I have moved away from home into a college dorm, and then back home again. I have moved into my own closet sized apartment, and then into another closet sized apartment with my then new husband. Together we have moved into a series of bigger apartments, each time packing up our few belongings ourselves, and bringing them to the new location. Once we moved in a driving snowstorm where for several blocks we had to carry our mattress over our heads while slogging through thigh deep slush puddles.
After graduate school we packed up our pets, our kid, and moved across the country. One of our cats decided he wouldn't enjoy air travel and was inadvertently packed into the box spring and driven across the country in the moving van, but that is another story, (see Nine Lives, TOTS Fall, 1994). After a few years, we packed up our considerably larger collection of belongings, our pets, our kid, and moved across the country again.
With each relocation, we learned valuable lessons on the art of moving. The first lesson we learned is to always make friends with people who own vans and pick-up trucks so that when you do decide to head from larger quarters, all it costs you is some pizza, some beer, and filling up their gas tanks. The next lesson we learned is never collect moving boxes from grocery stores, restaurants, or vending machine companies. These boxes tend to come with their own little denizens, the six legged variety, looking for a new warmer home with more food to feed their many many babies. Get your boxes from bookstores, hardware stores, and liquor stores. That way if there are any little buggers looking to move with you, at least they will be well read and know the difference between a hammer, a nail and a screwdriver. And the last lesson we learned is no matter how much room is left in the box, never ever pack Rice Krispies, oatmeal and cornmeal in the same box your VCR and video tape collection are in, unless you first tape the cereal boxes closed.
I know that it is because I have such a vast amount of knowledge and experience moving that I have been selected to meet many times with the moving company representatives who will be responsible for moving my department from the PC building to the library in two months time. The movers have assured me that I need not befriend any more people who own large cargo carrying vehicles, but providing pizza is optional. They have also told me they have the box thing covered. Their boxes are never recycled and are certified "insect-free". But by far, the biggest relief to me is that no one in my office eats oatmeal.