Lessons In Growing Up: How To Move The Millennial Way

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Moving sucks all around. I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed it, but I do it—we do it—because this is a part of growing up. We outgrow places, and we move on, in more ways than one. I recently helped a good friend of mine (whom we’ll call Sara) move from her current, and smaller place, to a bigger one across town. I’ve moved a fair share of times in my short-lived life; so I assumed it wouldn’t be that hard, but I was wrong for more reasons than one. We weren’t moving the regular way. No, this is how to move the millennial way.

1. Arrive on time to your set location. This way you can make small talk while waiting for your movers and breakfast to come late.

I got to Sara’s house at 11:15 on a Saturday morning. This was the day that we were going to move her from her quaint, fifth floor, West Village walk-up studio, to a larger loft in Gramercy. The Taskers (more on that later) and our food came late, so we took the time to catch up. I also got to meet Sara’s dog. Not a bad start to the day.

2. You’ll get by with a little help from your friends.

I decided to be a Good Samaritan and help because I really didn’t have anything better to do. I also realized that if I were moving, I would want as much help as possible. Throughout the day it became very clear that when it comes to moving, the more is always the merrier. All hands needed to be on deck at all times.

3. Get all of your information from various apps.

Sara and I, being college students have been subjected to the annoyance that is moving in and out of a dorm every year, twice a year, our fair share of times. Because of this, neither of us thought we had anything new to learn. We are also 20-somethings armed with smart phones that seemingly house the world in our pockets. So, learning as we went along was our failed modus operandi.

4. Don’t hire real movers.

(See above) Sara, is a fan of this app I had never heard of until moving day: Task Rabbit. It allows you to hire regular people to help you with everyday chores such as grocery shopping and—you guessed it—moving. Three Taskers were hired overall. One had a very bad attitude and quit 15 minutes into the move. Another was hired in her place. Everybody including my own parents asked, “Why didn’t you just hire real movers?” The world may never know.

5. Call your parents for help and then ignore their recommendations.

Would we be true 20-somethings if we actually listened to our parents?? That’s rhetorical. Between our bouts of schlepping and heavy lifting, I took a break to call my trusty father for help. “Why didn’t you hire movers? Why didn’t you borrow your mom’s car for this? I doubt you’ll have any luck, but why don’t you try and contact a moving company now? Why would you ever rely on Uber? Stop worrying about the mean mover, and is there anything I can do to help before I go to Connecticut?” Dads they know so much, even when we give them so little. My answers were, “I don’t know, I don’t know, I’ll try, I don’t know, and I don’t think so.”

6. Don’t get a moving van or truck.

(Again, see above) In continuance of the trend to get information exclusively from apps, Sara and I decided that moving van = shmooving shman. We Uber XL’ed about six times with all of her things, which cost approximately three times as much as renting a UHaul would have…You live and you learn?

7. Take as many breaks as your heart desires, and catch up in the meantime.

Whether it was a Pinkberry break, a takeout break, a break to update the parents on our current situation, a half hour to bitch about our jobs, or a moment to catch up on all of the things going on in each other’s lives, we took the time to do it. Who said moving wasn’t chill?

In the end, the day wasn’t a bad one. I got enough heavy lifting in to cover the rest of 2017. I learned a lot and ultimately got the best sleep of my life, upon returning to my own bed. (Newsflash, there is such a thing as too little too late when it comes to manpower required tasks such as moving, and the 11th hour counts as just that.) We finished moving with just one Tasker, the dog, and later, the concierge of Sara’s new building. In the end we survived. This is what growing up is, you make do with what you’ve got, and if a driver or Tasker or friend can’t help you, approach the situation from another angle. It’s all right, we’re all right.