Moving Chaos

April 10, 2011 in home, real life with 10 Comments

Moving is fun and exciting! I tend to romanticize the positive parts of moving, like a new kitchen, organizing and decorating differently and forget the reality of a move and the stress, hard work and chaos that comes with it.

Moving day was quite peaceful – I was the calmest I’ve ever been during a move and my husband definitely noticed!

The hard part is settling in with an active baby! Not to mention we’re moving into a smaller home with smaller and fewer closets and cabinets. And quite frankly, we still have too much stuff!

This past week has been chaotic but peaceful at the same time. The house is becoming more and more of a home each and every day and we’re working in short bursts while Paxton naps or while he is content playing or snacking!

This was the scene last Monday morning as John David was putting in the last of the contact paper (my husband is awesome!). Paxton was completely content watching daddy while eating breakfast!

{New pearly whites!}

Over the course of the week we’ve managed to organize almost every room in the house. They all lack those small touches that make a house more cozy but it’s coming together and really starting to feel like home!

What about you? Do you really love moving? Or, are you like me and romanticize it but don’t really like it?

 

A Laundry Tale

April 8, 2011 in real life with 4 Comments

What do moving, a broken dryer, no clothesline and a baby with a stomach bug have in common?

If you guessed piles and piles of laundry, you’re correct!

Laundry has been backing up all week at the Boreing house!

These “evidence” pictures were taken Thursday morning…it got worse! And there also was a hamper in Paxton’s room that was heaping!

We found out Monday evening that our dryer needed a minor repair. No big deal, we ordered a replacement piece and knew we’d be fine until it arrived.

That was without factoring in Paxton’s stomach bug that began Tuesday. We found him Tuesday night around 11 covered in vomit so we had to change sheets, pajamas and give him a bath. The next morning, he vomited all over our bed (and me!)

Without going into details, there was throwing up on our bed again and all over himself and me multiple times.

Without a dryer, I had to get creative to deal with the excess laundry and to keep clean sheets on our bed and pants on Paxton!

I used my drying rack to dry a couple small loads of clothes {remember every other day this is necessary to dry cloth diapers so I couldn’t wash much!}

Thursday it was nice enough to dry some of the clothes outside. This was great until the neighbors started a fire. Ugh…our clothes (and Paxton’s only clean pants) smelled like smoke!

Friday morning our laundry hamper was heaping higher than it’s ever been before.

Thankfully we were able to get the dryer parts and get them installed. And yes, I excitedly spent my Friday evening catching up on laundry!

I’m looking forward to getting our clothesline set up and I’m so thankful to have a working washer and dryer and a healthy throw-up free baby!

Frugal Moving Tips

April 5, 2011 in finances, frugal with 4 Comments

{This post was originally posted on October 22, 2010. Since we’re currently in the midst of moving this is applicable! I plan to soon start sharing our new home and about our downsizing process!}

Moving is not easy! You are packing up your entire home and moving everything into a new home which can be quite daunting. Add to that movers, renting a truck, buying boxes, buying tape, and the expenses can add up quickly! However, it is possible to move on the cheap!

Frugal moving tips:

Invest in a Tape Gun Dispenser: My mother-in-law gave us one 3 moves ago and it has been an extremely helpful tool! This enables us to quickly build broken down boxes as well as securely tape up packed boxes. A tape gun dispenser is very inexpensive, you can purchase a decent one for around $10!

Use Free Boxes: Since we didn’t have much time between finding out we were moving and our moving day we thought we were going to have to purchase boxes. Do you know how much boxes cost? Small boxes are around $1.50 and large boxes are about $2.50, each! We could very easily spend $100 or more just on boxes!

We found sources of free boxes! My husband brought 10 or so home from work, a lady from church who worked in a retail store brought us about 25 really nice boxes and I called Dollar General and was able to get around 40 boxes! All of the free boxes were broken down but building boxes only takes about 15 seconds with a tape gun. I’m willing to invest 15 seconds per box to save $1.50 or more!

Have 3-4 Good Markers: Having a few good markers instead of just one makes labeling boxes more time efficient! Since there were several markers throughout the house, I never had to walk far to find one! (It seems like they just walk off sometimes!) Remember that labeling boxes very clearly makes unpacking much easier!

Do It Yourself: Don’t hire movers! We toyed with this idea too but it’s expensive! Plus, I’m a little picky and really didn’t want other people packing my boxes, mostly because of the unpacking! I clearly label all of our boxes and know exactly what is in it before opening. Thankfully, our parents helped us load the truck and friends from our new church helped us unload!

Rent a Truck: Renting a truck and driving it yourself saves money over paying someone to drive! It cost $380 to rent the largest truck U-Haul had! (Yes, it is a little embarrassing that we needed a truck that big! And no, it wasn’t packed to the brim!) The first time we moved, we used John David’s parents’ small pull behind trailer. We had our mattress strapped to the top and John David’s mom’s van loaded. Trust me, it’s much easier to just pay for a moving truck and not worry if it is going to rain and ruin things that are strapped to roofs!

And don’t worry about hiring a babysitter, just use a moving box to contain your child! (We had to snap a picture of Paxton in a box to document the moving process!!)

These frugal moving tips helped keep money in our pockets!

Comments from this move:

*We didn’t rent a moving truck, we used our truck and SUV to move the majority of our belongings and borrowed a larger truck and trailer! Yes, this required several trips but done over the course of several days and with each load we were setting furniture up or cleaning and unpacking in the new house!

*When you have an active 11-month-old, it’s best to take friends up on their offers to watch him! We were baby free for about 8 hours on ‘moving day’ which allowed us to do about twice the amount of work that we could have done if we had Paxton with us. Plus, he had a blast since he was able to hang out with other kids!

When Things Don’t Go As Planned

March 27, 2011 in home, real life with 5 Comments

I had our entire weekend mapped out in my head. Close at 2:00.  After closing swing by and get the electric transferred, call about the water, pick up our Crock-Pot of Chili and carry to the new house so we can stay there late and paint Paxton’s room and some trim. Then on Saturday, more painting and cleaning!

Those were my plans but things don’t always go as planned!

Thankfully, I woke up Friday morning and told John David that I was letting go of my expectations about the weekend and was going to be flexible! I am so thankful I made that decision!

{A peek inside! This is the front door and small bit of our living room. The front of the door is red, I love it!}

We closed at 2:00 and from there our plans went south! Both the water and the electricity were turned off. We had to go out to the house within 30 minutes of closing to get the water back on and we didn’t make it in time to have the power turned on!

That’s right, we had no power!

It’s pretty much impossible to paint walls and trim with no electricity, especially when it is dark and gloomy outside.

We stayed positive and were able to knock out a few projects like spray painting fans, painting exterior doors, putting matching door knobs and keys on the exterior doors and switching the handle on the fridge around.

We were incredibly excited that there was enough light Sunday afternoon to allow us to paint the first coat in Paxton’s room.

You don’t realize how convenient electricity is until you don’t have it! I also was amazed at how much we were able to do without it. If I had to chose between running water and electricity, I’d chose running water over the electricity because it is possible to function and be productive without it!

I’m learning that letting go of my expectations really helps me to remain positive when things don’t go as planned!

I know we’re not the only ones with crazy house closing stories! What are your house closing adventures?

 

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