Productive

After Michael and I put an offer on our land, there was nothing to do around here, but sit and wait until they accepted, then there was nothing to do until we got more money to be able to afford even talking with an architect.  So, I spent those months (end of Oct - mid Jan) going through stuff around this house.  I had a friend who was moving and having yard sales, and let me bring a car load (or two) of toys, decorations, etc. for her to sell and pocket the money.  After she moved, it was that time of year to pack Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes.  I filled 17 this year!

Then, another friend said she would take my stuff for a Christmas yard sale of their own.  Then after 3 or 4 car loads, she and her husband decided to sell stuff on Craigs list.  They can use the money and I can use a good cause to donate my stuff I don't use anymore.

So far, I've gotten rid of:

My old jewelry box

Kara's old jewelry box

All of Kara's JUNK

9 bags of clothing from our closet

 * old toys I was saving (but never get used) (This was at least a whole car load.  My word.)

 * old books I am not going to read again, or Kara isn't going to read again (I saved all the sentimental ones)

 * Christmas decorations I bought at an old yard sale that I don't use anymore

 * clothes Kara grew out of

 * clothes Michael doesn't wear

 * clothes I don't wear

 * my shoes

 * our old leather jackets we will NEVER fit into again

 * Michael's shoes

 * Kara's shoes

 * my purses

 * old bins

 * extra stuff from my stockpile (some food, some toiletries)

 * new toys I bought on clearance at Target from my stockpile

 * VHS tapes

 * an old TV

 * kid sized furniture

 * notepads, stickers, other school supplies that were too big to put in an OCC box

And the list goes on and on and on.

(I'm trying to save things like lamps, sheets, towels, blankets, pillows, etc, even if I know I won't use them in the new house.  There may come a time when our new house is still being built, but Michael's job is transferred to Alabama anyway.  Kara and I would stay behind to sell the Maryland house while we set Michael up in an apartment in Alabama.  I am planning on sending all the extra stuff with him.  If the house is finished being built and Michael is still here in Maryland, I'll know we can get rid of that stuff.)

Then in January we got started with house plans, electrical plans, site plans, picked out finishes to get a budget set, I visited the property twice, etc.  It was busy.  I was busy.  Well, now that we are done with almost all of the prep work and there is nothing productive I can be doing, it's time to get back into packing/decluttering mode again.

This week I've been working on:

 * all books in the homeschool room

 * that homeschool closet, which was SO FULL
 * Kara's school work - I saved the fun and cute projects

 * Michael's book shelves

 * the basement bedroom's closet and 2 dressers

 * my CDs

 * I packed several boxes and put them aside

Michael's bookshelves before I attacked them

More VHS to donate (did you know so many of these are on Netflix?)

I packed these books

Here is the pile by the door to load into the car.

Another angle

I am going to add mine and Michael's bikes, which were my parents' bikes.  You can see a spare gerbil cage in there.  Kara has decided not to wait until we move.  She is ready to give her gerbils to her friends now.  Thank goodness!  Those little guys drive me crazy - Kara complains every time she has to clean the cage, they make noise at night, and they flick their bedding (mixed with their poo) onto the carpet every day.  *sigh*  While Kara loved them so super much, all of this wasn't a problem.  Now that she doesn't, I'm done.  She's done.  It's perfect timing.

Oh, and I have a box of crafting things for Michael's mom.  :-)  And some shelves.  And I took our grill to the dump today.

So, I have several boxes packed, taped, labeled, and put into the garage attic.  And I have several boxes packed, not taped, labeled, and put on shelves so I can still get into them if I need to.  Remember, we still don't have a date for when to put the house on the market.  I'm just astonished how much stuff we have accumulated in the last 8 years.  I blame it on the fact that the house is large, so there's plenty of room to store stuff, plus we had one kid and weren't sure if we'd have more so we held onto a lot, plus I have never lived anywhere for 8 years.  I needed a reason to go through everything and really decide if I wanted to keep it or not.

So, even though I moved a lot growing up, my parents worked with military movers who did the packing for us.  I have moved 4 times in the past - once I was pregnant and very sick so Michael did a lot / everything - once Kara was a baby and I was so overwhelmed so my mom helped a lot.  The other times we didn't have much.  But I have done it enough and helped friends enough to certainly know the process:

1.  get rid of stuff you don't want to pay to move

2.  give all your friends' stuff back so it doesn't go to the new house

3.  pack seasonal stuff

4.  pack stuff in closets

5.  pack stuff on shelves

6.  pack stuff in drawers

7.  pack everything besides a small amount of stuff from kitchen, laundry, bathroom, clothing

8.  pack the rest

Don't forget your "open first" boxes with sheets, cleaning supplies, towels, coffee pot, breakfast, etc. for that first day/night in the new house.

I have been stuck on #1 for months!  I just started doing #1-#5 this week.  Whether we move in a few months or in a year, I think we are good to go.  I think I could work on #1-#5 for a good month, here and there.  And if we finally break ground later this month like we're supposed to, it may take longer.

I have also spent time on pinterest pinning fun design ideas for the new house, and I came across pins with moving tips.  My favorite tip - using colored duct tape - each room in the new house gets assigned a color so movers can see at a glance where each box goes.  Yes, I love it!  And I ordered my new tape from amazon yesterday.  :-)