decisions decisions decisions


The next few weeks will require many many decisions to be made for us. First and foremost, where and how we will live when we move. Since we have NO savings left, we can't secure a house such as the one we now live with a deposit and first month's rent. So we've had to come up with more options.

When we first moved to Portland from Seattle, we were put into an apartment with a relocation service using a trade-out with the phone book company Greg was working for. Living rent free for a few months could sure heal us up something GUD. However, it's not the same company and the one who would have to do the footwork for a trade-out like this is Greg, himself. That's not so bad really, if we can get it to work. Several plays have to be successful in order for us to win this way (I am watching football right now, if you can't tell). Greg's boss has to agree to allow him to do this. He has to find a company with the resources. They have to agree to a trade-out. And they have to allow us to use it right away before their ad is even published. Since this seems like such a long shot, we thought it prudent to have a plan B and plan C.

Plan B, we've decided is to move into a small apartment on a six month lease and put the rest of our stuff into storage. It won't save us a lot of money on a monthly basis because we'll still have rent on both the apartment and the storage unit, but we can get into one easier since deposit requirements are so much less, and depending on what we find, we COULD save at least $100 a month from what we are paying now.

Plan C, if nothing else works, is to take my parents up on their offer for us to stay with them for a couple of months.

Now, comes the packing decisions, which are dependent on where and how we will live. Such as "do we pack the pots and pans for storage or for immediate use?" Should I pack all the summer clothes for storage or will we be in a temporary place for many months? What about Christmas? Should I pack all of my craft supplies for storage or make them easily accessible so I can make gifts instead of buy them with our meager funds? And every time we move, Greg urges me to unload and sell as much as I can. I don't like that idea because throughout the year I unload things. What makes me think that moving would change what I use and what I will need? For instance, he chides me for all the boxes of records I keep, but then when we were looking for a good moving company, he recalled that we really liked the company who moved us down here and kept our belongings in storage for 4 months until we found a house. But neither of us could remember the name of the company. Good thing I kept the records, huh? It's that kind of thing that makes me reluctant to get rid of stuff.

I asked him about the desk and credenza I use in the home office. He's wanted to replace them with a corner desk unit for quite some time. We found one at Costco that we both really like and for a great price, but we can't justify it right now. So, I asked him if we should sell the desk and credenza now in preparation to move since we're planning on replacing it later anyway. His answer, "don't sell anything we might need that would cost more to replace than we can sell it for." So, there ya go. I consider that everything we own, that is in this household, we need, or we wouldn't have it. That means I should sell nothing. Though he HAS placed his pool table up for sale. If it sells, great. We could use the money and we probably won't replace it for years. If it doesn't, fine. We DO use it and it will store just fine.

Strangely, just thinking about it makes me both weary and excited.

Posted: Sat - October 23, 2004 at 11:11 AM           |

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