Janet Brandt's Profile

I hate to break it to this poor student but in Belgium where I live, they already sell trash bags like this.

I've been moving internationally recently and I started packing up a full month before the movers came. I packed 3 boxes a day, mostly books (I purged out maybe a couple hundreds and that was it), records, kitchen stuff, etc. Not much furniture. I managed to have everything packed up 2 days before the movers came and that felt great.

The biggest issue was to clear off some space to store the filled boxes - I did that in my hallway. It's better to sell (or give away) whatever furniture you don't want ASAP so you have more space for the boxes.
If you pack your things yourself having lots of time is better to, say, bubble wrap your fragile items carefully, and it ensure you won't run out of packing materials at the last minute.

Aside from that, you don't need a lot of stuff on a daily basis, just make sure to separate some clothes (2 weeks worth that are easy to clean) and a few kitchen items, a couple towels and everything else can be packed up. I kept only a very old comforter and some old sheets for the last few nights, and I trashed them when I left.

You also need to plan carefully for whatever you're going to trash/recycle because your trash bins are quickly going to be filled, and that's why you need to schedule your garage sale ASAP so you can plan a trip to a thrift store right after it. Otherwise you might end up with some unmanageable trash overflow.
There are lots of things to purge out you always wonder if you can recycle or trash (old CDs with data, wire hangers, damn how come I have 3 staplers, etc, etc) and the more time you have to purge them out the less you spend carrying unnecessary stuff with you.

The one thing I was super happy to splurge on was hiring someone to clean up my place after I left. I couldn't have decently done it myself in the time I had before leaving the country. But it took some time to find the right person for that, so yes, get yourself organized far in advance...

it's probably negligible for manufacturers, but there are people with fine-motor disabilities for whom a touch screen is torture and using a keyboard is comparatively easier.

thank you, ciddyguy, I also don't see the uses of having so many devices when you can do pretty much everything with a laptop and/or a regular cell phone. I can understand using a smartphone when you're on the run/out of the office, but lugging around a laptop, 2 tablets, and a smartphone seems like overkill to me.
That's when you run into situations where people end up spending thousands of dollars on the hardware and their phone plans and their apps, so they feel entitled into downloading movies or music illegally for free, because they made themselves so broke with so much tech.

I second the silicon muffin liner tip, I use it all the time to freeze liquid things from chicken stock to lemon juice (with zest). Super practical, once it's frozen I pop them in ziploc bags and I can have whatever quantity I need whenever I want.

Gosh it looks fantastic, pillows or not...

This is so incredibly tacky. I went through a couple of breakups when I had to start all over again, the idea of asking my friends and family to pitch in and buy me stuff would have been so repellent...
There's plenty to be had for cheap via CL and garage sales, even if it takes times. And I'm with @bejeweled, I'd think a lot less of someone trying to do that. And even if no gift-giving was included, I'd feel weird attending something like that, even for my bestest friend.

I keep all my flours in the freezer as well, not because of any bug reason, but because my freezer is huge and my pantry is small. I never noticed any freezer smell on anything I've ever baked...

In Paris I've lived in a 180 sf apartment and later on in a 96 sf one (8th floor walk-up, toilet on the landing). For 2 years and 1 year respectively. I was very young, and they cost about $300 a month each. It was in the last century, I think now they'd charge about $700 for each.
It meant I couldn't store anything, I had to do grocery shopping every day, I couldn;t cook anything, I spent an inordinate amount of time at the laundromat, and I couldn't entertain anyone. It sucked big time. It was affordable, and that's all I can say for it. The rents they plan to charge for those spaces in SF are extortionist prices.
I can only see graduate students living in places like that, or very recent immigrants, and these are demographics that can't afford those rents.

Nothing. After the dinner is over we either continue having a conversation over drinks in the living room like civilized people, or it's late and guests leave. If I had to play something it would be Scrabble but seriously I've never been at a dinner party where people offered or asked to play games after dinner was over.