With the holidays coming up and I will hopefully begin school in January, if I can get financial aid situated, I will be super busy with everything else I wont have as much time to focus on the move. This is why I have started de-cluttering now. I am just going through things and I have a tote I keep behind my couch to put my "donations" in. Once the tote is full I go through it, determine what goes where, and then get rid of it and try to refill as much as I can. This is helping a lot. I will go into more detail about de-cluttering in another post, filled with tips and tricks to help you de-clutter. In the meantime let's talk about moving!
I have started packing some things already that we wont be using until after we move anyways.
My system is this:
- Each room is color coded and has a number.
- Then there is a following number based on the box.
Girls room:
- So each room is color coded by duct tape. Isabella's room is purple, the kitchen is orange, etc.
- I stick the duct tape so it runs across the top and side.
- I label the box number and what is inside the box (in detail, I might add) on both the top and side.
- Then I write this down in my notebook. After I finish a few boxes I put them in my storage. (Each house in the complex gets a small storage.)
Let me show you an example:
Box 101 - Isabella's future clothes
Box 102 - toys, books, puzzles
Box 103 - dress up clothes
My bedroom:
Box 201 - Picture Frames
Box 202 - Dresser items
Kitchen:
Box 301 - Plates
Box 302 - oven mitts ? (I couldn't think of any kitchen items, haha)
My goal is that the boxes will easily be able to be separated by its room and checked off once each box is being put away, to make sure we have everything.
I wish I could take pictures to show, it would be so much easier. My other laptop is having major trouble right now and I have no where store my pictures temporarily (this is a chrome book).
When I get all this sorted out I will add some pictures on here and update periodically my move . I have roughly four months until I move (at least that's my goal).
Until then, this is what I do:
I use plastic bags and newspaper for my delicate and fragile items. Forget buying bubble wrap.
P.S. - I will update. This is incomplete.....for now....
UPDATE
So now I have applied for a loan. The lender said we will try for a USDA loan and if we arent approved then we will go for an in-house loan where we put down 10%.
What we needed to get this loan was:
- 2 years work history at the same place
- 2 years rental history
- 3 or more bills
- 2 years of W2's
- 1 month of pay stubs
- ID's.
It has been three weeks and we are still waiting to hear from USDA. I keep calling my lender but to no avail, she wont call me back. So Im just waiting....Our realtor suggested we go through someone from Wells Fargo where we can possible get a one day approval. I dont understand why it would take one day for that place and not the other but I dont like Wells Fargo. I had them for a bank account when they first bought out Wachovia and lets just say I was not impressed but that is a story for another day...
Back on track:
We have checked out a few houses but when we realized that we were getting nowhere with this loan we decided to take a halt. I'm still packing, though.
So the way I was packing proved to be a success so far as I've needed a few things that were packed away. I was looking for some more long sleeve shirts for the girls, found the box easily; I just looked for the purple duct tape and then looked for the box number (which I knew because I already had box numbers and their contents recorded).
This means there was no reason to open every box until I find it, which is really awesome.
I was thinking about starting my "first night" tote. This is a tote that contains various things needed for a first night in a new house.
