day.
Fortunately, we are able to do that. We don’t have young children or obligations that keep us tied to one spot until the last minute.
We gave notice on our apartment and were planning on moving this weekend. That would give us 2 additional weeks to “ease” into the new house. If we forgot something or had to figure something out, we could. If we didn’t get the whole move accomplished, we could move the last “bits ‘n bobs” piece by piece as time allowed.
Great plan. Perfect. Timing is easy and totally doable.
Then. Life happened.
Our landlady found a renter who would take over the lease. Unfortunately, he has a very difficult situation. His house is condemned and he needs to be gone by the 10th. Yes, there’s an eviction notice and everything.
I have been in the position of needing interim housing. It is not fun. Figuring out 2 weeks of housing is really hard. Camping out on someone’s sofa is easy, but what do you do with all your stuff? And moving it twice is quadruple stress!
When we found out about that, we decided the best solution would be for us to move out completely this week and leave him the apartment. We also agreed that it would be beneficial if he could at least store his stuff in the apartment the few days before our move.
Kicking into High Gear
So we have kicked ourselves into high gear and are prepping for a quick move. It is totally possible. We have a huge attic where there is plenty of space.
Or would be, if we could get our stuff out of it by tomorrow.
Attics are amazing places. No matter how big or small it is, you always manage to fill it up. Emptying it is whole ‘nother animal.
Thomas wasn’t sure we could do this. Last week we started, but we were packing in 2-3 hour increments after work before bed. That is a recipe for disaster and disappointment.
It is a well-known fact that packing, like everything else in life, is organized chaos. Basically, packing in mini-increments (at least in my experience) leads to melt-downs—not by me, but by people who don’t move very often.
2 hours to pack: A Recipe
- Remember plan.
- Open boxes, tape if necessary.
- Open drawer and / or cabinet.
- Start emptying drawer into box.
- Pat self on back. This is easy.
- Find something that goes into a different box.
- FREEZE.
- Sort into second box.
- Throw away junk you should have years ago.
- WAIT.
- Where were we again?
- Empty drawer into box. Move to second drawer / shelf. Continue.
- Debate when box is full to seal and label.
- Lose tape and marker.
- Find tape and marker.
- Seal and label box.
- Find something that should be in box 1.
- Look at ensuing chaos on the floor and debate crying in frustration or eat ice cream.
- Eat ice cream.
- PANIC. Go to bed to shut out the reality.
- REPEATsame process tomorrow (if you know where you left off).
Packing Productively
It is different when we can pack in one setting. I kept telling Thomas that, but I think he didn’t want to believe it.
I had mentally planned 1 day per room knowing that a) some rooms will take a bit longer (I’m looking at the attic here) and b) others will take no time at all (our bathroom will take about 1-2 hours max. if we label everything properly—dumping into boxes I could have done in 15 minutes flat).
That meant that I feel less stress. I know we will get done. I also know that a lot of the apartment will only be finished on the last day.
There are benefits to experience.
Today is the 2nd day we have spent really sorting things after the week of chaos. Thomas looked at me and said: we are actually almost done, aren’t we?
We still have the kitchen (I will tackle that beast alone) and the garage (Thomas’ arch enemy number 1). The rest are just the little bits. Finding boxes for the last pieces. Unplugging lamps. Taking apart the few pieces of furniture we need to.
We got this.
Next week this will not be our home anymore. Only 1 step left: saying goodbye.
