Why I don’t want to move. ever. again.

I am writing this post to document all of our moves over the past 4+ years of our life. It is long and not very exciting, but I feel compelled to document this for posterity's sake.

It all started in 2010.

A week before we got married we moved all our stuff into the house we would live in post-wedding (move #1).

Ten months later we moved everything out of that house partially into storage, partially into our car (move #2). Matthew and his brother, Mark, then drove our car across the country to DC (where I had an internship) and we lived there for a couple months.

After my internship ended, we took 200 lbs of stuff with us on the plane (thank you Southwest!), left the rest, and headed back across the country again. Stopped in Seattle/Portland for a month, then went back to Utah (move #3).

Just three months later, we were on the move, yet again (notice a pattern?) Matthew got a job offer at the JGI in Walnut Creek, so we flew out to Maryland for Thanksgiving and spent the next few days packing up a LOT of our stuff (but not everything). We checked nine 50-pound bags and a bicycle on our flight back to California (move #4). Tip: Virgin has very, very cheap baggage fees.

We rented a jeep in California and drove it to Utah for another move. We stuffed it to the brim, but still didn’t have space for everything, so we had to leave some stuff behind. Drove to California and moved into our temporary place (move #5).

*Note: Our belongings are spread across Utah, Maryland, and Portland.

Two months after move #5, we found a great apartment in the perfect location right in downtown Walnut Creek. Got everything moved in a few carloads (move #6). We would live there longer than any of our other places thus far. Also during the time we lived here, we had some major deliveries. The first was from my parents who brought us a bunch of kitchen stuff for our place and the second was a carload of the stuff we had left behind in Utah (hurray for BYU students willing to bring your stuff to you for $100!)

*Note: Now we only have stuff left in Maryland and Portland. Good riddance, Utah!

Almost a year and a half after move #6, it was time to upgrade to a 2-bedroom apartment. We had grown out of our 500 sq. ft 1-bedroom. Literally. We stored our stuff in the living room. And kitchen. We made the move without renting a moving truck, since we sold most of our furniture on Craigslist (move #7).

Since we sold mostly everything to start fresh, we had a lot of shopping to do. Around this same my dad put his foot down and insisted that I had to move my piano out of their place in Portland. So away to Portland we went. I figured since we were moving the piano, we might as well pick up some furniture while we were at it. I went as far as Seattle and managed to get some pretty awesome midcentury furniture. My parents contributed a few pieces and we moved all of it along with my baby grand piano in a Penske truck we drove back to California (move #8).

*Note: Our inventory of stuff in Portland has significantly reduced!

Now our apartment is filled with stuff. Boxes, furniture, an unorganized chaotic mess. And it stays like that for a while. Because we both have full-time jobs and don’t have time to be organizing all the time.

And then we get Elfa. *Cue: angelic choir*

Elfa was awesome because we were able to organize our things and keep them off the floor. Too bad just a few months after we *finally* got all of the Elfa installed…we (yes, you guessed it) MOVED.

This time it was a massive move. THE massive move. It was all of our belongings we worked so hard to finally get in one place, all the furniture we carefully selected, and all of the stuff we had picked up along the way.  We knew we’d be there for a while – 5 years at least – so we wanted to bring everything along. We (Matthew) packed, loaded (thanks EQ!), organized and reorganized the truck. Since we were paying per linear foot, we wanted to squeeze everything into the smallest space possible. We shipped our car, and flew to Maryland (move #9).

Matthew has some serious packing/loading skills.

Our stuff arrived about a week and a half later and this time we hired help to unload. We were staying with Matthew’s parents and hadn’t found our place yet, so we had to move everything into a storage unit – two units to be exact (move #10).

Moving selfie.

Once we found our apartment (three weeks later), we had the joy of moving yet again. Matthew’s parents helped us, and we managed to do the move in just two truckloads (move #11).

But wait! We had decided not to move our dressers, but realized we actually needed them. So we rent a cargo van and spend another of our precious Saturdays moving. I won’t count that move since it was just two dressers. And because 11 is a nice prime number.

So there you have it. The history of the Bendall moves. Riveting, isn’t it?

ELEVEN moves in our four years of marriage. That’s an average of one move every 4.36 months.

Now you can understand why I don’t want to move. ever. again.