Tenants pack up belongings for annual summer migration

Megan Murphy, left, a Kansas University graduate from Lenexa, and her mother, Linda Crosthwait, maneuver down a spiral staircase Friday with a container of clothes. Lawrence renters are making their moves among rental properties throughout this weekend and into next week.

City offers moving tips

  • Don’t discard usable items. Instead, give them away.
  • Schedule a pickup for bulky appliances, like refrigerators, air conditioners and tires at 832-3032.
  • Schedule an appointment to drop off household hazardous waste at 832-3030.
  • Transfer or terminate water service at 832-7878 or go online to www.lawrenceutilitybilling.org.

Take one look around town this weekend, and it’s obvious that July 31 is just around the corner. From moving trucks parked in driveways to furniture set by the curb, the tell-tale signs are in place that the busiest moving week of the year is about to start.

“Generally, it’s whatever weekend falls close the end of July and beginning of August,” said Lawrence solid waste supervisor Bob Yoos.

Most apartment leases expire July 31 and new ones start Aug. 1, so college students will spend this weekend packing up, moving out, and in some cases moving on.

“I just took my last final yesterday. I’m moving to Kansas City tomorrow,” said Kansas University graduate Allison Lathrop while taking a brief break from packing at the house she rented near 12th and Tennessee streets.

Lathrop didn’t seem to mind making trip after trip to the Dumpster in the alley behind her house. But moving can take its toll.

Counselors at Headquarters Counseling Center said moving ranks among the 43 most stressful events in a person’s life.

“Any sort of new change or new environment causes a little bit of stress,” said Ray Dalton, the center’s director of volunteers.

He said renters may face even more stress because of the timing of leases.

“There’s this window of time when there’s no place for people to go, and that can certainly be very stressing,” Dalton said.

To help reduce stress, he recommends taking time off from work if possible, mitigating other stressors, planning ahead and taking time to eat, drink water and sleep.

That advice goes for the movers as well as those hired to help during the process.

At Space Place, 1201 E. 24th St., co-owner Beverly Morgan said storage units have been full since May. She added that there’s limited time available for rental trucks.

“It started getting full the first week of June for this weekend and next,” Morgan said.

The city’s solid waste crews also will be affected during the next couple of weeks.

“This is probably the hardest two or three weeks of the year, just in terms of the amount of material we have to collect,” Yoos said. “We pick up all the normally scheduled trash as scheduled, but we send extra crews into areas with a lot of rental homes like apartment complexes and the Oread.”

The city has canceled yard waste pickup Monday to make more crews available for solid waste collection.