Kate: Hi, Jill, how are you?
Jill: I'm fine, thanks, Kate, how are you? Kate: I'm doing well. I'm really happy to see some of the snow melting around here. Jill: I agree. It means it's warming up a little bit, and that is very nice. I'm very happy that the snow is melting, because I will be moving soon, and it will be a lot easier to move without having to deal with the slippery roads, and ice, and all that nice stuff. Kate: So where-you're moving from your mom's house to your own apartment? That's going to be a huge change. But moving itself is not very much fun, but setting up a new place can be quite interesting.
Jill: Yeah, I'm a little bit nervous, to say the least. I'll be moving from home, where meals were cooked for me, and I didn't really have a lot of responsibilities, to having to do everything on my own, and I'll be paying for everything on my own. It's quite busy trying to organize everything and trying to buy all the things that I need; the furniture, and-that will be expensive, not just busy-and kind of going through all the stuff I have accumulated over the years, and figuring out what I have and what I need. It's a little bit stressful but it's very exciting at the same time, and I'm looking very forward to it. Kate: Well, you're going to need some boxes, I can tell you that much. You're going to need some packing paper. Lots of newspapers, start setting those aside. I've moved-the last time I moved, I moved from a townhouse that I had been in for five years, to a house, but I had a gap of a month where I was homeless, so every single thing I owned had to be packed up and either put into storage with a moving company, or put into storage in my parents' basement. Actually, my parents were out of town when I figured out I was moving, so I moved a lot of stuff into their house before they even came back.
Jill: Perfect.
Kate: They knew, but they weren't quite sure what they were going to get into when they came home. So that was a long move, that was almost a double move. I moved out and into storage, and then out of storage and into the house. So I don't envy you, in some ways, but it is very exciting, and you find all kinds of wonderful things. Jill: And I'm lucky, because you know, I haven't acquired everything that I need, so I probably only have about half as much to move as most people would have-or even less so, because I'm one person, so you know, I don't have-I don't even have big dressers to move, I don't have a kitchen table yet. I have one couch and one bed and a TV and some clothes, and that's basically it, so it shouldn't be too bad. I find the part I hate about moving the most, because I actually have moved quite a few times in the last couple of years-three or four times, actually-is the unpacking. That's what I find the most difficult, is setting aside the time now that you've moved into this new place, and you still work every day, and coming home at the end of the day and trying to get motivated to unwrap things and put things away. Maybe you have to clean some of the things before you put them away, or maybe you do that before you pack them up, I don't know. So I find that that's the hardest part, and I'm worried that there might be some things that sit unpacked for quite a while. Kate: You mean like my boxes that have been sitting for three years?
Jill: Exactly!
Kate: I have some things that went into, you know, the guest bedroom, and I haven't had any guests yet, so this makes it all too easy to just leave them. But what about the basics of life? If you don't have a kitchen table, I see perhaps IKEA in your future? Jill: Yes.
Kate: Or The Brick? That's also another good place for sturdy but cheap. Yes.
And cutlery, and cups, and plates. Usually, you'll move out with a thousand mugs, but no plates. Jill: That's true, and I've also found that Wal-Mart is actually a really good place for dishes, like just casual dish settings/servings. There's $30 sets for, you know, eight plates and bowls and whatever, and IKEA's great for that too, and glasses and cups. Also, for the bigger stuff, the more expensive furniture, I'm thinking of going to not only IKEA and The Brick, but also to United Furniture Warehouse out in Coquitlam. I know some friends who have bought stuff from there, and it's brand new, and it's nice, and it's a fraction of the price of, you know, most of the home furnishing stores. I don't need anything fancy for my, you know, my first apartment, so as long as it's nice, decent, doesn't have to be the best quality ever. I don't expect it to last me for twenty years. I don't want it to last me for twenty years. I'm sure my tastes will change, so for me I'd rather buy things that aren't extremely expensive, so that in a couple years or a few years down the road, if I want to change, if my style changes or my taste changes, then I won't feel so bad about buying new stuff, because I didn't spend so much on the old stuff.
