{insert} threw the book at {insert}!

We’ve got some news in the moving world coming from North Carolina. According to the Charlotte Observer, the N.C. Utilities Commission has rejected a request to pass legislation that would allow moving companies to charge nonrefundable deposits. Some companies argue that too many customers place requests for service with multiple companies, and then simply hire whoever gets there first.

North Carolina is one of 27 states that regulate moving companies, requiring state certifications and charging fines if companies attempt to operate without them.

Who’s right? It’s hard to say. Unfortunately, shady moving companies have earned their industry a bad reputation, one that would likely make any public official hesitant to give them the option of charging upfront money and the power to keep it against the customer’s will. On the other hand, if hiring multiple movers to come to your home truly is a common practice in the area, then the businesses are getting a raw deal from potential clients. Does this warrant legislation? What do you think?

Ever forget he's British? Not that there's anything wrong with being British. I just forget that he's British all the time.

Next week will be my last week at Movers.com. [Redacted] So, for myself, and those of you with an impending relocation, here are my top ten reasons why moving on is ok:

1. While we might fear change, the truth is that we don’t know what the next moment will bring. As much as we try to predict the future, we’ll fail. So, why not expect great things? Better ones than you already have? It’s not irrational, not any more than expecting the worst.

2. There has to be something you really can’t stand about where you’re at now that you won’t ever have to deal with again after this. Isn’t that nice?

3. You’ll only be stronger afterward, unless the change crushes you in its emotional, and possibly physical, immensity. No growth there.

4. There is always coffee.

5. Meeting new people may be more difficult for some of us than others, but as in #1, there’s always the possibility that you’ll meet someone you wished you’d known your whole life (platonically, romantically, who knows).

6. If you hate where you’re at now, I doubt any of this is a problem for you.

7. You might end up by the coolest coffee shop. That’s always my hope for everyone.

8. You can listen to “Like a Rolling Stone” and kind of understand what he’s talking about. Maybe.

9. You get to do the thing where you look at something get smaller in your rearview mirror, but you get to pick the soundtrack.

10. This kind of stuff is inevitable. As part of life, it should be embraced, if only because we have no other choice besides dejection and bitterness. Optimism is for the strong. Moving on is ok because it has to be ok. If it weren’t, life would be a mass of frustration and sadness. Spoiler alert: it isn’t.

If those seem like empty platitudes and misguided attempts at humor, it could be because this is a discussion that’s difficult to conduct in this kind of a professional (so-to-speak), secular (I said it), and more-or-less anonymous format. It could be because this subject reduces most people to greeting card-speak, no matter what they have a college (!) degree in. Or it could be because I’m listening to Phil Collins’ “Against All Odds” right now.

Come on, you know it’s the Phil.  (Photo courtesy of philcollins.co.uk)

One thing they definitely don't make like they used to is threatening hood ornaments. Awesome.

Going green has its ancillary (or maybe primary to some of us) benefits: saving money, for one. Especially in the case of eco-friendly driving, lowering your gas consumption is the same thing as lowering your expenses. Gas prices aren’t as high as they were a little while ago, but they certainly aren’t where I remember them as a kid. And I’m not even old. Integrating the following tips into your car driving and maintenance will help you (and the planet you live on) to breathe easier:

• Deflated tires, if you believe it (and you should, I’m not a liar), are going to make your car less fuel efficient. Keep them firm and full of air, and you’ll pay less at the pump.
• Oil changes keep your engine running at its highest efficiency. So, beyond the eventual new engine you’ll need if you’re forgoing them, you’re also wasting gas money.
• Oil and air filters keep your car operating the way it should, so change them. I guess what I’m saying is the old tune-up and oil change really make a difference.
• Driving at a constant speed (i.e., not accelerating as much) is the most fuel-efficient way to drive.
• The lighter the car, the less gas you use, so try to eliminate excess weight.
• Drive less.

There are a few more tips (that I didn’t totally feel like rewriting) in this guide in our Green Moving section. I know money’s getting tight for me over here, so I’m glad I looked at this stuff again. Enjoy.

But, Friday is a lovely day.  The weather is just how I like it: cool enough for a sweater, breezy enough to move people’s hair a little bit, so that they have to brush it out of their faces.  Autumn is the most humanizing season, I think.

So, a pensive farewell to you for this weekend.  May it be everything you wish it to be.

This is actually the second thing I thought of.

This article in the Daily Camera details the efforts of a woman and a moving company in Boulder, CO to make moving a little greener. Of course, we’ve mentioned our Green Moving Guides section a few times on this blog, but there were a few points that this article brought up that we hadn’t considered (and that I think are worth mentioning):
• Wardrobe boxes are expensive, but sturdy. They can easily be reused, which saves on cost and reduces waste.

• Professional packers will actually know how to get the job done more efficiently than your average moving customer. They will know what materials to use and how much of them they need. Hiring them for at least the fragile items will allow you to forgo bubble wrap and still not have to worry about stuff getting damaged.
• Certain things don’t need to be packed for a local move, like pictures. If you can shuttle them in your car, you should. Just make sure you aren’t taking an extraneous trip and wasting gas. That would likely offset the benefit of saving packing material waste.
• Lightening your overall load is going to conserve energy and waste, but disposing of things properly is the only true eco-friendly route.
• Bike moving. I guess you put your stuff on the bike trailers that you and all your cyclist friends have? Maybe I’m too East Coast to understand this; my first thought is of a fleet of bikers towing a small-to-medium sized tractor-trailer behind them. But this is an option I certainly never thought of.

Being green sometimes means being creative. It takes forward-thinking and determined individuals to solve the problems we face, whether that problem is sustainable energy or a more eco-friendly move. See if you can come up with your own ways to make the moving process a better process for the earth.

