Cardboard Boxes. 100 Degrees. 4 More Days Left.

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What in the world am I talking about? Well, those of you who have been reading the site for the last couple of months have heard about our trip to New Mexico, our stay in an Earthship, and our final decision to pack up and move from Los Angeles to Taos, NM. And now, we are down to the last 4 days here in our ‘one block from the ocean’ (yes, sometimes I question my sanity!) apartment before the movers come this Friday to take all of our stuff 936 miles east to our new home we have rented. While exciting, it has been so long since we have done a big move like this that I forgot how much work it is to pack up everything you own into some boxes!

I think the thing that irritates me most about moving is the use of all these cardboard boxes. While many people do reuse them for storage or another move, or even give them to U-Haul stores to give away to other people, most of them probably end up in landfills somewhere. I have driven around the back alleys of my town and pulled boxes out of trash cans or picked them up off the street, as I refuse to pay for new boxes when there are seemingly this many being thrown away. I know there are services that will rent you plastic moving boxes (which I would gladly pay for), but none of them will rent them to me as I am moving out of the area and how would they get them back? That is why I am thinking that the major moving chains should get into that business so I could pick up my boxes here in Los Angeles and return them to the same company in Taos. Wouldn’t that make way more sense than selling (too often single-use) 50 cardboard boxes to each person who moves? Plastic (or any other solid, reusable material they can think of) boxes has to be the way to move rather than these boxes and tape!

So what’s with the 100 degrees in the title? Well, here by the beach it rarely gets hot out and is usually very comfortable…so our house does not have air conditioning at all. But this week it has been freakishly hovering in the mid 90’s while I am attempting to prime my home office, clean the place from top to bottom, and pack everything we own into 75lb boxes that I then have to move from one room to another. Good times, I tell ya! I have 2 fans going 24/7 around here, and it is barely making it any cooler.

I think the best move we made is to hire real movers – you know, the ones that somehow get your couch out your front door and are able to pick up the bookcase by themselves. Although a little bit pricier than renting a truck (not by much though, with gas this expensive) and paying off my friends with pizza and beer, it will be so worth it in the end to not have to do the real heavy lifting, don’t you think?

Going back to work now – I have lots of cardboard boxes, it’s still 100 degrees, and I have 4 days left to finish packing everything. Posting might erratic and I might skip some days this week, as we have lot to do and will be in transit/off-line for a few days starting this weekend. Wish us luck!

Photo by Phineas H