My twenties began and ended on an air mattress. Not particularly glamorous.
I entered my twenties having recently moved out of my dad’s house into a downtown Minneapolis apartment. The place was absolutely fantastic and, admittedly, a little out of my price range (even with roommates). I spent the first several months there sleeping on an air mattress while I saved up to buy an actual bed. I’m sure many of you entered your twenties in a similar situation.
What I wasn’t expecting was for the ending of my twenties to also occur on an air mattress. After all, during the course of the past 10 years I’ve earned my bachelor’s degree, worked my way up the corporate ladder to a management position, and even hustled to work additional part time jobs from time to time. The second air mattress experience never should have happened.
In November of 2010 I was living in Dallas, TX. I was missing my hometown of Minneapolis more and more, and my job kept getting worse and worse. Late in the month, several signs started popping up that I should really go back “home” to Minneapolis. It was one of those situations in which everything was lining up just right and it was hard to ignore what the universe was telling me. After much discussion with my roommate (also a Minneapolitan at heart) we decided to take a leap of faith and move back home.
We started planning. We applied for jobs in Minneapolis, got an apartment lined up, and hired a moving company. My roommate got an offer and accepted a position. Things seemed to be going very well.
On December 26th the movers arrived to pack us up and move our belongings north. This is where things started to go wrong. The team of movers showed up 7 hours late. The estimate we received hadn’t included packing supplies, and the pricelist we received (after the movers had already started boxing up our things) was outrageous. Our initial estimate was based on pounds and the movers switched it to cubic feet telling us it would be a better deal. All in all, our new estimate after all of our belongings were loaded onto the truck was over $1,000 more than our initial estimate. OUCH.
We planned to leave town the next day (I had a face-to-face interview coming up in Minneapolis and my roommate’s job would be starting in just a few days), and we understood that it could take up to 10 days for our belongings to arrive in Minneapolis. We were each prepared with suitcases containing several days worth of clothes in case the movers took the full 10 days. We also had air mattresses so we could avoid sleeping directly on the floor until our beds came. I thought we were pretty well prepared.
Ultimately, our belongings were not delivered within the 10 day window. 10 days passed, then 15, then 20. We researched the moving company (a step we should have taken before the move) and discovered multiple complaints against them, a BBB rating of F, and problems with their license to transport household goods across state lines. We read accounts of consumers having their belongings held “hostage” by their movers, and moving trucks full of household goods being impounded. We began to wonder if we would ever see our things again.
We had very few comforts during this time period. Air mattresses, a TV and a DVD player. The air mattress was my bed, my sofa, and my dining room table. The floor was freezing cold and the air mattress seemed to suck up the cold and deposit directly into my back. My roommate actually slept in her winter coat one night.
Finally on January 21st the moving company delivered our shipment. Most of our furniture was broken, our Wii and our vacuum cleaner were missing, our boxes of dishes (marked “fragile”) arrived upside down and banged up and the movers were utterly unapologetic. I didn’t care: the drama was over and I knew where my possessions were.
While there were a lot of lessons to be learned about how to choose a reputable moving company, those were the least important things I took away from the experience. My life on an air mattress taught me far more important lessons in life. It was a truly humbling experience on many levels.
1. Food is a valuable commodity.
If you know me or have ever read my blog, you know how much I love food. I love going out to eat, trying out new recipes, chopping mountains of vegetables, and being able to cook whatever I’m craving. This behavior changed drastically during my life on an air mattress. As we began to realize that we might never see any of our possessions again, we tightened our belts and cut back on our spending (after all, I didn’t have a job yet, and there was a very real possibility that we’d have to buy all new clothes and furniture). For me, that meant grocery shopping on an extremely restricted budget, something I hadn’t done in a while.
I became acutely aware of the cost per serving of my favorite foods. I read up on how to stretch food and make sure nothing went to waste. I learned how to cook all kinds of meals with just a Dutch oven (a Christmas gift which had been left in my car rather than packed up by the movers), plastic utensils and aluminum foil. No microwave, fancy knives, frying pans, baking sheets, cutting boards, flatware or plates. I realized how difficult it would be to feed an entire family on a restricted budget. It was really hard!
2. Be prepared. (If you’re not sure whether you’re prepared, prepare more)
I’m a little bit ashamed to admit that I do not have a savings account. I mean, I guess technically I do. It has something like $10.00 in it: whatever the minimum deposit to open the account was. Of course I had watched the bits on Today and The Early Show about keeping at least 3 months’ salary in savings in case of emergency, but I just figured I’d start that after I paid off all my debt (God, I hope Suze Orman never reads this). Besides, since I turned 16 I’d NEVER been without a job. Why should I start worrying about being unemployed now?
Unfortunately there are plenty of my peers who are in exactly the same financial position. What comes in goes out. We need to change that.
Preparation goes beyond just being financially ready for disaster. Being mentally prepared is equally important. When embarking on this move, I thought that the worst case scenario would be 10 days without my clothes, furniture and kitchen equipment. I also thought I was a shoo-in for the job I wanted. I was banking on starting a job and having everything I needed within days of arriving in Minneapolis. Needless to say, life doesn’t always go as planned.
My lack of mental preparation sent me down a shame spiral. I was furious with myself for failing to get the job and failing to have even considered that I might experience a moving disaster. I didn’t even want to get out of “bed” (air mattress). What was I going to do? Get up, shower, change clothes and sit somewhere else on the floor to watch TV?
I felt awful about myself. Being mentally and financially prepared could have stopped the self-pity before it even started.
3. True friends show up for you when times are tough.
Our friends are absolutely incredible. When word got out about our moving disaster, we received the most incredible showing of support I could have ever imagined. Although we insisted that we were fine and didn’t need help from anyone, we had people offering us blankets, gift cards, pots and pans, microwaves and cell phones (oh yeah, I forgot to tell you that shortly after our arrival in Minneapolis my roommate managed to dunk her phone in a glass of Dr. Pepper. The phone was fried). Our family was calling us and offering moral support and our friends were constantly checking in with us.
The remarkable generosity of our friends and family forced me to examine myself. Would I have been so generous? I hope so. Going forward I certainly will strive to give as much as possible when someone I know is in need.
While my experience living on an air mattress was certainly a short-term challenge, I realize that there are millions of people out there much, much worse off than me. In fact, just having a roof over my head and something to eat (Ramen Noodles or otherwise) means that I am incredibly well-to-do.
While spending the final month of my twenties on an air mattress was certainly not part of my plan, I am confident that the lessons I’ve learned will stay with me in my thirties and beyond.
Table 110 