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I officially took possession of my new apartment on Saturday! I am not actually moved yet -- I am still living in my parents' guest bedroom in their basement -- but all the big furniture is there and I spent several hours unpacking and putting things away on Sunday afternoon and again this evening.
Getting my three U-boxes delivered was more of a production than it should have been, which was entirely due to technical glitches on U-haul's part. In summary, I wanted to create a reservation to have U-haul drop off all three boxes on the street, hire some movers for two hours to unload them, and then have U-haul pick the boxes back up on Sunday. I even got permission from the local police to have the boxes on the street overnight despite parking ordinances that require everyone to clear out between 2am and 6am. But U-haul's website would only allow me to create a reservation for box A. Even if I clicked on box B or box C to start the reservation, the only box that appeared as an option was box A.
Eventually I made a reservation for box A so I'd have an order number to reference, and then texted U-haul's help line. (Yes, they have a text-based help line. This is both very nice -- no phone calls! no hold music! -- and moderately frustrating, because it can be harder to explain exactly what you need via a phone keypad.)
Instead of adding box B and box C to my existing reservation, the help line guy created an entirely new reservation for all three boxes, but set it to self-delivery instead of company delivery. Which meant I now had to cancel the initial unloading-only contract with the movers (I got a credit) and create a new one for delivery AND unloading.
Also a couple days later I discovered (via a U-haul email telling me the delivery had been rescheduled from 9am to 10am) that the help line guy hadn't bothered to cancel the original reservation. I duly tried to cancel it. U-haul's website wouldn't let me. I texted the help line again, got a different person, and told them to please CANCEL order #1 and KEEP order #2. The new help line tech did that.
Which you would think would finally clear everything up, but when my moving crew showed up at the U-haul storage center on Saturday, the U-haul crew initially thought they were there for order #1 and only had box A ready. *headdesk* The moving crew lead called me to verify which order was correct, I told him order #2, he said "I knew it! I told them!" and then went and made U-haul fix their end.
I think in the end the expense wound up about the same, and this way all three boxes were cleared out and returned on the same day instead of staying overnight, but it was a pain in the neck.
...
I already knew I needed to buy a new sofa (this one, I think, will be some kind of sofa-bed) and also a new desk, but I think I also want to get some kind of open shelving unit to extend my kitchen. The current cupboards and drawers have a bit less useful space than my old kitchen, besides which I want to move a bunch of the cookware to easily reachable height instead of having things way up high or down where I need to crouch to reach them.
I also want to repaint a couple pieces of furniture I've been hauling around since childhood (they are both sturdy and useful, but primary colors are not really my style) and either paint or varnish/stain a wooden "shelving unit" that I knocked together out of two cheap-ass shoe stands (I flipped one upside down and bolted them together) about 15 years ago. In my old apartment it languished in my entry room gathering dust and holding assorted random junk, but I have decided it will suit well as a nightstand and therefore it needs to be made presentable. :)
Also also I need to install curtains to supplement the blinds, buy a shower caddy, and add some towel racks or towel loops to the bathroom, but those are easier projects. You can buy curtain rods, shower caddies, and towel fixtures practically anywhere.
Getting my three U-boxes delivered was more of a production than it should have been, which was entirely due to technical glitches on U-haul's part. In summary, I wanted to create a reservation to have U-haul drop off all three boxes on the street, hire some movers for two hours to unload them, and then have U-haul pick the boxes back up on Sunday. I even got permission from the local police to have the boxes on the street overnight despite parking ordinances that require everyone to clear out between 2am and 6am. But U-haul's website would only allow me to create a reservation for box A. Even if I clicked on box B or box C to start the reservation, the only box that appeared as an option was box A.
Eventually I made a reservation for box A so I'd have an order number to reference, and then texted U-haul's help line. (Yes, they have a text-based help line. This is both very nice -- no phone calls! no hold music! -- and moderately frustrating, because it can be harder to explain exactly what you need via a phone keypad.)
Instead of adding box B and box C to my existing reservation, the help line guy created an entirely new reservation for all three boxes, but set it to self-delivery instead of company delivery. Which meant I now had to cancel the initial unloading-only contract with the movers (I got a credit) and create a new one for delivery AND unloading.
Also a couple days later I discovered (via a U-haul email telling me the delivery had been rescheduled from 9am to 10am) that the help line guy hadn't bothered to cancel the original reservation. I duly tried to cancel it. U-haul's website wouldn't let me. I texted the help line again, got a different person, and told them to please CANCEL order #1 and KEEP order #2. The new help line tech did that.
Which you would think would finally clear everything up, but when my moving crew showed up at the U-haul storage center on Saturday, the U-haul crew initially thought they were there for order #1 and only had box A ready. *headdesk* The moving crew lead called me to verify which order was correct, I told him order #2, he said "I knew it! I told them!" and then went and made U-haul fix their end.
I think in the end the expense wound up about the same, and this way all three boxes were cleared out and returned on the same day instead of staying overnight, but it was a pain in the neck.
...
I already knew I needed to buy a new sofa (this one, I think, will be some kind of sofa-bed) and also a new desk, but I think I also want to get some kind of open shelving unit to extend my kitchen. The current cupboards and drawers have a bit less useful space than my old kitchen, besides which I want to move a bunch of the cookware to easily reachable height instead of having things way up high or down where I need to crouch to reach them.
I also want to repaint a couple pieces of furniture I've been hauling around since childhood (they are both sturdy and useful, but primary colors are not really my style) and either paint or varnish/stain a wooden "shelving unit" that I knocked together out of two cheap-ass shoe stands (I flipped one upside down and bolted them together) about 15 years ago. In my old apartment it languished in my entry room gathering dust and holding assorted random junk, but I have decided it will suit well as a nightstand and therefore it needs to be made presentable. :)
Also also I need to install curtains to supplement the blinds, buy a shower caddy, and add some towel racks or towel loops to the bathroom, but those are easier projects. You can buy curtain rods, shower caddies, and towel fixtures practically anywhere.
