Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for June 07, 2024

Arlo just got hit with the old “If it’s not one thing it’s another” curse.

I don’t think I would survive moving again.

Arlo makes it sound so simple. (Not)

I thought the idea was that Gus had all these properties, and would help them find something suitable down near the kids if they wanted to make the move.

(And Momma Bears always want to be around the kids/grandkids.)

Not buying the cottage?

Oh don’t forget to retire from your job(s) or find a new one.

or stay until fall to harvest your garden, the one year when everything ill be in excess bounty.

Work, work, and more work.

Roles seem reversed somehow.

…as long as I don’t have to do the work!

We were discussing the 6 years or so when I was a contract employee and my wife said that she had found it exciting to move around the country. The money was great but I found the lack of permanence stressful. Especially the first gig where they reminded me frequently that I was disposable.

Betcha they get the blues when they go to sell, because it’s “home”.

Another set of parents who give in to the emotional extortion of their kids.

Hopefully they’ll find a place that has the same privacy as the cottage with room for a hot tub. And then Arlo can begin his next career as the Hot Tub Sommelier.

I thought Gene and Co. were trying to get them to buy Gus’ condo. They can’t afford that?

We’ve just done it, and moving is SO much work. But when it’s all over, and you’ve let go of so much that you don’t need anymore, it’s worth it all.

Good luck!

Now that I am retired, no more moving ever. When I die, they will have to drag my shriveled carcass out of THIS house.

Wow! Janis must have been very persuasive.

Moving to be close to the kids and now the kids are going to move?

Have lived here since 1976. I think that was our last move.

Great decisions are always made while in a hot tube, naked.

Arlo with a pony tail?

I’ve moved at least 15 times in my adult life. We’ve been in our current home for 19 years and the one before that 10 years. But now I can see another on the horizon requiring us to seriously downsize because of the normal aging process. I’m calling myself totally retired now and am gradually starting to get rid of “stuff.” I see us being like Arlo and Janis and following the kids to wherever they go.

Let Janis run with this Arlo; this is what you have been wanting. Go with the flow, be handy with tissues for the tears of sentimental loss and buy a back brace.

In some ways, making that decision (to actually move) was the hardest part. When you realize (again) that ‘moving sucks’ you may no think so but that first step is the hard one. After that it’s just labors…

Nothing to it Arlo especially when it means you’ll all be happier in the long run and near your kids to boot who actually are happy that you guys are moving close to them. YAY!

I am at the same place as Arlo. My SO thinks it’ll just magically happen.

There’s always a catch.

hire packers and movers, worth every penny

When everything is done, there’s still everything left to do.

Now the kids can start having babies because they will have full time baby sitters living very close by.

Can’t wait to see Arlo spring into action. lol

Is all this gonna change when Janis sees an alligator?

I feel your pain, Arlo. I once moved 7 times in 10 years. Not once did I enjoy the actual moving experience.

By the way, what is Janis doing with her hand? Is she waving at Arlo through the window of the door, or is she so excited that this motion is the equivalent of flapping her arms and flying around because “a weight has been lifted off” of her whilst talking on the phone?

I can relate Arlo. I just went thru it, and the decision to move is the easiest part. Everything else is hell.

Finding an affordable place to live, while hoping that your current house continues to increase in value is going to be the biggest problem

We still have unopened boxes from the last move – 25 years ago.

I know, Arlo.

It will all work out Arlo….it will….

I have a huge collection of audio tapes and VHS tapes of a local morning radio show I recorded for years. I’ve digitized it (all of it, I think) and I am planning on donating the original tapes to a history museum, but I haven’t gotten around to it. A forced move might speed up my decision.

hope the hot tub was worth it, with all the stuff he has in front of him, I do not wish that on anyone

Do yourselves a favor Arlo, have an auction, downsize and buy new furniture at the new location.

Owned or rented 16 houses?

They have the guest house, so there’s no pressure to find a new place. Put the furniture into storage, put the house on the market, start searching the local market.

I’ve read that, if possible, it’s best to rent in a new, unfamiliar area for 6 month or more, to figure out where you might want to buy, what the market is like, etc. Having resources already there (Gus, the kids) certainly helps.

