We are moving this summer!!!!!! This totally deserves a thousand exclamation points because my husband and I are both on board with this decision, instead of it only being me. We’ve even started looking at some houses, TOGETHER, instead of me just looking at house porn myself! (P.S. house porn are those houses that you look at that are way above your price range and oh, by the way, you have no intention of moving anyway, so why are you looking!!!)
House Porn
So now that I’ve put that we are moving out there into the ethos, we have to do it. NO TURNING BACK!
Okay, so as to not make moving a bigger deal than it already will be, because let’s face it, moving is a HUGE pain in the ass, there are steps that I’m taking to make it less painful. So, with a potential 5 month lead time, here’s my plan of action:
- Minimize! People buy and hoard lots of stuff that they don’t actually use and we’re no exception. I’ve got crap in my basement, stuffed in drawers, and crammed in closets that needs to go. So, step one is to systematically go through all my closets, desks, drawers, baskets, really any place that is a crap magnet and minimize. A plus to minimizing that you sometimes find uses for stuff that you haven’t used in a while. When I cleaned out my junk drawer in the kitchen today, I found a CONGRATULATIONS banner that hadn’t been used in a while. Right after that, my son’s doctor called and told me that after looking at his X-rays that he did in fact fracture his thumb while wrestling. So…
Congratulations, Buddy!
- Hoard boxes. Since Christmas, I’ve been hoarding boxes. If I get an Amazon order and the box is move-ready size, I put it in my basement to save for the move. Luckily I have enough room in my basement to not have to break them down, put if you are short on room, break down the boxes and stack them along a wall. You’ll thank yourself later when you don’t have to buy moving boxes. Same goes for packing material. HOARD!
- Make a punch list of every room. I’ve started in the basement and will be going through each room with an eye toward selling so that I can fix anything that needs fixing (e.g. blinds that need straightening, wall paint that needs touching up). I’ll also add little items to my punch list that I think a seller might want to see. Think “replace the almond light switches to white ones” or “paint a room a neutral color.”
My Basement Punch List
- Start staging rooms that aren’t in use all the time. Growing up in Florida, I didn’t have a basement and my kids aren’t really basement-kids either so our basement doesn’t get a lot of use. So, I’ve started staging that area which means that I’ve minimized, rearranged the furniture for maximum room, and de-personalized the space (i.e. no photos of the family). Everything that is not 100% essential to staging has been packed away and stored in the basement.
- Slow pack. If you’re not using at item and won’t be using it before move time, pack it up! There’s no sense in running around at the last minute packing up a house when, at least in my case, I’ve got a few months lead time to slow pack. The other perk of slow packing is that when you put an item in the box, think, “Do I really want this in my new house? Is it worth it for me to haul?” and if it doesn’t give you those warm fuzzies, donate it or pitch it. If you wait until a couple weeks before the move to pack, your goal will be to move the crap and think about it later. Slow packing gives you time to think about it now. My goal is to pack a box a day. Today I packed 3.5 boxes from my basement. Woo hoo!
Sweet, sweet progress!
If there are any other tips that readers want to share, please do!
