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[prof2be]

I am on a one year teaching contract, 4/4 load, all new preps for me, and ABD, about to submit the diss.  For reasons I won't go into, I have to leave my current apartment and find a new one.  The housing situation is one that I could not have forseen or avoided.

So I need to find a new place and move while teaching (have tried to find a roommate but time has run out, the rental agency needs me to commit to leaving).  I've been informally told there will be more teaching here for me, but no one has confirmed anything yet, and as my chair is on sabbatical, it's unlikely I'll get a formal offer until the spring.  I have other applications out but have had no response yet, so if work is available here I'd like to get it.  I also have an application in at another department here for a TT position.  That all means I don't know if I'm apartment hunting for the next six months, 18 months or indefinitely.  Unless I'm leaving this institution, I don't want to have to move within this city again.  To save on storage costs I had all my books and other items shipped here (my expensive apartment has loads of storage), rather than keep them where I used to live and where it is unlikely I will ever have reason to return.  There are too many boxes, and too many flights of stairs involved, for me to move just with a friend's help and her small car, I feel that I will need to hire a local moving company.

I'm finding the not knowing where I'll be in six months is making it difficult to see the best plan of action.  This is really stressing me out, so I'd be grateful to hear from more experienced temporary workers how you cope with packing up and moving without knowing how long you'll be somewhere?  What can I do to make this as easy and stress-free as possible while teaching?  I can take two paid days off for moving which I will definitely do.  I'm also wondering if there's any point unpacking much - should I just move and wait a couple of months until I know where I'll be?

[biomancer]

Prof2be, what's your timetable - meaning, how soon do you have to be out of the current apartment?

If you can manage at all to move over a break (i.e. spring break) it will be a lot less crazy than trying to move during a school week. 

Also, if you can box up everything that you don't need right now, then when you do move you'll have that much less stuff to worry about packing at the last minute.  Mr.B and I did that when we did our spring break move two years ago (I'm tenure-track, not temporary, but I've at least done the mid-semester move).   Basically, any time that you're home and have a few minutes, pack a box or two and label it.  Don't unpack anything you don't need to unpack.  What can you live without right now?  My list would be the seasonal decorations, summer clothing, gardening implements, collectibles, sports gear, probably most of the books and DVDs, .....   

If you get all of that stuff packed in advance, then the last few days before the actual move will be much less of a mad rush.  I gather that you don't have your own car - but do you have a license so that you could rent a U-haul?  If you can do that, you could move yourself (with a few friends to help with the heavy lifting - lots of people are willing to do this in return for pizza & beer at the end of the day).  If not, at least you'll have all those boxes ready for the movers.

Also, if you have so much heavy stuff (books especially) that professional movers are likely to be prohibitively expensive (most in my experience charge by weight) but you're not terribly worried about scratches to your furniture, consider asking one of your school's fraternities if they'd be willing to do the heavy lifting in return for a generous donation to their charity of choice.  If professional movers would cost $3000, and a U-haul would be $200, you could give the fraternity's charity $1000 plus feed the guys and get everything moved and still not have such a big dent in your wallet.

That said, if most of what you have is heavy, nice furniture, and breakable artwork, then go with the pros so nothing gets broken - but still pack what you can in advance.

I hope that helps.  Good luck!

[seniorscholar]

Another possibility for help that would let you accomplish the move in one day -- try the school's student employment office. My eldest daughter, as an undergraduate, drove the old second-hand truck for a group of five male friends who specialized in very fast and cheap local moves (they had lost their sixth man, who was the only one who could drive a truck with standard shift; she could do it).