And Gus is invested in the local real estate market, so they might get a deal.

I felt just like Arlo. Buckle up!

I’m guessing roughly 8 more strips before JJ inevitably returns to their sex life are drawing Janis in a state of undress

My husband made a spreadsheet of what we wanted, what was an absolute no, etc. We checked out various neighborhoods few years before we planned on buying & moving. We ended up buying in a small town we had originally said absolutely not and got the perfect house for us – no stairs & one of the biggest backyards on the street. After we moved, we had our realtor hire someone to do a ‘move out clean’ and it sold 3 days on the market.

Sometimes it feels like JJ is consciously pushing the envelope on depictions of sex/nudity in comic strips. Other times the strips feel tossed off with not much planning at all.

We have to put on a new roof, replace the HVAC system, and do some serious interior work before we can sell our place. I’m not saying no one could live here as it is, but it is in danger of being condemned if the wrong people notice it right now. Even with all that done, it will likely get called a handyman special in the listing.

Same with plotting. Was this convoluted multi character multi property moving plot line planned out? Hard to tell

32 years in the Army. From basic training in 1971 to retirement in 2003, I/we (single and married) moved physically, 14 times. We’ve been in this house in the country for 25 years now. The next move will be feet first.

Arlo, you are making a BIG mistake.

this is when overload paralysis sets in

Right now, Arlo has all the weight of the move on his shoulders, while he is daydreaming. I would love to relocate to somewhere, out in the country, away from people, but unfortunately, my finances won’t allow me my dream.

Be like my in-laws and pay the movers to do the heavy lifting. Saving your back is 100% worth the cost!

I know what Arlo’s feeling. I’ve got to sell, pack, and move my house of 30 years within two months.

Don’t forget to factor in home insurance costs in “Hurricane Alley”

If Janis would shut the door she would not need to swat at the flies. Third panel.

Piece of cake. Right Arlo?

Most people would put their house on the market first before finding another place to buy… wouldn’t they?

FINALLY, For the love of GOD!!!

Moving away from easy access of good medical care is a consideration that needs to be looked at as you get older. Doesn’t look like that is a problem there.

Yeah, all downhill from here – in every way.

Don’t do it Arlo!

Oh Arlo, don’t make a mountain out of a molehill.

UH, wait… now that a I think of it, finding a decent place you can afford, buying it, putting your house on the market, packing everything and moving IS a mountain !!

AAUUGGHH!!!

Same and with my property taxes just hitting 10 grand a year, we are leaving this state next year for mores than that

For a long time I have said my next move would have to be when they roll me out on a gurney…

You got something better to do, A?

easy peasey!

Now the dream turns into a nightmare!! Lived in 6 states in 12 years:{

Moved 10 times in 20 years, but didn’t buy/sell a house each time.

The morning after blues

From my head down to my shoes

Carefree highway

Let me slip away, slip away on you

Gordon Lightfoot (1974)

Wife gets her wish in panel 3, reality kicks in for the husband in panel 4.

Reality hits.

My wife and I moved here 36 years ago with four kids. Now it’s just me and her but it would probably take five roll-offs to downsize enough to move somewhere else. A single level house would be nice, but here I know where everything is without turning on a light.

House 2 houses away is for sale – they are asking just under a million dollars. We thought it crazy – even stranger was what was in the house when we read the description. We found out that we never noticed that their house is about double the square footage of our house. While the former owner of our house added a den to the back (for us it is our main craft studio), the former owner of their house doubled the house in size by adding to the back of it. Though this means they have almost no back yard. (So that was how their 3 children and the children’s spouses were all living there. Now just seems to be one couple – just the fellow with the red pickup trip who goes to work at 6 am and wakes me up when he turns the engine on.)

But the house does have the same problem as ours and all the others on the street. It is a 4 lane main street. One can sit for sometime before having a clear spot to pull out of the driveway – and NEVER back out circular driveway needed and that house does not have same. (Have to back our Class B RV/Chevy van out to use it and I have to stand in the busy street with a walkie talkie and let him know when clear for him to back out – drive to front of neighbor’s house and I jump in as quickly as possible so we don’t get hit by passing car.)

Nothing to it!