To offset the organic stuff. All things in moderation.

In the spirit of the school year starting up again, why don’t we look at a few college survival tips straight from our Movers.com University Student Moving guides? I don’t know, so we will!

I know when I got to school there were some basic, normal, adult things that I didn’t have down quite yet. Plus, thinking ahead wasn’t really a skill I developed until I found I was the only one dealing with the consequences of not doing it. Here are some simple you-need-to-do-this-to-survive tips that I learned the hard way, detailed even further in the “Bare Necessities” guide on the site:

• You need a bank account, but you probably don’t need a credit card. That whole “for emergencies only” thing? I’m paying for some not-so-emergencies from 4 years ago right now. Either way, find a bank that you can get to: those ATM charges add up.
• On the subject of ATMs, find one nearby, either on campus or at a convenience store. If possible, get one that you can make it to and back before the pizza guy comes (college clichés!).
• Find a good place to grocery shop. Compare prices and save yourself some money. I, for one, found Trader Joe’s to be the most inexpensive and tasty option for food shopping. On top of that, I got to feel better about eating “healthier,” though I imagine corn chips are still corn chips.
• Know your late-night restaurants and delivery options. This will come in handy.
• Keep your takeout/delivery menus in one place. That means easy access to phone numbers, pricing, and… the menu.

Wonderful! There are many other “after the move” college living tips out there, which you can get from an upperclassman, an adult, or Movers.com. By obligation, I suggest the last option, though I wrote a lot of those so I’m also pretty confident they contain great advice. Enjoy school. It tends to be a blast.

Change is the point here, a subject on which we seem to muse so often in this section of the blog. Hopefully very soon, you’ll be seeing some positive changes to Movers.com, both in the ways that we communicate with you, and even what we look like. Ask us if we started going to the gym. Go ahead, ask.

[Feigning surprise] “…Why yes! Can you really tell?!”

That is what it will be like when you see how good we look. No joke. Enjoy your weekend.

One day, my kids will be Googling "newspaper" to find out what I'm talking about.

In an article yesterday, the Boston Globe took a look at moving from a few different angles. The ways in which things like weather, time of year, and even landlord policies can affect not only movers, but moving customers, is amazing. The article is definitely worth a read.

It’s mind-boggling to think how many factors are at work to influence your move in a negative or positive way. That’s why it’s so important to plan ahead and take control of the factors that you do decide. In situations like what the article describes, having honest-to-goodness professionals working for you is going to make all the difference. Movers who can handle the pressure, deal with the heat, and be flexible enough to change up their game plan are going to be an asset to you, especially if you live in a large city like Boston.

Of course, staying organized yourself is an enormous part of it, too. Knowing which things can be stored, having everything ready to be packed or loaded, and knowing where you need to be at any given time will keep things running smoothly in spite of a few hitches. Moving can’t really be done alone; make sure you have people you can trust to help you out.

How uncharacteristically serious of us!

Image courtesy of bizior, sxc.hu

An interpretation of infinity: nesting.

Pots and pans make a lot of noise. You can cook with them, too. If you are into cooking or noisemaking at all, then you’ll want to bring the pots and pans you currently own with you to your new home. It just makes good sense. Fortunately for you, we’ve thought of nearly everything that a person could pack and written guides to help you out. Here’s a brief rundown of how to pack pots and pans.

“Nesting” is the operative word here. It is the process of stacking and wrapping items at the same time. The idea is that you take three pots or pans of differing sizes. You start by setting the largest one down in the middle of a sheet of packing paper and folding the paper up and over the edges of the pot/pan. Set the next-largest one in the center of the one you just wrapped, and wrap both of them in the same way as the first. And on and on.

Medium-sized boxes are best suited to these sort-of-heavy but not-so-heavy items, especially since they are hollow and a lot of space is just going to be air (hence the nesting). Make sure the bottom of the box is taped very well before you start putting them in there, and pack them on their sides. As always, fill any empty space with crushed packing paper. For more information on this, read the full guide we’ve written on the subject. Enjoy your loud cooking in your new home!

Inside or outside? I can't tell. Snazzy picture, though.

House plants: they aren’t much like pets until it’s time to go on vacation. Who will take care of them? You can’t take them with you to your beautiful French chateau or Disney World (I don’t know what kind of vacations you take!), but you don’t want them to die. If you don’t have any neighbors or friends you can trust to water them regularly, you may be cancelling your flight right now. Don’t! Read this.
• Whatever method you choose, water your plants thoroughly before you leave.
• One thing you can do is double pot your plants with some peat moss. Take a larger pot than the one your plant is currently sitting in and line the bottom with water-soaked peat moss. Then, simply place the smaller container into the larger one. The roots of the plant will pull the water up through the holes in the bottom of the pot when it needs water.
• Plants can also be bagged for a period of time. This conserves the water by catching it as it evaporates and having it fall back into the soil. Stick some bamboo shoots or straws (angled outward) in the soil of the pot, making sure they’re taller than the plant itself. Then, place the plant in the bag and seal it closed. Do not put bagged plants in direct sunlight; you may as well steam-cook them. Keep them in sunny areas, though. This should give you about a week’s worth of vacation.
• Really intense about this? Line the bottom of your bathtub with bricks, place the plants on top of them and fill the water a little above the bricks’ level.
• Make a watering wick out of something absorbent (like an oil lamp wick). Place one end in the soil against the roots and the other in a container of water.
• Most greenhouses and gardening emporiums will have plastic or glass bulbs for sale that insert directly into the soil and dispense water as necessary.
If you’re going to be gone a long time, just hire someone. If you live in a city where you can’t trust anyone to come into your house and water your plants, you should move.  Have a great vacation!