My husband and I bought our first house a little more than two years ago and quickly set ourselves to improving the bare-bones basic house (as you already knew I would do). We swapped out the basic linoleum floor downstairs for that tile that looks like wood. We have two high-energy dogs, and my husband is basically a bull in a china shop, so hardwood was right out of the question. This was the next best thing.
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| Finally, something they can't destroy |
We swapped out the basic pedestal sink that the builder shoved in the bathroom without a second thought. John and I bought a vanity cabinet from Wayfair, had a custom piece of granite cut and fitted, picked out a vessel sink and an awesome faucet to go with it. We knocked it out of the park.
We ditched the awful fluorescent light in the kitchen, installed a backsplash, switched out the fixtures in the master bathroom, and put LED strip lights in our awesome pantry, front hall closet, and stairwell. Basically, we made this builder-basic house look like it came from the pages of Better Homes & Gardens.
So you're probably wondering why we decided pretty spur-of-the-moment to pack up and move.
One night, we were upstairs getting ready for bed. All of a sudden, the dogs started going CRAZY. They ran to my bedroom window and started barking with absolute panic. John and I nearly had a heart attack. We ran to the window to see what was going on and we saw four police cars on my street and a German Shepherd sniffing the woods next to our house. There was a strange car ditched on the dead end of our street.
Nope. Nopenopenope.
John had been asking to move out into the country for a long time. He wanted acres and peace and quiet. I was okay with the idea but since moving is basically as bad as perpetual nausea, I wanted to hold off until we'd lived in this house a little longer.
Well, that night with the cops on our street was the straw that broke the wife's back. The next week, we called our beast workhorse magician of a realtor and got our house up on the market. By the grace of God, the house was sold within the space of three weeks (17 days! I told you my guy was good), and we started packing. We signed a contract on a new build so just buckle up for the posts related to THAT massive DIY period that's going down as soon as we move in. I'm sweating with gleeful anticipation.
So, that's where we are today - packing up a three bedroom house and preparing everything for months of storage. Since this process is as annoying as a trip to the dentist's, FEMSHEP is here to share the tips and tricks I've learned that have ameliorated the process considerably.
First, some platitudes that are enormously comforting and motivational:
1) A stitch in time saves nine - don't cut corners packing up your life. Moving is an enormously stressful process, so save yourself some agony on the unpacking end by doing everything thoughtfully and mindfully at this stage. Unplug your cables, label them, and put them in freezer bags taped to the item they attach to. Wipe down the inside of drawers before you pack them. Throw out anything you own that isn't either actively useful or doesn't bring you joy. Take the aggregate clutter and either take an hour and put them into a photo album or mount them to a canvas, or throw them out. If your house burned down tonight and you lost everything, what would you be most bummed about losing (assuming all the living things got out safely)? Keep those things. Be ruthless about the rest.
2) When eating an elephant, take it one bite at a time - don't look at your house and think, "I have to pack all of this, I'll never get it done." Instead, look at one closet, under one sink, one room, and think, "I have to pack these towels, I have to pack these photos." Deconstructing your project into bite-sized pieces goes a very long way to your sense of accomplishment and your motivation level. You'll feel more peaceful when the item on your to-do list can be crossed off after only an hour versus a day, or a week.
Now, some helpful tricks.
1) Make a slammin' playlist. When your house is quiet, you'll start to feel the panic creep in. Believe me. You'll be sitting there folding up underwear wondering if you'll ever finish and if this move is a good idea. Stop. Put on some motivating jams and sing your brains while you pack those skivvies, girl. I made this one and it's a slam-dunk. Press play when you're dragging ass and in an hour you'll have that entire linen closet packed and ready to go.
2) BINS. During a move, a fundamental step is shoving all your stuff into some sort of vehicle for transport to the new destination. Cardboard boxes have the tendency to collapse when heavier things are placed on top of them, and heaven forbid they get wet, it's all over. For our move into this house, I discovered 56-qt storage bins and they were enormously helpful to keep our things dry, and to pack into the truck with everything stacking and fitting perfectly. For this move, I bought twenty of these bad boys and it's made a significant difference. To start the packing, I put three or so into each room, and made myself fill them. I had allocated three hours for this task, but the technique was so effective that I had packed up all the not-furniture items from the house in ninety minutes. Coffee helped. They are easy to carry, and stacked beautifully into our PODS unit. Blam.
3) Stock up on supplies before you get started. Buy like, eight rolls of packing tape. Buy or gather as much bubble wrap and newspaper as you can. You'll need scissors. Don't pack those.
4) Make lists. I use Habitica RPG to keep track of everything that has to be done. Nothing is more annoying to me than thinking I'm almost finished and remembering twenty more things that have to be handled, so whenever I encountered something that needs my attention, I add it to my list.
Breaking down each task helps with the whole "one bite at a time" thing, and minimizes surprise expenditures of my efforts. Few things in life are better than checking an item off a to-do list, so load that list up.
Now, some helpful tricks.
1) Make a slammin' playlist. When your house is quiet, you'll start to feel the panic creep in. Believe me. You'll be sitting there folding up underwear wondering if you'll ever finish and if this move is a good idea. Stop. Put on some motivating jams and sing your brains while you pack those skivvies, girl. I made this one and it's a slam-dunk. Press play when you're dragging ass and in an hour you'll have that entire linen closet packed and ready to go.
2) BINS. During a move, a fundamental step is shoving all your stuff into some sort of vehicle for transport to the new destination. Cardboard boxes have the tendency to collapse when heavier things are placed on top of them, and heaven forbid they get wet, it's all over. For our move into this house, I discovered 56-qt storage bins and they were enormously helpful to keep our things dry, and to pack into the truck with everything stacking and fitting perfectly. For this move, I bought twenty of these bad boys and it's made a significant difference. To start the packing, I put three or so into each room, and made myself fill them. I had allocated three hours for this task, but the technique was so effective that I had packed up all the not-furniture items from the house in ninety minutes. Coffee helped. They are easy to carry, and stacked beautifully into our PODS unit. Blam.
3) Stock up on supplies before you get started. Buy like, eight rolls of packing tape. Buy or gather as much bubble wrap and newspaper as you can. You'll need scissors. Don't pack those.
4) Make lists. I use Habitica RPG to keep track of everything that has to be done. Nothing is more annoying to me than thinking I'm almost finished and remembering twenty more things that have to be handled, so whenever I encountered something that needs my attention, I add it to my list.
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| Plus I get points for finishing things |
Breaking down each task helps with the whole "one bite at a time" thing, and minimizes surprise expenditures of my efforts. Few things in life are better than checking an item off a to-do list, so load that list up.
5) Hydrate. You've heard flight attendants say their speech about donning your own oxygen mask before helping others. You know why this is? Because you're useless if you're out of commission. You're useless to everyone, and whoever was depending on you to help them with their mask will be out of luck. The underlying message here is that you need to take care of yourself. This process is stressful, it's sad, and you probably have a million other crappy adult things you'll need to be doing at the same time. Make a point to take care of yourself - drink water, get enough sleep, and minimize the amount of junk you're eating (I know it's super easy to eat nothing but takeout during this time, but try to slip an apple or a banana into each day!). You'll feel so much better and be so much better-equipped to handle this if you're at full capacity.
I will leave you with the beautiful quote by A.A. Milne:
Promise me you'll always remember:
You're braver than you believe,
And stronger than you seem,
And smarter than you think.
You got this!
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