Pack Up Your Troubles with Eliza Doolittle

I've discussed already this week how much of a pain moving house is; finding a place, dealing with ruddy estate agents, getting monies together for deposits, wondering exactly what you're going to need in regards to furnishings, council tax brackets, power providers... It's all just an utter nightmare.

With all of that out of the way, however, you're still left with one of the most time consuming and utterly boring aspects of the move;

Packing.

Like most things in life, there are two approaches to packing; the careful approach and the manic approach. each has it's pros and cons, but at the end of the day, you're going to find yourself pulling your hair out either way.

The Careful Approach

Organised packing, like most tasks sprinkled with a little touch of OCD, is time consuming and generally madness-inducing. Ensuring everything is in a carefully labelled box and grouped together for ease of access at your eventual destination. You're probably going to have a jolly good sort out as your doing it, ruthlessly getting rid of all of that stuff that at one time seemed so very important, but now looks like nothing more than a hotch-potch of random nick-nacks garnered from a gypsies wedding. You're going to end up ready to move in the other end with ease and organisation, but, like anything so meticulous, it's going to take you ages to get there. I think I'll just practice some guitar a bit... damn procrastination.

The Manic Approach

In the days before the move, there will inevitably cone a time when you simply think "sod it, I'll just stick it all in boxes and deal with it when I get there!". Now, if you're the kind of person who can happily spend the next few months, years, decades, living in clutter and disorder, then perhaps this is the method for you. If not however, you're only going to hate yourself when you reach the other end and thereafter spend three days manically searching for the loo roll. By which time, of course, it's far too late. Do yourself a favour and take the careful approach.

And allow yourself some procrastination time. It's all got to be done by some point, and everyone works better in those last few crazy hours. So Grab another cup of tea, have a fag, take the dog out for a quick walk, or, heaven forbid, write a bloody blog entry...