Covid-19 has made moving more stressful than ever!
by M. Victoria Calabrese
Moving is stressful, that is undeniable. Boxes are everywhere, you have no idea where any of your things are anymore and you start questioning why the hell you own so much. That is without mentioning the alarming regularity in which IKEA furniture causes complete meltdowns. I found myself screaming profanities at a Kleppstad wardrobe less than two days ago. Not surprisingly, it didn’t answer.
Yet there is a new addition to all the things that make moving an absolute nightmare.
Covid-19 has complicated everyone’s life beyond anything that could ever have been expected. A lot of people have been forced to move due to the pandemic, and the circumstances it left them in.
Ioana-Alexandra Cimpanu, a second-year Photojournalism student at London Met said: “I moved because during the first lockdown I found myself living in a small space with my dad which wasn’t ideal. So as soon as things started to open up again, and I was able to work I moved.”
The 20-year-old described the process of moving as relatively straightforward. She said: “I had one viewing before getting my place, so I guess the only difference was having to wear a mask.”
Moving is a “nightmare”
It was a different story for second-year Journalism student Carolina Piras. She said that the process of finding a new place to stay after the old house was being put on sale as a nightmare.
“Many people don’t do viewings and they expect you to just put down the money, because ‘Due to Covid we don’t do viewings’ and how is that supposed to work?”
She added that it seems that landlords and agencies are out to scam people more than ever: “Landlords and agencies suffered from the crisis and many people left the country forever. Everyone said it was going to be easier and it wasn’t. Everybody said the prices would come down and they did but not for everything.
“Many landlords kept the prices high and for shared houses, many did not respect the ‘rule of six’ and put people at risk by having eight people living in one place.”
The fact of the matter is that Covid has made moving much more difficult than it already is, and it won’t get any easier until the vaccine program is fully rolled out and life has returned to something resembling normal. But until then people are going to have to put up with a lot more stress than most when moving.
As I finish unpacking my boxes, I just hope my wardrobe won’t stay mad at me…
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