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So, you need a place to create, and you've learned (or will learn) that your environment is a crucial ingredient. Until the day when you move into your dream home and gradually grow out of touch with your audience, here's a few tips to keep things mobile:
There's an old saying: "You don't own stuff - stuff owns you." You know who says this? Communists and poverty-stricken hippies. There's nothing wrong with having stuff. What are you gonna do - sit on the floor of your apartment and stare at the walls? Stuff makes life more enjoyable. Just don't become a pack-rat. There will be time late to start your collection of Good Times collector plates. And, if that day never comes, you're going to need that money for more important stuff - like food and electricity. Nothing's more of a commentary on your life than the mathematical equation where the cost of a storage unit far exceeds the worth of all the crap you've accumulated and NEVER USE. Here's a better saying: KISS - Keep It Simple, Stupid.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: animals are not STUFF that you OWN. Treat a pet the way you would treat a child. If you're not ready, then you wait until you're better situated. And, if you have a pet, don't move to a place that doesn't allow animals. I once looked at an apartment that was completely demolished - cabinets hanging on one hinge, rugs worn down to the floor, holes in the walls, exposed wiring and a bathtub the previous tenants tried to paint with house paint. This was a result of a woman and her two children living in insanity for 11 years, and the manager told me I should try to picture the place all cleaned up. When I inquired about the building's pet policy, he was almost insulted that I even asked. "Oh, no. We don't allow pets here. They do too much damage." Oh, of course. While I'm here with you, my cats are probably taking a sledge hammer to the east wall of my dining room and spray-painting my kitchen silver.
One of the rescues I work with has a great slogan: "Adopting an animal is a lifetime commitment." In other words, you take on the responsibility of caring for that helpless creature for all of its natural life. Just because there are a hundred animal rescues in L.A. doesn't mean that there will be a place for your forgotten friend when you move on. The reason there are so many animal rescues is because of selfish idiots who don't think that it's important to care for their pet the way their pet cared for them.
Leave the toilet paper and light bulbs. As a former mover, I can't believe how many people move out of $300,000 houses and pack up 18 cents worth of toilet paper. When you need it, you'll wish it was there, and so will everyone else who comes into your home before it's occupied again. In fact, put in a fresh roll on moving day.
If you're making many small trips, pack as much as you can into each run. You always have more stuff than you think, and it will always take longer than you guessed.
Don't save the heavy stuff until last. The last thing you want is to spend all day hauling boxes and then when you're nice and exhausted at 10PM it's time to move the weight set downstairs.
For the record, a dolly is the flat wooden thing with the shopping cart wheels. The stand-up 2-wheeler with the scoop at the bottom is called a hand truck. I can't tell you how many blank stares I got from people when I use the term "hand truck". I thought maybe this was a regional thing, but I went into Home Depot, and sure enough, they're called hand trucks. I once stopped at a gas station in Indiana and went into the mini mart to buy some drinks to load into my cooler, and when I asked the clerk where the soda was, she stared at me like I asked her to guide me to the secret passageway to Narnia. Yes, they call it "pop" in that neck of the woods, but you never heard the word "soda"?
Like I said, there's nothing wrong with owning some stuff, especially when it makes the struggle a little less overwhelming, but don't go overboard. Save the marble-topped dining room table for the house you're going to live in for 30 years, not the apartment you're sub-letting (on the 3rd floor with no elevator).
And, as always, remember my motto: Roommates suck. Don't get sucked into their insane worlds while you're trying to build yours. An extra hundred bucks a month in rent can buy you a lot of peace of mind and save you a lot more in the long run.
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