Wednesday: The Day Before the Movers Come

Since we had hired professional movers to not only move us, but also to pack us, very little was required of us in terms of packing ahead of time. However, we were warned by friends who have “been moved” to be very aware of what’s packed—because everything will be packed, including your packed bag for vacation, or your car keys for your car, or the dirty Kleenex  in your garbage can. We took every picture off the wall, placed them in one location, emptied drawers of stuff, gathered breakables in one location, gave away contents of our refrigerator, did loads of laundry, emptied the attic of junk, taking many trips to Listen, our local Salvation Army, moved several piles of stuff into the basement, which we dubbed “the  sanctuary” because anything in the basement was off-limits to the movers, and would be brought to Minnesota. We packed our bags for the next 6-8 weeks, and I did what seemed like a very important task—refilling every somewhat empty spice container with the bulk spices from the co-op.

The great stress of the day occurred when Joy, our moving coordinator from the moving company, called around 1pm to remind us about paying the bill tomorrow. Oh yeah, that minor detail. Crap. Honestly, that was kind of something we had forgotten about: That minor $12,000 bill. The move was going to be paid for by Erik’s company, NINA, but I wasn’t part of those discussions, and it seemed that the payment was likely going to come in the for of reimbursement. I was informed that we could pay via personal check, bank wire, money order/transfer, but not credit card.

Well, this might require some major shuffling, and a quick call to ING (our online banking) informed me that if I set up a checking account with them—right then and there—and applied for the money order before 2pm, then they could have the money to the movers by the next day. This was at 1:40pm. I had 20 minutes. And that would only be half the money we needed, the other half being in other accounts.

I am freaking out.  In walks Erik, fresh from his last moments in the woodshop finishing up a very last minute project. Not a good combination.

Cooler heads prevail, phone calls are placed, and we are loaned the money from a generous family member, who will be reimbursed by NINA, of course. Maybe in the form of plane tickets to Norway, totaling $12,000, but still paid back nonetheless. Only kidding.

Minor crisis adverted, but I am still irked that we weren’t reminded a little sooner than 18 hours before the movers come just how much money they are expecting in their hands. I’m also remembering reading something, somewhere about tipping the movers—how much is customary, etc. I remind myself to look this up. Care to guess? $6-8/hr per mover! The movers call that afternoon, and tell me they expect 4-6 guys to come, to arrive between 8 and 10am and to pack for “a full day”. “What does this mean exactly?” I ask. The response was, “If we arrive around 9, probably until 6 or 7”. That’s a long day, and a big tip.  I continue to remind myself, “it’s just money, it’s just money”.

            I add, “go to the bank for cash” to my Thursday To-Do list.