Closing & Moving

So on Wednesday I close on my small house in Bristol, then Thursday I'll do the bulk of the moving myself by renting a U-Haul and filling it with all the boxes and brick-a-brack I can. Saturday will be the final move, but that will just be the few things that I can't move myself (Sofa, coffee table, TV, and the bottom of my tool box).

Then, my bedbug worries will be over.

What, didn't know that I had a bedbug problem? Not a surprise, I haven't told many people. It happened in June, just after I got back from attending my son's high school graduation up in Vermont. I took the trip with my mom, we stayed in a good hotel up north of St. Johnsbury. A few weeks later, to my horror, I discovered just what bedbugs were firsthand.

I immediately told the rental office, who acted like I was crazy or something, until they sent an exterminator out a week later to confirm my suspicions (he did). I also immediately warned my mom, saying that we both might have been infected in Vermont, but it turns out this fear was not realized. You see, the leasing office later told me that the neighbor sharing my bedroom wall had bedbugs before I did. He was getting treated, so they moved through the wall we share (which I learned in the apartment industry is referred to as 'the party wall'.)

So another two weeks go by before treatment begins, which consists of 3 visits, one every 2 weeks, where they spray the whole place.

Incidentally, to prep for treatment you've got to wash and seal up all of your linens...all of them. This means that every stitch of clothing, bedding, towels, you name it, it had to be washed then sealed up in an airtight container. Also, all furniture must be pulled away from the walls, and all wooden furniture must be turned upside down so the bottom can be treated. What does one with a library of books do? Pack as if to move.

Which is part of what got me started down this road. If I'm already packed to move, why not just finish the job (which mainly involved the kitchen, which is now done)? Also, why keep throwing my money away every month on an apartment, when I can throw the same money away towards something I'll eventually own? Most of us don't lease cars because we know how stupid that is, we've all heard the horror stories of those who've reached the end of the lease. Well, renting an apartment is a lease.

But the main motivation is I want to sleep peacefully at night, not worry about some tiny insect gnawing at my flesh, trying to get at the sweetmeat that is my blood. I mean, the stuff they sprayed is gonna wear off eventually, right? And it's not like the leasing office treated my place as a precaution, they only did so after the infestation spread from my neighbor. The bottom line is, this is a three story building, I'm sure the bedbugs have moved on to less lethal ground...for now. But someday them just might come back.